February Spanish Activities for Kids from a Dual Language Family
Have you noticed your child using more Spanish around the home? February and March are two months where our children always seem to make incredible strides in their Spanish language abilities. So we try to capitalize on their momentum and you can too! We have put together a bunch of Spanish language activities for kids that are designed for dual language families. These Spanish February activities focus on both holidays celebrated in America and Spanish speaking countries from around the world as well as winter fun for the month. You will find a variety of activities that your family can easily use with children of all ages.
Incorporating a few Spanish language activities into the home helps to provide the continual exposure that your child needs to learn a new language. These February Spanish activities help to develop your child’s vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure in their new language. Adding a little extra time to play with Spanish at home will help your child to develop their second language a little bit quicker. We hope these February Spanish language activities will help keep language learning alive in your home during these colder winter months.
Language Development for Dual Language Learners in February
Now that you child is halfway through the school year, February marks a month of tremendous growth for many children. While new skills are being introduced, schools spend a good portion of time practicing and reinforcing the language skills introduced in the first half of the year. This practice helps children feel more comfortable using their new language or for more advanced dual language students, using their new language skills and vocabulary.
Hopefully you are starting to see growth in your child’s reading, writing, and speaking abilities in Spanish. Maybe they are reading longer books or books with less pictures, maybe writing more sentences in Spanish and using less English words, or maybe using more Spanish words and sentences in the home. This is the perfect time to encourage even more Spanish use at home using our Spanish February activities for kids.
How Can Parents Help Child Who Just Started Dual Language This Year in February?
By February most children have left the silent phase of language acquisition and are ready to begin using their new language, at least a little. What does this mean for the home? Encourage your child to label objects and actions at home. If your child doesn’t know the word for an object or action, look it up together. When reading with your child, name the objects in the pictures in both of your child’s languages. This is the perfect time to help build your child’s general vocabulary in their new language.
By the time your child begins kindergarten, many children have a vocabulary larger than 10,000 words. These words are understood and used in the child’s native or home language and now will need to be taught in their second or target language. These first five years of learning are crucial learning times for children to develop language. As your child begins learning a second language, they will need to learn these language skills in their new language, which will take some time. So using time at home can help your child to bridge the language gap between languages more quickly.
Another great activity for our youngest learners is to practice using their new vocabulary in sentences. While these sentences may be very basic, that is perfect. You child might also use the wrong verb conjugation, which is to be expected as they learn a new language. Encouraging your child to speaking in phrases and short sentences moves them beyond just one word answers. This is the natural progression of language skills. Just as your one year old started by speaking a few words, your two year old started to but words together to speak in 2 – 3 word phrases.
Lastly, read to your child in their new language every day. You may be thinking, but I don’t speak Spanish! That’s okay. You can listen to stories together in Spanish. Just hearing the Spanish language exposes your child to many more words and helps to grow their vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure. New research shows that children who are read to daily may hear 1 million more words than child who are not read to at home. That is an incredible number of exposures to new words.
Remember code switching is completely normal for dual language learners. Using both English and Spanish when trying to speak in sentences or sharing stories is to be expected. Mispronouncing words in either language is also common while your child is learning to read because the English and Spanish vowels often cause some confusion for young children. Sometimes your child may even forget a word in English and only remember the Spanish word. Again, this is normal and with time your child will better be able to separate the two languages.
How Can We Challenge our Older Learners in Spanish?
As your child continues in a dual language program, their Spanish skills may soon surpass your own. This is very normal as your child spends at least half of their school day listening to their new language. These extra hours help them to grow their skills in a way that yours might not. So what should parents do when their children know more Spanish than they do?
Many children are learning specific subjects in Spanish only. This is the perfect time for your child to discuss with you the concepts they are learning in Spanish. Asking your child to share their new learning with your in English, helps to encourage your child to bridge the new ideas into their native language. Take time to push their understand, challenge their thinking, and pose new vocabulary words. As your child continues their learning in Spanish only, they will integrate your discussions in English with their Spanish learning in the classroom.
Focus on new vocabulary words. As your child learns new subject specific vocabulary words, they will need many different exposures with the new words. Ask your child to write down their new vocabulary. They can teach these words to you, determine if they are cognates to English words, use the words in a variety of ways and even translate the words to develop a better understanding.
Another activity for our older learners is to widely read in Spanish. Encouraging your child to read in their new language will help your child to grow their Spanish vocabulary. Reading Spanish nonfiction books and articles related to the topics they are learning in Spanish can help your child solidify their new learning. Read similar nonfiction books and articles in English can help your child to bridge their learning and expand their understanding in Spanish.
February Hispanic Holidays Celebrated Around the World
February is an important month for people from Mexico. This is a great time to focus on learning more about Mexico and holidays celebrated in Mexico. February is also Black History Month in America, so this can be the perfect time to explore these concepts and ideas in Spanish as well.
February 2nd: Candlemas or Candelaria is celebrated in Mexico 40 days after Christmas and on the same day as the American holiday Groundhog’s Day. Many families celebrate by making a special meal of tamales and attend church. Planning for this day begins back in January on Three King’s Day where the person who receives the baby Jesus in their cake hosts Candlemas.
February 2nd: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, a holiday celebrated in Mexico. This treaty was the official end of the Mexican American war in 1848.
February 5th: DÃa de la Constitucion de México or Constitution Day in Mexico.
February 14th: DÃa de San ValentÃn or Valentine’s Day. This day is also known as DÃa del amor y la amistad. People in Hispanic countries celebrate love and friendship. In El Salvador and the Dominican Republic, the host a secret gift exchange called Angelito or Amigo Secreto. Bolivia and Colombia celebrate Valentine’s Day in September.
February 24th: DÃa de la Bandera de México or Flag Day in Mexico. People decorate the streets and buildings with the colors of the Mexican flag or display Mexican Flags. The green symbolize independence and hope, the white celebrates religion and purity, while the red represents the unity, equity, and blood of the people.
February 27th: DÃa de la Independencia de República Dominica or Independence Day of the Dominican Republic. This day is often celebrated with Carnival, a special day of beautiful costumes and loud music.
February Dual Language Writing Prompts for Kids
To begin February, you could begin with a Candlemas writing prompt. Create a large candle and ask your children to write either ways that their family was blessed this last year or ways they hope to be blessed in the new year. We use the writing prompt “Our family is blessed because…” or “Nuestra familia es bendecida porque…”
As Valentine’s Day approaches, you may wish to write about all the people, places, and things your family loves. We cut out a large heart and fill it with all the things we love now. We use the writing prompt “What do we love?” or “¿Qué amamos?”
Since February is Flag Day in Mexico, this can be the perfect time to create a large representation of the Mexican Flag. You can ask your children to share their knowledge of Mexico or flags. We use the prompts “What do you know about Mexico?” or “¿Qué sabes de México?” or “What do we know about flags?” or “¿Qué sabemos de banderas?
Another February writing prompt can focus on Black History Month. There are so many great questions that you can ask during Black History Month. We like to use writing prompts that focus on unity, similarities between people, and caring for others. We begin with three large stripes: red, yellow, and green. You can use a variety of writing prompts. Some of our favorites include”
- “I dream” or “Yo sueño”
- “I can help others by” or “Puedo ayudar a otras por”
- “I speak up for others by” or “Hablo por las demás por”
- “I inspire others to” or “Inspiro a otras a”
- “All people can” or “Todas las personas pueden”
How Can You Adjust for Younger Learners?
When your children are just beginning to learn Spanish, you may ask them to answer the prompt by writing one or two word answers. They may need to tell you in English their ideas and you help them to translate them into Spanish. If your child isn’t ready for writing in Spanish, that’s okay too. They may need to write in English or draw a picture. You can add the Spanish words below or next to their English writing or pictures.
Your child’s main focus with writing activities is to grow their vocabulary. Together, you will learn new words in Spanish and help your child feel more comfortable speaking in Spanish. If you are helping your child translate their words into Spanish, be sure to say the words together in Spanish. The more words that your child hears in Spanish, the faster their language will grow.
How Can You Modify for Older Learners?
When your children have been learning Spanish for a few years, you may wish to challenge them to write a bit more. One suggestion is asking your child to write the entire sentence, including the sentence stem or rewriting the question.
You can also challenge more advanced Spanish learners to explain or justify their answer. Writing two or three sentences will help your child to grow their Spanish language skills and writing skills. Moreover, you will encourage deeper thinking on the topic in their second language.
In their writing, encourage them to underline or circle any new words they needed to translate into Spanish. This helps to draw attention to these words over the time you leave the writing prompt up. Another place to challenge your child is with conjugations of verbs. Encourage them to draw a box around verbs or highlight the verb endings to double check for correct conjugations. Verb conjugations are a skill that takes time to master and even when fully understood, can cause difficulty.
Spanish Kid Songs for February
Music in Spanish is one of our favorite activities with our children. We include both Spanish translations of English songs and songs written in Spanish. Most of these songs are available through YouTube or Pandora for easy listening and playlist creating. Love songs are so popular in Spanish that you should have no problem finding some wonderful songs to add to your playlist.
- Darte Un Beso is Prince Royce’s bachata music with a more ballad or romantic feel.
- DÃa de San ValentÃn is a sing-along Spanish Valentine’s Day song that focus on many different vocabulary words around love.
- De Colores by Amistad by Rockalingua is a sweet song about friendship with a focus on colors too.
- Skidamarink is all about the animal friends that we love.
- Amor en el Aire by Jorge Blanco is all about love in the air.
- Mis Amigos sings about all the things friends can do together.
- DÃa del Amor y La Amistad is a bilingual song to introduce Valentine’s Day.
- Mi Mascota, Mi Amigo shares a sweet song about loving your pet.
- La Puerta es el Amor is the Frozen song Love is an Open Door.
- Recuérdame is the famous Coco song Remember Me.
February Books to Read in Spanish
Each of our monthly Spanish activity guides for Dual Language Families includes a few books to enjoy as well. Our children read every day and whenever we can we try to include books to read in Spanish. For our February Spanish books, we are including many books about Valentine’s Day, friendship and love.
Amor de la Oruga Muy Hambrienta by Eric Carle is the perfect compliment to Valentine’s Day. This is the Valentine’s Day story of the Very Hungry Caterpillar. The story is all about the ways that someone special helps make your world better. The book includes the beautiful illustrations of any Eric Carle book that you love.
Es el DÃa de San ValentÃn by Richard Sebra is a nonfiction book to introduce Valentine’s Day traditions, especially making Valentine’s Day cards. Included in the nonfiction text are critical thinking questions to think about as you read.
Te Amo by Calee M. Lee is a bilingual English and Spanish book. This book highlights a variety of animals and the love between a parent and a child. The text is filled with similes describing how the parents love the child.
Abrazos y Besitos by Leslie Patricelli shows different ways that families show their love to their new baby. This bilingual English and Spanish book includes a variety of vocabulary words your child might use when describing love and Valentine’s Day.
Cuando me Siento Querido by Tracey Moroney is a beautifully written book about feeling loved. This book is part of a series that includes books on other feelings that your child experiences. Buy just one or purchase them all.
Quiero a mi Mamá Porque… and Quiero a mi Papá Porque… by Laurel Gaylord are two wonderfully Spanish translation books about loving mom and dad. The books share the story of different animals sharing why they love their parents.
Abrázame by Simona Ciraolo is the story of a cactus who wants a hug. The cactus, Felipe, takes a trip to find a friend who will hug him.
El Pez Arco Iris by Marcus Pfister is the Spanish translation of Rainbow Fish. This is the perfect tale of friendship and sharing. No February reading list would be complete without The Rainbow Fish.
Pequeñas Historias: Amor y Amistad by Susana Font is a collection of tales and legends from Spanish speaking countries. Each of the ten short stories tell a tale of friendship and love.
Nacho y Lolita by Pam Muñoz Ryan is a cute Spanish translation of a tale of friendship that will melt your heart. This is the story of Nacho, a rare bird from California, and Lolita, a swallow from South America, who form a special friendship during the swallows migration. Pam Muñoz Ryan is an acclaimed Hispanic storyteller with many award winning books.
Spanish Nursery Rhymes for February
Spanish Nursery Rhymes are a great way to learn a new language. Many of these are easy to learn and often song like or set to music. We picked a variety of nursery rhymes from different Spanish speaking countries. While a few are specific to one country most are more widely known in the Hispanic culture but the words may change from one country to another.
Naranja Dulce is a sweet Latin American farewell song between two dear friends.
Naranja dulce,
limón partido,
dame un abrazo
que yo te pido.
Si fueran falsos
mis juramentos,
en otros tiempos
se olvidaran.
Toca la marcha,
mi pecho llora,
adiós señora,
yo ya me voy.
El Coquà is a Puerto Rican song about a little frog that children and adults alike love.
El coquÃ, el coquÃ, a mà me encanta,
es tan lindo al cantar del coquÃ.
Por las noches al ir a acostarme,
me adormece cantando asÃ.
CoquÃ, coquÃ, coquÃ, quÃ, quÃ, quÃ.
Another Hispanic nursery rhyme for February is a lullaby from Spain that has traveled throughout Latin America. This is a special song sung to children to share a parent’s love and peace at bedtime.
Duérmete, mi niño,
duérmete solito,
que cuando despiertes
te daré atolito.
Duérmete, mi niña,
duérmete, mi sol,
duérmete pedazo
de mi corazón.
With February comes Valentine’s Day and talk of love and marriage. Arroz con Leche is an Hispanic nursery rhyme about finding your love.
Arroz con leche
me quiero casar
con una señorita
de la capital.
Que sepa coser,
que sepa bailar,
que sepa abrir la puerta
para ir a jugar.
Con ésta sÃ,
con ésta no,
con esta señorita
me caso yo.
Pin Pon is a Spanish nursery rhyme about making a new friend.
Pin pon es un muñeco
muy guapo y de cartón
se lava la carita con agua y con jabón.
Pin pon siempre se peina
con peine de marfil
y aunque se hace tirones
no llora ni hace asÃ.
Pin pon dame la mano
con un fuerte apertón
yo quiero ser tu amigo
pin pon pin pon pin pon.
February Crafts with a Language Focus
We have a few favorite crafts to make in February with our children. These crafts make beautiful decorations and are always a favorite with our children when making Hispanic February crafts.
We love to make decorative candles together. We usually make fake candles, but you could easily make a real candle holder as well. For a fake candle, begin with a toilet paper roll. You will need a variety of colors of tissue paper. For our youngest children we let them cut little pieces and glue to the toilet paper roll. For older children, we have them accordion fold the tissue paper and cut off the corners to cut a shape in the side similar to a paper snowflake. This is a papel picado type of craft. To make a special fringe, fold the paper accordion style and cut same strips about 1/2 or 3/4 of the way through the paper.
If you want to make a candle holder for a real candle, simply switch out the toilet paper roll. We have successfully decorated our smaller glass cups, old candle holders, mugs, and glass vases. Our kids then use tape to attach their decorations so that we can save the base from year to year and just redorcorate.
Along with Candlemas, you could make miniature tamales. We love to use actual dried corn husks for this craft, which is perfect if you let some dry after the summer months of enjoying corn on the cob. We first soak the corn husks over night, pulling them out first thing in the morning to let them dry a little. Add a few cotton balls in the center of the corn husk and wrap the husk around the cotton balls. About 1/4 from the top, secure with a rubber band to lock the cotton balls inside. Then cover the rubber band by tying a piece of colorful ribbon around it.
To go along with DÃa de la Bandera de México, your children could create the flag of Mexico using red, white, and green paper. You will also need the Mexican coat of arms depicting an eagle sitting on a cactus eating a serpent. Again, for younger children you may wish to precut a red, white, and green strip of paper. Another option is to fold a white piece of paper into thirds and let the children add green to the farthest left third and red to the farthest right third. The children can color, dot, stamp, glue pieces of paper, or cover with tissue paper.
For older children, you may provide them little pieces of red, white, and green paper or tissue paper, while directing them to create the flag of Mexico. While working, ask your child to describe how they are creating the flag. Where did the put the red? Where is the green going? Which color is thicker/thinner? What do they see in the Mexican coat of arms?
We’d Love to Connect with You!
Sharing a second language with your child is a special gift that will benefit for years to come. We have created a few different guides to help you bring Spanish into your home. Find more vocabulary ideas in our post on Vocabulary for Dual Language Learners. Want to help your child master reading in Spanish, visit our parent’s guide for beginning reading in Spanish. Searching for other Winter Break activities for your kids while they learn a second language, we’ve got your covered. Worried about your child’s slow progress in their second language? Read what the research says about language development.
We’d really appreciate if you would take a moment and drop us a comment below. Let us know your favorite ways to practice Spanish vocabulary and your favorite Spanish Valentine’s Day songs, books, and poems. Have other tips, let us know that too! Want more inspiration and some done for you ideas, subscribe to our newsletter below. We love to send our CreatingButterflies subscribers practical solutions you can use right now and some downloadable freebies from time to time.
Hi, I’m Nicole.
Here at Creatingbutterflies we provide families with practical solutions to real life problems for everything parenting, scouting, dual language, and enjoying time outdoors. We are a family of 6 with 4 wonderful becoming bilingual children who loves scouting, camping, and hiking with their family. Mom is an educator and dad is a firefighter/paramedic.
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