March Spanish Activities for Bilingual Families

March is an amazing month for children in dual language classrooms. You may begin to notice your child using more and more Spanish as their Spanish language abilities soar. We love to take capture the momentum of our children’s learning and work to use more Spanish in the home with our children during this time. Don’t worry, even if you don’t speak Spanish, you can too! We put together our favorite Spanish March activities designed for dual language families.

These Spanish language activities focus on holidays celebrated in America and Spanish speaking countries from around the world as well as spring fun for March. We try to include a variety of activities to meet the needs of families with children at different ages.

Planning simple ways to play with Spanish at home will help your children to improve their vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure in Spanish while also enjoying their new language. We hope that these March Spanish language activities will help you to bring language learning into your home and give your children the boost they need.

Language Development for Dual Language Learners in March

Continuing the growth that you hopefully saw in February, March is another incredible month for developing new skills and putting older skills into practice. You may begin to see ideas and concepts suddenly make sense for your child. It’s so fun to see the lightbulb click on and watch your child figure out something new.

If your child still seems to be struggling in Spanish, that’s okay. Remember, this isn’t their dominant language. They may only spend 2 – 4 hours learning in Spanish a day. While this is more than most middle school and high school programs, it is still only a small portion of their day. This is why bringing Spanish home is so important and using our March Spanish activities makes this simple. For current research on learning new languages, please check out our Why is my Child Struggling post.

How Can Parents Help Children in their First Year of Dual Language during March?

Children in their first or second year of a dual language program, need time to develop the basics of the Spanish language. Just like your little one listened to English in the home before they started speaking, then starting using one or two words to express their ideas before moving to phrases. Your child will need the time listen to Spanish and start using Spanish words.

If you find your child still in the silent phase of language acquisition, that’s okay. Try to encourage your child to name items around your house using one word in Spanish. Let your child repeat words after you. You may notice that your child will name a few letters or count in Spanish. Colors and shapes are other words that you might hear from your child.

If your child has moved beyond the silent phase of language acquisition, begin to encourage your child to learn new vocabulary as they label items in their environment. Your child can start to talk about items using simple sentences. Our children did well with Yo veo (I see) and Yo puedo (I can) to describe their world. If your child becomes more comfortable with these sentences, you can start using different conjugations of the verb ver (see) and poder (can) with them. Some examples include you see (ves), we see (vemos), we can (podemos), you can (puedes).

Reading and listening to books in Spanish is so important. Don’t worry if you can’t speak Spanish well, you can find audio books to listen to. Encourage your child to read simple sentences and books to you. Other days, listen to an audio book, book on tape, or book read aloud on YouTube or RazKids.

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?

It can be more tricky to challenge your child when their Spanish skills grow beyond your own. This is often part of a dual language program for families because your child spends at least half of their school day learning in their new language. This time helps them to rapidly grow their skills in a way that you might be able to keep up. Should how can you challenge your child who knows more Spanish than you?

As your child progresses in their language development, their teachers spend less time bridging the concepts into both languages. This is a great time to discuss in English what your child is learning in Spanish class to help to solidify your child’s learning. Not only will your child learn the English words for subject specific vocabulary but you may also help them to develop a deeper understanding of the concepts taught.

Our daughter was learning about Christopher Columbus in Spanish when she saw a silly multiple choice question asking who sailed the ocean blue in 1492. She had no idea that it was Christopher Columbus and was looking for Cristóbal Colon, the Spanish name for Christopher Columbus. Taking the time to bridge her Spanish learning helped her to better understand that Cristobal Colon is Christopher Columbus.

In addition to discussing their Spanish content learning at home, be sure to ask your child to read in Spanish often and listen to the Spanish language, even if it is just watching TV in Spanish. It is so easy to change the language for most movies and TV shows.

March Hispanic Holidays Celebrated Around the World

Date varies from late February to March: Carnaval, or Hispanic Mardi Gras, that begins before lent and often lasts an entire week. The music, dancing, costumes and parades are a must see experience. In some Hispanic country, children dress up in costumes and create handmade cacarones, colorful egg shells full of confetti, to crack on each other’s heads.

March 2nd: Dr. Suess’s Birthday and Read Across America Day

March 17th: St. Patrick’s Day or el Día de San Patricio.

March 22nd: Puerto Rico’s Emancipation Day

March 31st: Caesar Chavez holiday

March Dual Language Writing Prompts for Kids

To begin March, we love to say goodbye to winter, even though we tend to still feel cold temperatures well into the beginning of spring. “Adios el invierno. Siempre recordaré….” or “Goodbye winter. I will always remember….” We write about all the fun we had in winter. We usually create a large tree without leaves to fill with our favorite memories.

As St. Patrick’s Day approaches, you may wish to write about being lucky. We cut out a large shamrock and fill it with all the ways we are lucky. We use the writing prompt “I am lucky because….?” or “¿Soy afortunado porque…?”

Since March is the spring equinox or the first day of spring, this can be the perfect time to create a spring bucket list for all the outdoor activities your family can’t wait to do again or try new this year. We usually make our bucket list on a large bucket, but you could also use a flower or other spring image too. We use the prompt, “En la primavera, querré (querremos or voy a querer or vamos a querer)…” or “In the spring, I will want (we will want, I’m going to want, we’re going to want).” We provide a few different sentences depending on if your child has learned the future tense of Spanish words yet.

How Can You Adjust for Younger Learners?

With our children who are just beginning to learn Spanish, we ask them to write a list of things they remember about winter, ways they feel lucky, or what they want to do in spring. Often times we do need to help them translate their ideas into Spanish and ask them to copy the words.

By March, your child may be ready to write a few simple sentences. You try “Me gusta ….” or “I like….” when writing favorite memories from winter. For St. Patrick’s day, we usually use the sentence started provided. With the spring writing, you could try, “Quiero…” or “I want….”.

We try to limit our writing prompts to the present tense to not overwhelm our younger learners with too many conjugations of the verbs. This allows your child to focus on learning new vocabulary and practicing Spanish safely. Let your child grow in their hearing of Spanish tenses both past and future before asking them to write in these tenses.

How Can You Modify for Older Learners?

Older children can definitely write sentences instead of just words. They can also write more complex sentences. When describing a favorite memory of winter, you may ask them to write when it happened in addition to the memory. When writing about feeling lucky, ask them to explain why a specific thing makes them feel lucky. While writing about spring, ask them to provide more details such as where, when, for how long they would like to do an activity.

You may also challenge older students to begin to really look at the Spanish words. Are the new vocabulary words a cognate or a false cognate? Cognates are words that sound similar in two languages. A false cognate sounds similar to a word in another language but is not related. Do the new words have a prefix or suffix? Does the prefix or suffix mean the same in English?

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 March

We love listening to music in Spanish with our children. It is such an easy activity that we can do while driving, cleaning, eating, or just hanging out at home. We include both songs written in Spanish and Spanish translations of English songs each month for families. Most of these songs are available through YouTube, Pandora and Spotify for easy listening and creating a playlist.

For March we focus on songs written by Puerto Rican songwriters to honor Puerto Rico’s Emancipation Day and songs about spring since March transitions from winter to spring for us.

1. La Primavera by Rockalingua is a great song to introduce spring vocabulary words for younger children.
2. La Primavera ya Llegó by Musicaeduca helps to teach about the arrival of spring.
3. Primavera by Santana also focuses on the arrival of spring and spring vocabulary words.
4. Bienvenido Amor by Palito Ortega is a popular song about waiting for spring.
5. Un año by Reik & Sebastian Yatra focuses on falling in love in spring.
6. El Coquí is a children’s song from Puerto Rico about a frog.
7. Mat Rile is a Puerto Rican game song that is super fun for children.
8. Las Mañanitas by Vincente Fernández is the Mexican birthday song with references to springtime.
9. Preciosa by Marc Anthony is a song honoring a Puerto Rican farmer.
10. No Te Vayas by Carlos Vives is a song about falling in love in spring.

March Books to Read in Spanish

In each of our monthly Spanish activity guides for Dual Language families, we include a few books for your family to enjoy as well. We love to read with our children and especially love to read in Spanish to help boost their vocabulary. Our Spanish March Activity guide includes many books about spring and some special books about Puerto Rico or written by Puerto Rican authors.

Lo Que Veo en La Primavera by Danielle Jacks introduces your child to the vocabulary of spring. In this nonfiction book, your child will learn about spring weather, clothes we wear in the spring, and things we see in spring. While reading, your child will be able to use the pictures to learn new vocabulary in Spanish.

Feliz Cumpleaños by Dr. Suess is a wonderful book to add to any collection of Spanish books. This is the perfect compliment for celebrating Dr. Suess’ birthday on March 2nd or adding to your Read Across America celebration.

Spring Primavera by Ailie Busby is a bilingual English and Spanish book. This book highlights the reasons spring is special. Join the children as they explore playing in the spring time both indoors and outdoors.

Jitomates Risuenos y Otros Poemas de Primavera by Francisco Alarcon introduces children to poems in both English and Spanish. These poems honor life and nature with a Hispanic focus. From poems about tortillas to family, many of the poems focus in working in the garden to grow our own foods. You will even find a few poems about working in the fields.

Un Poema Para Cada Día de Primavera by Vanesa Perez-Sauquillo is another beautiful poem book that celebrates the arrival of spring. Vanesa Perez-Sauquillo was born in Madrid and enjoys sharing her native language of Spanish with others in her poetry. Poems are a great way to introduce your child to the new vocabulary of spring because a poem is a short, quick read with lots of imagery.

Julieta y un Día en el Jardín by Giselle Shardlow is the Spanish version of Rachel’s Day in the Garden. Join Julieta and her dog as they search for signs of spring in the garden. As you search, be sure to copy Julieta as she guides you through some basic yoga poses that are perfect for both indoors and outdoors.

Señorita Mariposa by Mister G takes us on the epic journey of the Monarch Butterfly from Canada to Mexico. This bilingual story is written in both English and Spanish making the perfect book to add to any bilingual family’s library.

Pura’s Cuentos by Annette Pimentel and Magaly Morales is a story of the life of Pura Belpré, a librarian from Puerto Rico who moved to the United States. She brought alive the traditional stories of her Puerto Rican childhood for the children who visit her library. This book is written in English.

Parrots over Puerto Rico by Susan Roth tells the story of Puerto Rico and the efforts of the scientists to save these parrots. Throughout the parrots story, your children will delight in the history of Puerto Rico and the beautiful illustrations within. This story is written in English.

Celebra el Día de San Patricio con Samantha y Lola by Alma Flor Ada is the perfect Spanish book to learn the vocabulary of St. Patrick’s Day. In this story, Samantha loves Irish dancing and shares her passion with her friend Lola. Alma Flor Ada is a Hispanic author who shares many different Spanish stories, poems, and nursery rhymes from many different Hispanic countries.

Spanish Nursery Rhymes for March

We love to include some Spanish nursery rhymes in our days throughout the month. These are a great way to learn a new language and focus on new vocabulary. Since nursery rhymes are often set to music or short rhyming stories, they are often easy to learn.

Our list of nursery rhymes includes examples from a variety of different Spanish speaking countries. Some are specific to one country while others are more generally known in Hispanic culture. The words may change from one country to the next, but the overall meaning and theme are the same.

Pito, Pito, Colorito is a Spanish rhyme for choosing something similar to Eeeny, Meeny, Miney Moe.

El Coquí is a Puerto Rican song about a little frog that children and adults alike love.

Another Hispanic nursery rhyme for March is Cinco Pollitos about baby chicks who are often born in the spring.

In honor of Puerto Rico, La Tierra de Puerto Rico is a fun nursery rhyme and circle game about the beauty of Puerto Rico similar to Ring Around the Rosie.

Cucú is another Puerto Rican favorite nursery rhyme about a little frog who loves to sing.

March Crafts with a Language Focus

In March, we love to plan for a few different crafts with our children. Spring break is a great time to sprinkle in a few crafts and really plan for some activities with your kids.

Start by making some cacarones for Carnaval with your children. You’ll need to save some eggshells for this craft. We poke a small hole into the egg using the tip of a knife or scissors. Then pour out the egg yolk and egg whites. Rinse the egg and let dry to make your shell for your cacarones. You will want to fill the egg with small confetti, cover the hole with some colorful tape and decorate the eggshell. Just be super careful so you don’t break the egg.

In honor of Puerto Rico’s Emancipation Day, you could ask your children to create the Puerto Rican flag. The flag is quite simple to create and could be made with a few shapes, painted, or colored. You will need 1 blue triangle, 1 white star, 2 white rectangles, and 3 red rectangles to make the Puerto Rican flag. We had seen some fun flags where they replace the blue triangle with your child’s handprint.

You could make Tréboles, or clovers, with your children. So many fun ways to make shamrocks. Cut out green four leaf clovers for simple cutting practice. Glue bits of green scrap paper, tissue paper, or crepe paper on a white trébol. Paint the shamrocks green using brushes or actual clovers or even try a shake painting using items found in nature.

We’d Love to Connect with You!

By teaching your child Spanish, you are giving them the gift of a second language. It is a wonderful experience that you are providing for your children and we hope to make the journey a little easier. 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 spring 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.