Many schools and homeschools are out for the summer, and for many families, that means your kids’ interaction with Spanish is dropping, too. What can you do to keep the Spanish learning going this summer in ways that are fun and can actually promote children’s language skills? Read on for our expert advice!

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Summer Spanish Tip 1: Find a Festival

There’s something about the word “festival” that brings a smile to everyone’s face. You have great memories like we do: Apple Festival. Jazz Festival. Irish Festival. Maple Syrup Festival – YES please! Chances are, this summer there’s a festival near you that has an international flair to it. And where you find festivals, you find the beautiful rainbow of humankind that makes up your area and beyond. Often, festivals include booths, arts and crafts, and food that represent cultures and languages around the world.

You might discover a large international festival like Louisville’s WorldFest. Perhaps you’d enjoy a music-focused festival like LA’s Mariachi USA. Or how about a food-focused event – Taco Festival anyone?

What difference do events like this make in a child’s Spanish skills? There are two key benefits (beyond the tacos and great music, even). First, it’s a huge motivation boost, as kids see and come to understand that speaking Spanish is fun, normal, and everywhere. Hopefully, they’ll hear a lot of people communicating in real Spanish, and perhaps even understand some and be able to interact with someone in their new language. Second, as children see and try new things, they may fall in love with the culture and thus be inspired to keep working on their Spanish skills on their way to meet new friends and see new places.

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Spanish Summer Tip 2: Explore the Library

As a homeschool or other family with young children, chances are you know your library’s children’s section pretty well. Have you explored to see if they have Spanish-language books as well? More and more libraries are including books in many languages, and we love. this trend! Heads up that the Amazon Kindle Fire Kids’ edition is one of the best resources for kids’ material in Spanish as well.

If you’re a proficient Spanish speaker, it’s a no-brainer to incorporate authentic Spanish-language children’s books into your summer. Such books can expand children’s point of view and introduce them to fun new ideas and traditions. Need recommendations? We recommend the great curated list over at Elisabeth’s amazing site SpanishMama.

If your family is just starting to develop skills together, you’ll want to focus on books with less text, such as the baby/toddler books. Try checking out a book and then searching it on YouTube to see if someone has read it out loud. Or, pick up a set of our 15 Storybooks (audio and video versions are included with every subscription). (And we offer PDF downloads of our books for sale on TeachersPayTeachers!)

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Summer Spanish Tip 3: Dance Party!

What kid doesn’t love a dance party? In your own living room, you can let loose without fear! Music is a great way for kids to develop more Spanish skills, especially in the areas of pronunciation and the rhythm of the language. Who knows, maybe they’ll fall in love with a particular artist and get lots more Spanish input by streaming even more music!

We made some music recommendations on our recent post with advice on boosting your own Spanish skills. Some songs are super fun as they mix Spanish and English, like La llave de mi corazón by Juan Luis Guerra. We also love “Soy yo” by Bomba Estéreo, as well as “Niña bonita” and “Andas en mi cabeza,” both positive, fun tunes from Venezuelan pop duo Chino y Nacho.

Also, many songs you and/or your kids know may have Spanish-language versions. Just search the title of their favorites with “en español” on YouTube. Who knew ABBA actually performed “Chiquitita” in Spanish in Spain 40 years ago? Fast forward to more recent music, you might consider something like the Spanish-language version of everyone’s bizarre favorite, the Gummy Bear Song.

Of course, we highly recommend our Calico Spanish music for your dance party as well! Try telling Alexa or Google “Play Joel Valle” (you might need to say it like “Joel Valley” though it should be pronounced “ho-EL vah-yay”). Or you could put on our YouTube video compilation that includes 36 minutes of your favorites. Put on a song, and get moving and singing!

Summer Spanish Tip 4: Get Crafting

We know summer is a hard time to keep kids off the screens, especially on days when the heat is high or the rain is pouring. A great craft can keep their hands and minds engaged, and how much better if Spanish is part of this summer fun!

Reaching back into the annals of Calico Spanish blogging history, take a look at our post on how to make hojalata. Here’s a video on how to make papel picado, designs cut into tissue paper for a colorful streamer display in many areas of Mexico.

How about crafting your own piñata for a summer party or just a fun afternoon treat? It could be as simple as a paper bag or as colorful as a strawberry, donut, or pull-string garland.

The possibilities are just about endless here! Check out these recommendations by superstar bilingual mom teacher/blogger Becky Morales in a guest post on Spanish Playground, one of our favorite resources. Here are a few more from the Growing Up Bilingual blog, including petroglyphs rock art and a queztal.

Crafting with an eye on Spanish-speaking cultures inspires in a way similar to that of festivals. It helps kids explore other cultures and hopefully fall in love with them, which often leads to a lifetime of friends and Spanish proficiency. To incorporate more actual Spanish language into your summer crafts, check out this post from our amiga Julie at Mundo de Pepita.

Summer Spanish Tip 5: Family Movie Night

Whether you’re setting up a sheet and projector in the backyard or just relaxing in the living room, summer family movie nights are made for memories. Why not take the opportunity to put some Spanish into your summer family movie?

Of course, the popular movies in recent years that infuse Spanish language and culture into beautiful stories have warmed our hearts. You can’t go wrong with movies like Coco, The Book of Life, or Ferdinand. Spanish words appear here and there throughout the films, but in ways that are easily understandable in the context of the English script. Bonus: in many of these, you may see the craft you chose above, like papel picado or a fun piñata!

You could also try changing the audio to Spanish after you’ve watched it in English, and asking your children what Spanish words they hear and understand. You can do that with many favorite movies, especially on Disney+. Explore what’s available, and let us know your recommendations in the comments!

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Summer Spanish Tip 6: TicTacTó Challenge (WIN)

There’s no denying that recent changes in education and even social media have taught us that kids love challenges, and gamification works. Our sixth and final tip is to challenge kids to complete a set of 3 activities from our at-home TicTacTó board each week of the summer. The concept is easy: we’ve compiled a list of nine fun, easy activities to keep children engaged with Spanish over the summer or other long breaks. Each week, children choose three activities in a row to complete TicTacTó.

Of course, you can make your own TicTacTó board with any activities you choose. Here are our suggestions. They include some of the options above.

• Watch and sing along with a Calico Spanish song you know.
• Try a snack (& a conversation!) at a Hispanic/Latino store.
• Make a craft.
• Watch a movie in Spanish.
• Present a Stories Activity Sheet to someone.
• Check out a Spanish-language book at the library.
• Ask an adult to help you read the latest tweets from Disney Spain.
• Play a game.
• Put sticky notes on 4 things in your house to label them in Spanish.

Here’s your Summer Spanish board

Ready to get your TicTacTó board for the challenge? Here’s your PDF (or click the image below). Keep the Spanish going, and tell us how it goes!

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Bonus Tip: Toss the Hype in the Trash Bin

Would you let us get serious for a minute while we end this post? We really believe that every one of these activities is a fun way to get more Spanish into your child(ren)’s lives. And the more kids see and hear Spanish, the more they fall in love with it. That’s really what gets and keeps them on the journey to a lifetime of Spanish skills.

But taken individually, none of these is going to magically get your kids speaking Spanish. There is no magic pill. We know you’ve seen the same ads we’ve seen across our phone screens. As nice as it would be to believe (and tell you) that some phrasebook, subscription box, stuffed animal, craft kit, or recipe set is going to make your child bilingual, this is completely deceptive. There’s no one key. Please hear us say this again and again:

A lifetime of real Spanish skills takes a variety of real-life experiences. Period.

Ready to get started on the greatest variety of experiences we could develop for you and your children, or any child you love? Try Stories FREE today. There’s no obligation, and we know we’ve built the most engaging, effective Spanish learning experience for children available. See if you agree.

Enjoy the journey, amigas y amigos!