The homeschool year has ended, and you and your children have worked hard all year. Everyone’s ready for a break! But, you wonder if over the summer they are going to forget much of what they have learned. What can you do?
You can make practice easy and fun. Here are some Spanish practice activities you can do:
Play Burbujas (Bubbles) – pronounced “bur-boo-hahs”
- Using a bottle of bubbles, head outside, blow the bubbles and challenge the kids to conjugate a verb “top/down” before the last bubble pops.
- “Top/down” means they conjugate starting with the “I” form and end with the “they/you all” form.
- Example: The verb is “hablar” = to talk. They say the conjugations: hablo, hablas, habla, hablamos, habláis, hablan.
- Some kids get really good at this and like to try and conjugate 2 or 3 verbs on one blow of the bubbles.
- Modify this game to practice vocabulary by having to say a certain number of Spanish words that belong in a category, like “house things”, or that begin with a specific letter before the bubbles pop.
Play “Tócalo” (Touch it!) – pronounced “toe-kah-low”
- Gather items, pictures, or flashcards of vocabulary your children learned.
- Scatter those items around a room or out in your backyard.
- Then call out each word in Spanish like this: “Toca el libro.” = Touch the book. Toca la mochila. = Touch the backpack.
- Your children have to move quickly to touch what you say.
- Go faster and faster to make it more fun!
Play “Busca colores” (Look for colors) – pronounced “boo-skah koh-lor-ehs”
- This game is like “Tócalo” except you say, “Busca rojo.” = Look for red, “Busca azul.” = Look for blue. And wherever you are they run to find and touch that color.
2 Minute Quickies
- Going through the alphabet, take turns thinking of a word in Spanish that starts with each letter.
- When you’re in the car or out and about, the kids name things in Spanish as they see them. Tell them if they can name at least 10 things, they get a treat. Challenge them to spell some too!
- Say a word in Spanish, and challenge your child to say it in a sentence in Spanish and then tell you what it means in English.
- Give one word clues in English or Spanish, and the other person has to guess the Spanish word you’re thinking of.
- As ongoing “fun”, out of the blue ask each other a question in Spanish. See if the other person can answer. Be sure the questions are things everyone has learned. They can be as simple as “¿Cómo te llamas?” = What is your name? or things like, “¿Lees tu libro? = Do you read your book? The questions don’t have to have anything to do with what any of you are doing at that moment. Just the other person tries to answer correctly.
- Tell a short, silly story. Each person takes a turn saying a sentence to add to the story. It’s silly so that you don’t have to worry about it all making sense. You just want to get the kids using their Spanish. Most kids enjoy making it silly!
- Look at a picture anywhere, in a book or magazine, and see what you can say in Spanish about it. Name vocabulary you see or say a sentence about what is happening, or even ask the other person a question about it in Spanish. Keep it simple or get elaborate if you are able. Anything counts!
Play Flashcard Board Game
- Take any batch of flashcards, verbs or vocabulary, and lay them out in a path, like a game board. Verbs should be English side up and vocabulary picture side up.
- Give each player a game piece, just an item they use to move along the game board.
- First player rolls one or two dice and moves his/her game piece that number of spaces. He/she must say the Spanish for what is on the flashcard.
- If correct, he/she stays there. If not, he/she goes back to where he/she was.
- First one to the end wins. You may find your kids adding more and more flashcards so they can make the game board long and going in all kinds of directions!
- Show a picture to one player, and they have to say the word in Spanish.
- If correct, the player gets to write his “x” or “o” on the board.
- Play until someone wins or players tie.
- Modify this game to use verbs. Say the verb in English. Player says it in Spanish.
Have a Spelling Bee
- Start with the first person. Say a Spanish word aloud. He/she has to spell it correctly.
- Continue like this with the next player.
- If someone makes a mistake, he/she is out. Last one left wins.
- Make it more challenging by having them spell in Spanish if they know the Spanish alphabet. My students loved this!
Visit my Curriculum Activities page for some simple game ideas too!
Enjoy your summer and any Spanish practice you do. Remember, anything is better than nothing. So, don’t stress, just have fun, and whatever you do will be just fine!
PS – If you’re looking for a fun, easy, and affordable homeschool Spanish curriculum for your kids, take a look at my curriculum, Spanish for You!