The most important time for human development happens in children between they are born and turn 8 years old. It’s during this period that the development of key important skills happens.
All these skills and competencies our children develop in their early years are a strong foundation for success when they turn adults.
Discover the greatest games to learn Spanish! Give your children a strong foundation by teaching them a new language.
Table of Contents
- Learning A New Language Through Games
- Best Online Spanish Games For Kids
- Best Traditional Spanish Games For Kids
Learning A New Language Through Games
Unicef published a very interesting paper on how to strengthen learning through games in early childhood education programs.
Playing it’s a fun, interactive, and enjoyable way for kids to learn a new language. Spanish is spoken by more than 500 million people around the world, and it’s the second most spoken native language in the world.
Help your children build a solid language foundation, and acquire an essential life skill.
Best Online Spanish Games For Kids
In recent years, studies from Harvard and other universities worldwide have shown that we can leverage technology, applied to gaming, to help children develop.
Kids born in this day and age are exposed to screens from an early age. Why not turn that screen time into something useful and entertaining?
The only thing you’re going to need is a device connected to the internet, being an iPad, a phone, or a computer.
Your children will benefit from language learning through interactive puzzles, games, and quizzes. Let them build their Spanish language through these awesome games.
1. DuoLingo Kids
Website: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/duolingo-kids/id1261096643
The leading application for language learning has a version specific for kids.
As you may expect from an app developed by a multi-billion company, this is one of the highest quality learning systems for children.
Different to the other options we mentioned, you need to download and install the Duolingo Kids application on your phone or tablet. Additionally, you need to create an account within the app to begin using it.
Once you start using the app, it will ask a few questions to tailor your kid’s learning experience. After setting the age, and other initial configurations the proper game begins.
The game consists of several different mini-games that will combine a mix of vocabulary, audio exercises, and even some simple sentences. It’s a great way to make this learning experience well-rounded.
As the game progresses, the player can earn crowns, which serve as a prized currency. These rewards can be used to unlock more screens or mini-games. It’s almost like a ranking system.
Ranking a 4.1 star review average on the iOS App Store, this is one of the most popular and entertaining options for your children.
2. PBS Kids – Spanish Games
Website: https://pbskids.org/games/spanish/
PBS is a North-American entertainment media corporation, that offers content for all ages. Among their variety of shows and websites, you can find PBS Kids, which has videos and shows for kids.
PBS Kids also has a whole section dedicated to children’s games to learn Spanish. At the moment of writing, there are 10 different online games to play for free.
You can play these games directly from any browser, and no registration is required to use the site.
These games have different topics, including math, puzzles, vocabulary, and problem-solving. The main characters of these games are well known from TV shows. You will find The Cat in the Hat, Curious George, and Coco as your fun companions!
3. Rockalingua – Spanish Learning Games for Kids
Website: https://rockalingua.com/games
Rockalingua currently has 42 online free games that are designed to teach your children Spanish. All these games will work fine on any surface with a browser, so you can use a tablet, a phone, or a computer.
They use a “freemium” model, and while a large selection of games is completely free, other ones require a subscription. You can tell them apart by paying attention to the green “free” label under each of the game titles.
All the game titles flagged with the “free” label are available to enjoy without any registration or sign-up. It’s only the paid ones that will require you to sign up or sign in.
The majority of these games have extra materials available to download and use. For example, you can view an intro video, download a worksheet, and little video stories with quizzes. It’s a great way to expand the learning opportunities within the topic of the game.
The website has been around for a long time, and they keep adding games to their catalog regularly.
If you feel like doing a little good consider subscribing with them, since they are running a foundation that will donate 10% of their proceeds towards helping access education to those children in developing countries. You can find additional information on their website: Rockalingua Foundation
4. Spanish-Games
Website: https://www.spanish-games.net/spanishgames
Spanish-games.net have been around for a long time, and while the website looks a bit old fashioned its games still offer value and entertainment
On their site, they have 12 games designed to teach your child Spanish. Their games are a mix of topics and learning objectives.
There is a bit of everything, from puzzles to memory games, coordination and timing, and some vocabulary ones. Some of the titles will use just images, while others come with audio.
In our research, we found that while fun and engaging, some of these games could prove a little challenging for young children. Have a look at the first, and decide for yourself if there is the right fit for your kids.
5. Spanish in flow
Website: https://www.spanishinflow.com/
Spanish in flow is a game dedicated to helping learn vocabulary. You’ve presented an initial screen where you chose the speed or difficulty, and then you select the topic.
Similar to other websites, there is no need for registration or signing up to enjoy the game. Just click and enjoy.
Once selected the topic is, a screen will present a few pictures and your kid needs to match the meaning of the word with the right card. The game dynamic is simple and straightforward.
If you want your kids to give it a try, make sure you select the speed as “slow” in the initial splash screen. That will adjust the level of difficulty to a more infant audience.
While useful, this game can be a bit too simple, and perhaps a little less entertaining than the previously listed options. On the other side, this game is absolutely great for visual learners.
6. Word Toss
Website: https://www.abcya.com/games/spanish_vocabulary
Word Toss is a Spanish learning game for kids, ideal to let them learn and solidify vocabulary.
I think they did a great job with the graphics and the background music. Its graphic style makes the game appealing and attractive for children.
Once you start playing the game you can select a couple of options on how to customize your playing experience. First, you select which way you want to learn, that is Spanish to English or the other way around English to Spanish.
Then you go ahead and select one or multiple topics, and finally, off you go to the main game. The screen will show a word at the bottom, and the goal is to pop the balloon holding its meaning. If you get it correctly, you can advance to the next one.
The game will reward the players with virtual prizes, based on their performance. It’s great to keep the kids motivated and engaged.
Additionally, there is a ranking of the player’s best score. It’s a great idea, so you can compete against your previous highest score. Awesome to keep them engaged.
Best Traditional Spanish Games For Kids
Did you know first toys were used around 4.000 B.C.? The first board game has been dated around that date and was found to have originated in the old city of Babilonia. It was a board game similar to checkers.
Traditional games have been around since ancient times, and are absolutely fun. Compared to their digital counterparts, traditional toys and games are a full experience for your children’s senses.
Check our suggestions below for traditional games and teaching materials for kids, they’ll love it!
1. Brain Box – Let’s Learn Spanish
An awesome game from Brain Box that will help your kid learn Spanish vocabulary through different challenges. The game is designed to be visual and contains cards with pictures to help the learning experience.
Even though the game is marked for two or more players, you can adjust it to be a single player. You can let your kids play alone, or in a group of up to 8 children.
Additionally, it comes with a sand timer, to make it a bit more of a challenge. You can ignore the timer, if you want to take the pressure of the game, and let your kid learn at their own pace.
The box comes with 55 cards (the updated version comes with 77 cards), a ruleset card, a sand timer, and a die. The box is small enough to fit on a small backpack or a purse.
The cards contain all kinds of vocabulary words from different topics, that kids can relate to. For example, words that have a relationship with beach items, birthday parties, animals, weather, farm, colors, etc.
Overall, it’s a simple visual learning game focused on vocabulary. It’s small, compact, and easy to carry around. On top of it, you can adjust it for your kids to play alone or with friends.
2. Interactive Wall Chart
Specially designed for toddlers, this interactive wall chart is a great and fun way to learn numbers, colors, and music. Recommended for ages 1 to 5 years old.
This wall poster is made with scratch-proof and water-repellent soft material. The interactive wall can be folded and rolled in like a yoga mat. Ideal for storage, and traveling.
The wall chart contains words with each letter of the alphabet and a piano keyboard built-in. It comes with some prerecorded songs to help learn the alphabet. The audio volume can be configured easily.
When pressing each letter, it will play audio saying the letter and the related word with it. The poster can be switched from English to Spanish in a simple way.
3. Beginning to Learn Spanish for Kids
Intended for children of ages 3 to 8 years old, this learning set is a fun and light way of learning Spanish. Even though not strictly a game, the glowing reviews on Amazon made us include it in our list.
This set comes with 10 books of 16 pages each, ideal for children beginning to learn the language. They are written in very simple terms, with beautiful illustrations, color coding and supporting audio.
Each of these books contains stories, that help with the learning context. There is an element of repetition with simple sentences, for memory training. Additionally, English translation can be found at the back of each sheet.
The learning set comes with 32 practice sheets, that can be used to train. It’s a fun and interactive way to make your kids exercise and materialize their knowledge.
Every book will cover a different topic and helps create context. The areas covered are Family, Animals, Clothing, Colors, Face/Body, Fruit, Numbers, Shapes, Snacks, and Toys. These topics were chosen and reviewed by educators.
These books come with access to online resources where you can find the supporting audios. You can visit the URL indicated in the learning set, to download or stream those audio snippets.
4. Spanish Flash Cards for Kids and Toddlers
Flashcards are essential for language learning. They provide a visual and easy aid to learning and retaining vocabulary.
These flashcards are specifically designed for toddlers. The vocabulary is of common use, easy to relate to, and contextual to children.
In the 101 cards, your kids can learn multiple different topics. Some cards are dedicated to learning colors, and things that are of that related color.
The Spanish alphabet is included as part of another set of flashcards, with samples of words starting with those letters. Numbers are also part of the learning set. In case you’re wondering: Yes, there is a card with the Ñ, and some examples of words with it.
Shapes and body parts are another two areas covered by these high-quality flash cards. In terms of materials, these cards are printed in large sizes, with rounded corners, and ultra-durable laminated thick cardboard.
Your toddler will love these colorful, playful, and big cards.
