February Roundup of Spanish Activities

 

MommyMaestra sponsor Spanish for You! has shared many amazing resources here over the years. If you aren't already a fan of theirs, then you should try looking through all of the free printables they've shared...and then go to their website and buy one of their excellent curricula sets to get serious about your Spanish learning!

Today, we're sharing a roundup of activities perfect for February, that you can find available here on MommyMaestra. Check them out and then go order your homeschool curriculum sets for the coming school year! They are perfect for both home and school classrooms!

Winter-Themed Spanish Activities

These are some of the fun downloads available from Spanish for You!

• Winter Word Search
  
  

• Winter Words Daily Activity in Spanish
  
  

• Valentine's Bingo and Activities
  
  

• Valentine Numbers Game

Supplies for Learning Spanish

Merriam-Webster Webster’s Spanish-English Dictionary for Students

Merriam-Webster's Illustrated Spanish-English Student Dictionary

Digital Voice Recorder 
(Great for working on your pronunciation!)

Llama Composition Notebook

Budget-Friendly Spanish Learning Program

Remember! Spanish for You!'s program is geared for middle schoolers and is the perfect choice for homeschoolers and afterschoolers alike because their concepts are carefully divided up into manageable bundles that are available for immediate download from their website.

If this is your first time here, you can find other free samples from Spanish for You! here. There are some fantastic downloads of games and activities for you and your family to enjoy. If you enjoy this activity, be sure to visit the Spanish for You! website where you'll find tons of additional resources for you to help your young Spanish learner!

Other Posts You May Enjoy

• Downloadable Fill-Your-Backpack Game in Spanish
  
  
• Free 1-Day Homeschool Lesson
  
  
• Free Lessons on Spanish Vowels
  
  
• Free Thanksgiving Printable Activities in Spanish

Brick-Stamped Apple Tree Activity

 

Are you looking for a fun and fall-themed activity or craft to keep your kids busy this weekend? This (LEGO) brick-stamped apple tree craft is brilliantly simple to prepare!

I have two boys who absolutely love Legos... 

(One small tote full of Lego's from my kid's room dumped all over the living room floor.)

So saying I have all the bricks 100 kids need to craft with is by no means an exaggeration. 

And I'm guessing that a LOT of you reading this can totally relate. So that's why I thought it would be fun to share this simple craft using a little paint, a piece of paper, and some LEGOS! It's the perfect craft in ANY language!

Supplies:

• Green paint in 2 different shades
• Red paint
• Brown paint
• A paper plate or large plastic lid
• Paper
• Legos in assorted shapes

Directions:

1) Squeeze a generous amount of each color of paint on a paper plate.

2) Instruct your child to make the trunk and the branches first using brown paint. A long, skinny Lego will work best. Allow your child to experiment with which side of the LEGO they prefer to use as a stamper. Each side offers different textures.

3) Next, encourage the child to stamp into the green paint. Layer the colors of green and use a variety of bricks to create the leaves.

4) Offer a small brick to create the apples. We found a brick with only 2 connectors was a nice choice. Allow the project to dry... then display!

As the painting is happening, your young child's fine motor skills will be used to pinch and hold the slippery bricks. And kids will love the sensation of creating art with a favorite toy.

Happy crafting!

Daylight Savings Activity for Children

Tonight, before we go to bed, most of us will be setting our clocks back. For some, it is a blessed extra hour of sleep...unless you have small children like me. 😭

Have you heard (or participated) in Tinkergarten's Annual Fall Lantern Walk? I just found out about this lovely tradition that is designed to help kids welcome the end of daylight saving time and shed light and positivity on an already challenged year. 

This national event is normally held in groups outdoors and led by local Leaders but will be held virtually this year, keeping families safe and allowing anyone to join from anywhere around the world! Kids are asked to create homemade “lanterns” and to make it extra special, add a positive thought or a special memory from this year. Families can sign up to receive this year’s toolkit and join in activities leading up to the event.

On their website, you can watch the how-to video so you can help your child make their own lantern using VERY simple materials.

What a lovely way to help children learn about Daylight Savings and help them adjust to the shorter days.

Free Download: Thanksgiving Connect Four in Spanish

November is finally here and Dia de los Muertos is officially over, so that means we can all now begin to celebrate fall and the next national holiday: Thanksgiving! This month's freebie from our sponsor, Spanish for You! is a printable game to boost Spanish vocabulary associated with fall and Thanksgiving.

Today's printable is a 4-page activity. Your little Spanish learners will learn key words for the season while playing games.

Click here to download this file

Bilingual Books About Fall & Thanksgiving 

(affiliate links)

Spanish for You!'s program is geared for middle schoolers and is the perfect choice for homeschoolers and afterschoolers alike because their concepts are carefully divided up into manageable bundles that are available for immediate download from their website.

If this is your first time here, you can find other free samples from Spanish for You! here. There are some fantastic downloads of games and activities for you and your family to enjoy. If you enjoy this activity, be sure to visit the Spanish for You! website where you'll find tons of additional resources for you to help your young Spanish learner!

Teaching Winter Preparation & Giveaway

photo courtesy State Farm

This is part of a sponsored collaboration with State Farm and Latina Mom Bloggers. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

Winter has made its icy way across the country this past week. While we didn't get any snow, the frigid weather made a record low here. I'm sure that this is just the beginning and am already thinking about how I'm going to be prepared for the snow and ice we're sure to get.

And I'm helping my children to think about how to prepare for bad weather, too. 

At home we stock up with canned soups, water, and hot chocolate. :) We've been stacking wood for our wood-burning stove as a backup just in case our electricity goes out in an ice storm. Flashlights are being dug out and batteries stocked. 

Just because winter is coming doesn't mean that our homeschool schedules stop. We still have piano lessons, reading programs, field trips, and more scheduled. So I'm also cleaning out my van gathering supplies for the it based on this winter driving survival list from State Farm. In go the blankets, bottled water, first aid kit, flashlights, and jumper cables. Because you never know when you might get stranded. Heavy snows and ice storms can lead to bad driving conditions. 

Actually, I'm having the kids clean out the van because most of the weird little things rattling around in there the kids put there: jackets, pencils, Legos, perler beads, Hiccup action figure, books, drawing pads, marbles, crazy loom bracelets...sound familiar? If so, then you must be a parent. I know these items are pretty tame. I think the weirdest thing we've ever had in our trunk (or van) has been an incubator with baby flamingos...and owls..and crowned pigeons. (No joke.) But I guess those aren't as weird as some.

State Farm asked 3,000 random Americans: “What’s the weirdest thing you’ve driven around with in your vehicle’s trunk?” Here's what they said.

What do you keep in your trunk? Share it here or tweet about it using the #InviernoSeguro #WhatsInYourTrunk hashtags

Learn more by visiting the State Farm website. You can also follow them on Facebook.

The Giveaway

State Farm has generously offered a $50 Visa gift card to one MommyMaestra reader. Wouldn't that be nice to help pay off some holiday bills after the new year?

To enter, simply use the Rafflecopter below. 

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be a Part of Giving Tuesday

Do you know about Giving Tuesday? It's not a new idea, but this year it is blossoming into a national movement. Taking place on November 27th, Giving Tuesday is a call to action that urges everyone to demonstrate generosity and compassion by contributing to their local charities as a way to improve their community.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how I as a parent can help teach my children to be kind, appreciative, compassionate, and giving. How do I develop their ability to see others who are less fortunate and to feel moved to help if they are able? I want so much to instill in them a strong sense of social responsibility, so that they can grow up to be contributing members of our society.

Giving to others is a valuable lesson. It helps us to stop focusing on ourselves for the moment, and to think about someone else instead. I really think that in giving, we become happier. We begin to see how blessed our lives really are, when we see the struggles and challenges that other people often face. Frequently, it makes our own difficulties seem smaller and less serious.

More than anything, I want my children to grow up happy, healthy, and ready to work hard to leave this world a better place.

So this is why I'm thinking hard about Giving Tuesday, and how we as a family can contribute. I see so many options available. Here are just a few:

- Donate items like blankets, socks, or boxes of tissue to our local nursing home,

- Collect canned goods for our local food pantry,

- Giving our local library some of the many books we own and no longer read,

- Buy craft/activity kits to donate to our local nursing home,

- Gather items (shoes, coats, blankets, etc.) to give to our local Mission store,

- Buy, donate, and plant bulbs at our local park.

It is simply a matter of choosing where we want to focus.

But the reality is that Giving Tuesday is so much more than just a one-time event. It is a mindset that should stay with us all year long. How can we make our community a better place? What can we do to improve it for others?

After all of the emphasis placed on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday is - in my opinion anyway - a better way to help us remember that the important thing in life is not material wealth, but rather the spirit of love, generosity, and compassion.

With this in mind, our local homeschool group got together last week and made Thanksgiving cards for the elderly living at the nursing home here in town. We then delivered them on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. This event touched my 8-year-old daughter. Though she was scared of some of the residents, she bravely entered the rooms with me or the other children, to wish the elderly a happy Thanksgiving and give them a card. Before we left, she asked me if we could do this again soon. I wish all children could experience moments like these and learn to see others with compassionate eyes.

I hope that this weekend you will think about how your family can participate in Giving Tuesday's movement...AND keep it going throughout the year.

For more ideas on how your family can participate, follow #GivingTuesday on Facebook and Twitter. Or simply visit their website.


Un abrazo....

MommyMaestra's Thanksgiving Resources

I'm ending this week with a recap and reminder of all the Thanksgiving resources I've already shared here on MommyMaestra (and a few other places) over the last few years. This way you don't have to go digging around the blog trying to find them. Good stuff coming up next week!

PRINTABLES

Bilingual Thanksgiving Mobile - This mobile has proven to be one of the most popular fall printables that I've made. It is a lot of hands-on fun and preschoolers can even put it together with just a little help from an adult.

Bilingual Fall Activity Pack - Perfect for keeping your preschooler, kindergartner or first grader busy one day this week while you're working on Thanksgiving preparations.

Bilingual Bookmarks - Download this set of three bilingual bookmarks for free at my TpT store.

The Muppets' Road Trip Game - If you're driving long distances to visit los abuelos this holiday, check out this fun set of printables created last year for the premiere of the last Muppet movie.


HISTORY

Top 5 Thanksgiving Myths - How many of these myths did you believe were true?

Bilingual Resources for Thanksgiving - A great list of awesome resources, some in English and some in Spanish.

10 Ways to Teach Your Kids About Thanksgiving - 10 great ways to spend staying busy with your kids Thanksgiving week on Mamiverse.


BOOKS & CRAFTS

MommyMaestra's Thanksgiving Pinterest Board - Have you seen my board, yet? It's FULL of Thanksgiving goodness!!

Bilingual Thanksgiving Books - The giveaway is now closed, but the books are still wonderful!


RECIPES - Check out these Thanksgiving Week Specials...

Guavalicious...Turkey?

Pumpkin Empanadas

Butternut Squash Tamales

MommyMaestra's Fall Bucket List {PRINTABLE}

Fall has officially arrived here in our neck of the woods. And although I love the changes in the trees, the arrival of our songbirds, and the cooler temperatures, I'm certainly not ready for winter's cold breath. Pero, sometimes you just have to make the best of things, no?

So to inspire us and get mi familia into the rhythm of the season, I created our own fall bucket list of things I love about fall. It's not bilingual, but I thought I would share it with you all anyway, just in case someone would like to borrow ours or needs a little inspiration to make their own.

Click here to download your copy

Are you excited about the changing of the seasons?