Learning Spanish with toddler without screens?
during pandemic times, when all activities are via zoom, what is a zero-screentime family to do? i am very committed to keeping up with my daughters spanish language acquisition, and was all set to do canta & baila conmigo before the pandemic. i dont want to do the offering on zoom. anyone have any other creative ideas on how to keep up conversational language going, besides screens? i do some recorded music but cant find much i like. any beautiful acoustic (not kid-crazy pop) spanish language music for kids? and, beyond that, is there anything SAFE that is outdoors or .... something....to do spanish language conversation? for a 2.5 year old? thank you!!
Sep 21, 2020
Parent Replies
The library has a lot of books in Spanish! You can send an email to request Spanish books for your kid's age range, or search and request them yourself. If nobody in your kid's life can speak/read Spanish, you may have a hard time - it's really hard to learn a language from music or anything that isn't interactive. We hired a part-time Spanish-speaking babysitter to watch our kids for a couple of afternoons a week because we wanted some in-person language exposure. We also need the childcare, so it was a fairly easy choice for us, but obviously it means bringing another person, and her family, into our exposure bubble. You could hire someone to watch your kid only outside and it would be safer.
Times have changed. If you are a zero-screen time family you might want to reconsider you position. Screens are the best tool for learning we have. But if you insist in not using screens your options are phone, records, CDs, tapes, and books. I would say videos and DVDs but that requires a screen.
Covid and isolation is going to be with us for months if not years to come. As a parent and an educator I really hope you re-consider your no-screen policy. There are app and online groups your daughter could be using. Give it some thought.
For music, we love 123 Andres. You can play then from YouTube but we have some CDs too.
Hi,
I unfortunately do not know of any socially distant activities. However, I do have a few other resources to share:
Holaamigobox.com - monthly age appropriate subscription box with activities and vocabulary in Spanish.
Booklandiabox.com- local book store that focuses on diverse books in Spanish. You can order a la carte or as part of a subscription.
Music-
We love 123Andres and their kids music (Grammy award winning). They do have a fun virtual live show every week but you could just as easily buy the CDs/ download their music.
I would also look into music by Jose-Luis Orozco.
Suerte!
Check out the CDs of Marta Gomez, a very talented Colombian jazz musician who has done several lovely children’s albums, including one of traditional songs for which she won a Latin Grammy.
Have you looked into KSS Immersion School? They teach pre-schoolers Spanish and it sound's like your daughter is about that age. https://ksspreschool.com/