Kids need constant entertainment. It can be because they have a lot of energy. Or maybe because they need to relax and have fun after school. Or the fact that they’re super creative and need to let their imagination run wild. Or just because you need a small moment for yourself, which is totally comprehensible.
All reasons are valid for allowing our kids for some entertainment in their lives; they need that. But we should be cautious with what kind of things we let them spend their time on. Do you know what’s a great source of entertainment? Crafts!
Crafting is not only fun, but it brings many benefits for your kids, including developing their Spanish skills! That’s right, children can learn Spanish while doing crafts.
So, you should make some crafts with your children while speaking Spanish. At least if you don’t want them to stop practicing their Spanish, but they also need a break from studying.
Hey, it doesn’t even have to be super expensive. Here are some websites where you can get free printables to make Spanish crafts for school age kids. These will save you some time and money.
Pinterest Crafts for Kids
Pinterest is a social media app where you can look up images of anything you want!
Are you interested in fashion? You can look for cute outfit inspiration there! Do you like motivational quotes to send to all your friends? Just type “inspiring quotes” and you’ll get a bunch. Are you looking for interesting kids’ books? You can also type “children’s books” there, then click any image you find interesting and see which book it is.
Pinterest really has it all! And you can find many free resources for kids, as well. Yes, even printables for kids to make crafts and practice their Spanish skills while doing them.
When you look up images of printables on Pinterest, you’ll get tons of options. When you click on one, you’ll see a description of it. As well as the comment section, the website where it comes from (if there’s any), and the profile of the person who uploaded it.
If you click on the profile, you’ll get redirected to that person’s Pinterest profile, so you can see everything they upload. Who knows? Maybe they have more printables there.
We’ll leave with the link for your kids to build a super cute mermaid! This Pinterest profile has more crafts where that came from. Check them out.
Oh and, by the way, creating an account is completely free! How convenient!
DLTK’s Crafts for Kids
DLTK’s Crafts for Kids is a website owned by a mom who wanted to share her love for craft with her children. So she knows exactly how much fun it is for both kids and adults to create awesome things together.
Through her website, she aims to help your kids learn Spanish through different types of crafts. There are different categories for the crafts, such as numbers, shapes, countries, animals, and more. There are so many options, you have many afternoons of crafting assured. They always include the process of creation and the printable you’ll need for your craft of choice.
We highly recommend the quetzal printable, as it’s the national bird of Guatemala and it lives in different parts of Latin America. So your kids will not only have fun building it, but they’ll also learn something beautiful about a Hispanic country.
Spanglish Baby
Spanglish Baby is a website for parents who are raising bilingual children. They have different articles on different things related to Hispanic culture. You can find traditions, ways to celebrate a special day from a Hispanic country, food, books, games, and more.
Among those many articles, you can find an area for arts & crafts. In those blogs, you’ll find ideas to do with your kids and the process. Some of them also have links to printables for your crafts. Since it’s a bilingual site, some of those printables are in Spanish. So even if you don’t do the craft with your kids, they’ll still learn the language if the printable has Spanish words.
There are also some printables related to a Spanish-speaking culture. So, even if a printable doesn’t have words, your children can still learn about Hispanic traditions. At least if they’re using one of these printouts related to Spanish cultures.
We recommend the Día de Muertos Sun Catcher.
Give Your Child the Gift of Spanish!
Brother Creative Center
This is an amazing option for craft templates and printables. Brother Creative Center offers many different printables for both kids and adults. So you could do your own crafting while your kids are doing theirs. It would be a cute parent-children moment.
You can choose between the many different categories that they have. From calendars to invitations to coloring pages to origami crafts. And there are more! Plus, within each category there are also different choices. You’ll have crafts for days!
As if that weren’t enough, they also have a “de vuelta a la escuela” (back to school) category. Where you’ll find colorful templates for children to organize themselves, do activities, and learn new things.
When you download a crafting printable, you’ll get a PDF file. In it there will be the template for you to cut and glue and build the whole piece, plus a step by step. So everything goes as easy as possible. Sometimes you’ll get two PDFs, one with the template and one with the instructions.
We haven’t even told you the best: This website is in complete Spanish! So if you show it to your kid and choose the printable together, you’ll probably learn a few words along the way.
We recommend the origami t-rex.
Taller TeleKids
This is a website for children interested in cinema. It’s in complete Spanish, so you’ll learn a lot. They have a blog in which they often write about what they do in their courses and sometimes present certain videos. If your kids know how to read and love the world of movies, this could be perfect for them. The blogs are usually short and easy to understand. They’ll acquire Spanish vocabulary through a fun activity with an interesting topic for them.
Within their website, they also have a crafting page. There you’ll find some templates to print and build different crafts based on cinema items. From popcorn to a video camera. As you can imagine, the materials list and instructions are in Spanish. That’s great for learning the language through crafting. Oh, and there’s also a video tutorial if you need it.
123 Kids Fun
This is a website for kids to have fun and learn. They have a blog and an app. As well as a Kids TV category, where you’ll find videos with different topics, from songs to DIY video tutorials! Though these videos aren’t in Spanish, you can try to do the crafts shown there while you speak Spanish with your kid.
They also have a homeschooling & activities category. There you will find the printables. There are coloring pages, worksheets, diplomas, flashcards, and printables about different topics, like the human body. Oh, and we can’t forget about the printables for crafts; there are different themes!
You should check out the 4th of July pinwheels. Besides the template, the page includes a video tutorial, so you don’t get lost in the process.
Tips to Practice Your Spanish During Arts & Crafts Time
Use Crafting Websites or Templates in Spanish
You can use any printable and template you want. In fact, above we showed you many printables and websites in English. But we also show you a couple in Spanish. The Spanish ones are the best ones to use, because they’ll help your kid be fully immersed in the Spanish language. This is the best method to learn.
After all, it’s the way we learned our mother tongue: By listening to our surroundings and doing activities in our native language. So, by being immersed in our language.
Let them read the Spanish website, the instructions or the text in the templates. If they don’t know how to read yet, you can read it to them.
Ask questions in Spanish
During the whole process of building the craft, ask your children questions in Spanish. They can be simple, like “¿cuál es el nombre de este objeto?” (what’s the name of this thing?). To more complicated ones, like “dime cuál es el siguiente paso a hacer” (tell me what’s the next step to do). So they would have to explain more in Spanish.
You can even ask them: “¿Qué manualidad quieren hacer?” (which craft do you want to do?)
After the craft is done, ask your kids to describe it to you.
This will force them to answer in Spanish. In case they still don’t, insist that they use their Spanish skills. But make sure not to sound angry, they should feel safe to make mistakes.
Now it is your turn to show off your Spanish skills
While doing the craft of your choice with your kid, speak Spanish the whole time if you know the language. This will encourage your kids to also speak in Spanish, even if they’re not fluent yet. They’ll feel inspired by you and not judged.
Don’t make it like study time or school time, simply speak casually while crafting. Talk about what you’re doing. You can even tell your kids the instructions as you go in complete Spanish. For example: “Sam, ahora pega el recorte de conejito en el cartón, por favor” (Sam, now glue the bunny cut out to the cardboard, please).
If you don’t speak Spanish, research a few words related to the craft you’ll do before doing it. Words like “tijeras” (scissors), “pegamento” (glue), “paper” (papel), “plantillas” (templates). Use those few Spanish words every now and then during your crafting conversation. It’s Spanglish, but it’s also a good way to start immersing your kids in the language.
Spanish playtime!
If by any chance, you built something you can voice and move, like characters from a cartoon or cute animals, play with them. For example: You can be the cat, and your kids can be the elephants. Create a storyline for your characters as you go and give them a voice. Let the children guide you through the game, so they don’t feel too pressured or controlled.
Make sure you all are speaking Spanish while playing.
Craft Your Way to Spanish Fluency
Is it possible to learn Spanish as an expert only through crafting? As fun as it would be, the truth is that you can’t become a master of Spanish through crafts. This is just a resource and activity that complements your language journey. We highly recommend it, but you still need more.
Here at TruFluency Kids we have exactly what your children need to become true masters of the Spanish language. We offer online Spanish immersion classes for your kids. What does this mean? That the environment of all our lessons is in complete Spanish, we barely use English. This way kids will learn in a natural, casual way.
We also have native teacher, who will make sure to teach through fun activities. This includes playing games, songs, dancing, cooking, and crafts! See? Your kids can continue their love for crafting in Spanish during our classes.
Oh, we’ll also make sure they practice their speaking, so they achieve Spanish fluency!
Why don’t you take a 30-minute trial class now? It only costs $9. There are no more than six students per class, so everything is super personalized. After it, you’ll get the chance to be a part of a parent Q & A to answer all your questions.
