Here at Kids in Madrid we were lucky enough to have been sent some brand new products by My Gecko Box to review. We spent a fun filled afternoon making the crafts and reading factsheets about underwater creatures and pirates.
In the first six months of life, babies change and develop rapidly – but all babies are different and develop at their own pace. Learn about some ways that will help enterintaing babies as they grow! This can be daunting for parents who want to make sure that their babies are making the most of their potential and picking up all of the best skills to prepare them for the next stage of life. So you’ll be glad to hear that there really is no need to worry – babies are little geniuses! Every day through seeing, touching and listening to their environment, babies teach themselves about all of the essentials (colours, textures, language, tastes – and, of course, how to get what they want!) But research has shown that the more new experiences babies are exposed to, the more new skills they are likely to pick up – so it’s always a good idea to try new things with your baby and see how they respond to them. Even something as simple as hanging a colourful mobile over their cot, or bouncing your baby on your knee is useful to their development.50 things to do with your baby With that in mind, Usborne have designed a series of Parents’ Guides with easy, inexpensive ideas for activities you can do with your babies and toddlers. While you are playing together, your baby will be learning new skills, finding out about the world and most importantly – having fun! There are also lots more ideas and general parenting information at www.usborne-quicklinks.com. Just type in the key words ‘entertain babies’. For more information on how to purchase 50 Things to do with your Baby in Madrid, visit www.booksellers.es. An introduction… Usborne Publishing is the largest and most successful independent publisher in the UK, where we have over 40 years’ experience of publishing fantastic books for children. Founded by Peter Usborne in 1973, our list of over 2000 titles is available worldwide for children of all age groups – from babies through to young adults.
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There is something beautiful about walking around the city with a camera
2015 is going to be an amazing year. This is what to expect in Madrid for this up coming year!
Temper tantrums. Just the thought of one is enough to make you cringe.
According to my seven year old son, amongst the counting, clapping and skipping songs in Spanish, the most widely used rhyme to decide who is “out” is the wonderfully named “pinto pinto gorgorito” rhyme and is decided in the same way as our equivalent Eeny Meeny. I’ve found this link to words and audio: pinto pinto gorgorito But another popular one is “zapatito Blanco, zapatito azul”, where the players say the rhyme together and the teacher or parent points to one of the children to answer the question, upon which the counting begins to decide who is out. The rhyme translates as: “white shoe, blue shoe, how old are you?”; if the child answers “six” then the counting begins and the sixth child is “out”. The lyrics are Zapatito blanco zapatito azúl ¿cuántos años tienes tú? My son claims there is yet another rhyme which ends with counting the age of one of the participants along the lines: “en la iglesia no se habla ni se mueve el pie (when in church you neither speak nor move); cuantos años tiene usted (how old are you?); has hablado a la una, dos..hasta la edad mencionado” (You’ve spoken! Counting begins to the number of the age mentioned). Skipping songs While on the subject of playground songs, I began to do a bit of research into songs to skip to. I know that skipping ropes aren’t as omnipresent as they used to be (now considered a Health & Safety hazard by many), however there are some Spanish skipping songs that rival our “I like coffee / I like tea” or “I’m a little Dutch girl”. Spanish skipping songs 1 Spanish skipping songs 2 Clapping songs Where my research has failed me miserably is in finding clapping songs similar to “a sailor went to sea” in Spanish. Instead let me leave you with these two short videos prepared by the British Library, the first one is a short history of clapping games and the second one shows two girls clapping “a sailor went to sea”: A Sailor went to sea (personalised) A Sailor went to sea (original) If anyone can work out the full lyrics sung by these two little girls, let me know – I think improvisation was the name of the game. Have fun and get skipping/clapping! Follow our blog to stay up to date with the latest events in the life of Madrid.
If, like me, you always start each New Year with a handful of resolutions but find that by mid-February they are all but forgotten, how about sharing these resolutions with your children? We all know how good children are at reminding you of promises you’ve made, especially when they are involved as well! Making bilingualism possible at home is a group effort. How can we expect our children to speak English if we don’t set an example? Forget resolutions like joining a gym or watching less telly – why not make bilingualism at home your resolution for 2013? In July I made a few suggestions about how to keep your children engaged with my article: English over the summer holiday. Why not try them out at home over the next few months? Draw up a motivation chart like this wonderful one here New Year Resolutions Chart New Year Chart and work out some fun family prizes that you can treat yourselves to once you have worked hard to reach your goal. Remember to keep language learning easy and natural as your kids have quite a tough schedule at school already. Here are a few more suggestions: New Year’s Resolutions for Preschoolers We will learn how to count up to five We will learn the colours of the rainbow We will learn five animals and five shapes New Year’s Resolutions for School Age Kids We will play some indoor or outdoor games in English We will listen to English language nursery rhymes and try to sing them together (all of us, not just the kids!) We will count in English when buying things at the shops, getting our pocket money or purchasing tickets for the cinema. We will watch our favourite Disney films in English with our parents. New Year’s Resolutions for Teens We will go to social events in English such as pop concerts, cinema or theatre. We will send text messages in English – hopefully without causing too much confusion! We will read teenage literature in English (parents: if your English isn’t good enough to read then why not choose books that are available in Spanish as well? Go on – teenage literature isn’t as bad as you think! Please feel free to contact me if you want some advice on where to start: info@littlefingersfirst.com). As for me, my New Year’s resolution is to brush up on the subjunctive tense in Spanish… I’ve been here for 13 years and still get it wrong. Wish me luck! Follow our blog to stay up to date with the latest events in the life of Madrid.
Can English games be played by Spanish children and their non-English speaking parents? The answer is “yes”! From playing “snap” with picture cards, to outdoor games such as British Bulldog, there is no reason to be language-shy when having fun! Games for infants “I spy” – I play a bilingual version of “I spy” where I say “Veo, veo the door” and the children have to shout “puerta”. This basic game helps with vocabulary recognition. With children who have a more advanced understanding of English, the game can be played the other way around – “I spy la puerta”, to which they have to find the English equivalent. “hot and cold” – this simple game has children looking for an item that has been hidden in the room. When they get close to where the item has been hidden you let them know by saying “hot, hot, hot” and when they are far away then you repeat “cold, cold, cold”. Once they have got the hang of the game more vocabulary can be introduced like “closer”, “up”, “down”, “underneath” etc. Games for primary-age children “Chinese whispers” – this is a fun game to play with a group of primary-aged children. Get the group to sit in a circle. You whisper a simple sentence in the ear of the child nearest to you (“Today is Monday”) and then that child whispers what she heard to the person sitting next to her and so forth until the whispered sentence returns to you. The likelihood is that you will hear something rather different to the original phrase! “Mr Crocodile” – have the children stand in line and ask them to take one step forward if they can answer Mr Crocodile’s question correctly. Then stand ten paces in front of the children and ask them to repeat “Mr Crocodile, Mr Crocodile, can I cross your river?” to which you reply saying “Only if you are wearing something red/blue/stripy/spotty/etc.”. The first one to reach you is the winner. Other versions of the game have all the children wearing “red” walk towards you and those not wearing red running as quickly as possible to avoid being caught by “the crocodile” (you). Any child you catch is out of the game. The last child to survive is the winner and becomes the next Mr Crocodile. KIM games appropriately named considering the webpage that hosts this blog (!), the acronym KIM stands for “Keep in Memory”. The two most popular KIM games I play with children are the Scouts version or the Spot the difference version. a) “Scouts KIM game”: Children playing this game must be able to read and write. I set out several items on a table and cover them with a cloth. I then usually show flash cards which include all the items on the table plus a few more similar things (it could be fruit, shapes, tools, toys, – whatever vocabulary the children are learning at the time). Once I am sure the children know all the words, I then uncover the cloth for 30 seconds so that the children can see what is on the table. Once the items have been covered again I ask them to write down what they saw. Ideally the children will write their list in English but if it comes out in Spanish that is OK as long as the rest of the group help them remember what the item remembered is called in English. The child who remembers the most items in English is the overall winner, but other winners include the child who remembered the most items (even if they write the list in Spanish) and the child who helps his classmates remember the names in English. b) “Spot the difference KIM game”: Here I ask the children to spend a few minutes looking around the room we are in. I then ask them to leave the room for a couple of minutes. I rearrange the room (and sometimes change something about myself too – take my glasses off or put a cardigan on) and ask them to come back in the room. From youngest to oldest I ask them to spot one difference at a time. One-to-one games Quite a few board games can easily be used to practice English at home. I have found dominoes, Snakes & Ladders and ludo excellent for practicing counting in English; whilst “Who’s Who” and “Operation” are always fun to play, especially when your children are learning the parts of the body at school. The KIM games and the “hot and cold” game can be adapted for one-to-one use too. I recently signed up to the mailing list of homeenglishteacher.com and I really can’t recommend it highly enough. The author shares my opinion that it doesn’t matter if you speak to your child in English with an accent – who cares? As long as you and your child can speak good, proper and correct English, the accent really isn’t such a big deal. Go on, what are you waiting for? Follow our blog to stay up to date with the latest events in the life of Madrid.
