Learning Spanish Through Music and Play with the Itsy Bitsy Spider

Welcome Guest Blogger Frances from Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes.

One of my favorite go to activities to teach my son Spanish is through music, and play.  I recently had his friends (ages 3-5 yrs. old) from his Spanish playgroup come over to visit,  and I wanted to do something fun for them. Plus, I needed to "keep the Spanish going" since they often tend to speak in the community language: English. 

We kicked off the play date with book  La Araña Muy Ocupada (Spanish Edition) Board book. In a Pinterest search I found a super easy spider finger puppet craft.  We made the cutest arañas for them to sing-a-long to Hap Palmer's La Pequeña Araña/The Itsy Bitsy Spider song.  The arañas are made  out of craft foam.  Once everyone finished their arañas we all got up to sing the song: 

♫♫ La araña pequeñita subió, subió, subió 

Vino la lluvia y se la llevó 

Salió el sol y todo se secó 

Y la araña pequeñita subió, subió, y subió

Trepando y trepando poco a poco 

Esa arañita no se rendía 

Seguía subiendo y seguía tratando 

Hasta que el sol salió brillando

Hay una araña en tu pie 

Hay una araña en tu rodilla 

Hay una araña en tu estómago...♫♫

You can read the full lyrics here.  

After a fun session of singing we used Spanish Playground's Itsy Bitsy Spider's sequence cards. The children had fun coloring them, and putting them in order.  As they colored the cards we practiced key words in Spanish such as, araña, casa, sol, nube, and the colors as well: rojo, azul, morado, and anaranjado (the colors of their spiders). 

Do you have a favorite Spanish song? Please share, and comment below.

Frances is a part-time blogger, mommy and wife of a beautiful multicultural familia.  She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a certification in Human Resources.  She blogs about  heritage, culture, bilingualism, multicultural children’s books, and discovering the world through her son’s eyes.  You can follow her at Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes.