Categories: LIFESTYLE

Best 5 Hispanic Heritage Month Games and Activities for Kids

Have you been put in charge of coming up with activities and games to utilize with the kids during Hispanic Heritage Month? Has the task left you at a loss for ideas? If so, you may want to consider glancing at a few of my suggestions. My children enjoyed engaging in them. Thus, yours may as well. Here they are:

Where in the World?

For starters, you may want to consider challenging the kids to a game of where in the world. The purpose of the game is to draw attention to the various Spanish speaking areas around the world. In order to play it, you’ll need to gather maps and facts about such places as Cuba, Puerto Rico, Spain, Chile and Argentina. A good resource for such information is the National Geographic Kids website. It contains facts, maps, photos and videos of every country in the world.

Once you have the information on hand, provide the children with a series of clues. Then ask them to guess which country you are alluding to. For example, you could tell the children that the place you are thinking of is a large island in the Caribbean Sea that is home to the world’s smallest frog and the world’s smallest hummingbird. If they guess Cuba, they would be correct.

Each time a child answers correctly, give him or her a dulce (sweet) or a faux piece of foreign currency (peso). You can typically purchase bulk candy and play money through party supply stores like Oriental Trading. Afterward, let the kids trade the play money in for assorted prizes with a Hispanic theme. Examples include sombreros, maracas, confetti eggs (cascarones) and sugar skulls (Calaveras).

Depending on the kids’ ages, you could also turn it into a math exercise by asking them to figure out the exchange rate. You can find kid friendly information about world currency on the Scholastic and Teacher Vision websites. The Crayola website also has a great activity that focuses on international currency and exchange rates that could be modified and used for various age groups. The activity includes elements of geography, art, social studies and math.

Who am I?

Once you are done playing where in the world, you may want to consider launching into a game of who am I. It is played the same way, only in this version you’ll want to focus on famous Hispanic people. Examples of famous Spanish speaking individuals include Hernando de Soto, Dennis Chaves, Cesar Chavez and Pablo Casals. If you need additional names and resources to set up the game, you may find the Nick Jr. website helpful. It features coloring sheets and trading cards that highlight famous Hispanics and Spanish speaking countries.

Where Does My Family Come From?

I can tell you from experience that in Spanish culture, family is very important. Therefore, you may want to engage your children in activities that help them to explore their roots and the traditions that go along with it. For example, you could have them create a family tree, drawings, stories or recipes that highlight their family’s country of origin and traditions. Afterward, you could compare those to stories and traditions of Spanish speaking families. There are family history forms available on the Mid-Continent Public Library’s website that you could use for such an activity. You may also want to consider putting the stories and forms into one large book for all of the students to enjoy looking at during their leisure time.

Spanish Dance and Music

Another superlative way to celebrate the occasion is to introduce the kids to Spanish dance and music. For example, you could teach them how to salsa, merengue, cha cha or tango. There are companies that sell dance instructional DVDs that are geared towards children. Once of them is Dance Kids, LLC. They sell a DVD entitled “Salsa with Me” that you may find helpful. Other options include letting the children listen to Spanish music, make maracas and form a conga line.

Spanish Foods

Lastly, you may want to incorporate Spanish foods into your month long celebration. Each Spanish speaking country has its own unique cuisine that you could focus on. Thus, you could opt to highlight the foods of one country or several. Items to consider making or serving to the kids are homemade tortilla chips (baked), salsa, guacamole dip, open-faced Quesadillas and Spanish cheesecake (Quesada Pasiega).

Source: Personal Experience