Funny how a teachable moment can evolve… The boys received their Easter baskets a week early from their grandma. Each one was packed with toys and lots of candy. Included in each was a 3-D foam 
dinosaur puzzle. In the package were two pieces of foam with the pieces precut and then a diagram of the pieces labeled with numbers. The directions were fairly simple… choose two pieces with the same number and construct the puzzle according to the numbers.
So, my little guy and I began putting together the tyrannosaurus which had about 25 pieces. As we were working on it, I realized that this definitely could be a teachable moment. So as we searched for the matching numbers, I started speaking in Spanish only. My son didn’t bat an eye! Then he started speaking in Spanish. I would ask “'¿Dónde está número once?” He would then look at the diagram saying over and over “once, once, once” until he found the piece. I honestly don’t think he realized he was doing this!
Oh, and we listened to Spanish language music in the background (Jarabe de Palo station on Pandora.com).
So, if you’re teaching your children Spanish at home, look out for those teachable moments. They’re everywhere!
Additional numbers activities:
OnlineFreeSpanish.com printable worksheets: http://www.onlinefreespanish.com/aplica/coloringpages/printables/numbers110/printnum110.htm
OnlineFreeSpanish.com activity: http://www.onlinefreespanish.com/aplica/lessons/numbers110.htm
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2 comments:
Those are always my most successful moments, too . . . when the kids get their HANDS on something and are ENGAGED, I just switch languages and they hardly know the difference. At home, "French Time" doesn't usually fly like it does at school. Gotta sneak it in through play!
I love how you always are looking for opportunities to teach your kids Spanish! I love how you get them to do it without them even knowing it. Also, thanks for sharing the activity with the Very Hungry Caterpillar.
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