If you are like me, and you enjoy incorporating the monarch butterfly in your classes, you will love this adaptation of the evolution game. I call it “El ciclo de la mariposa.”
Before playing this game, students need to understand how to play the rock, paper, scissors game in Spanish. I use a visual like the one below and play the game to make sure that students understand it and also to give them vocabulary in Spanish.
Once students know how to play the piedra, papel, tijeras game, I proceed to show the instructions to add the El ciclo de la mariposa game. I only use three stages of the life cycle, which are oruga, crisálida, and mariposa.
Playing the game:
Each student will find a classmate to play piedra, papel and tijeras.
Everyone starts out as an oruga, which is a kind of seated snuggle up.
After playing piedra, papel, tijeras, whoever wins will move to the next stage or one stage up, which in this case is crisálida. For this position, students put their arms up like making a house.
At this point, orugas can only play with orugas, and crisálidas can only play with crisálidas. Play piedra, papel, tijeras, and, once again, whoever wins will move one level up. If a crísalida loses, that student will go back to being an oruga. For the butterfly stage, students move around the room flapping their arms and pretending to be butterflies. Now, orugas play with orugas, crisálidas with crisálidas, and mariposas with mariposas. Whoever loses will always go back to being an oruga.
You can decide how long to play the game. Whoever gets to be a mariposa wins the game. (There can be multiple winners)
This game has been such a success in my classes that I have created versions for different seasons and times of the year. Students really enjoy talking about likes and dislikes while moving in class.
I have previously shared a winter version of this game and how to play it! Click here to learn more about this game.
This is a fun game to introduce the 21 Spanish-speaking countries. I call this game “paisanos”. In preparation for this game, you will need to make a list or print flags of the 21 Spanish countries.
How to Play the Game:
Distribute the cards depending on the number of students you have. For example, if you have 20 students, you will choose 10 countries (which equals 20 cards).
Each student gets a card. Students should keep their cards secret from their classmates. Have your students spread around the room. They will have to find the person who has the same country by asking “¿Eres de ______?”, the other person should answer by saying “No, no soy de ____.” The students then should move on until they find their partner. When they find their partner, they say “paisano/a/e” (which means someone from the same country).
Students who find their partners should sit and wait for everyone else to find theirs. Once everyone is done, put up a map of the world, and locate the countries that the students had on their cards.
Ready to play the game? ClickHEREto download the cards!
Tingo Tango is one of those games that brings back memories of growing up in Colombia. This game is traditionally played in a circle passing a small object. I have played this game before, and my students were really asking to play – and I finally figured out how to adapt it to our current situation. Read my previous post here.
This version works well for both in-person and virtual classes.
How to play:
1️⃣ Use the website Wheel of Names, and add the names of the students participating. This will generate a wheel spinner to pick a random person.
2️⃣ Create a list of “penitencias” (translated for this game as tasks) for your students to act out if they get chosen. Swipe to see a sample.
3️⃣ Chant together “Tingo, Tingo, Tingo …” and “Tango” when the wheel is about to stop. The person who gets chosen by the wheel will have to complete a penitencia from the list.
4️⃣ Continue playing the game and having fun! Visit my Instagram post to see the game in action!
I don’t explicitly teach vowels in Spanish but try to find ways to incorporate them in my lessons through games or songs. The good news is that there are five vowels in Spanish and each of them has only one sound! That makes everyone’s lives easier!
An easy way to introduce the sounds is by using the song below. In the past, I have used a puppet to sing along. As you can hear in the song, the name of the vowel is introduced, and then the sound.
Having small posters with pictures that represent each vowel sound is helpful. One activity I have used is to show the vowel and then place pictures that go along with each vowel.
Another fun way is to create gestures or movements for each vowel. Write a list of words that your students already know, project them or show them to the class, and then have your students do the movement any time they hear or see a certain vowel. I like keeping it to just focusing on one vowel per word. If you don’t want to create a different gesture for each vowel, you can just use actions such as jump when you hear the vowel A.
As I mentioned above, I don’t teach vowels or even the ABC’s as a unit anymore. I just like finding ways to incorporate them and using them when needed in class.
ClickHERE to download the posters and use these activities with your students next time you see them!
This is a twist on the traditional “Veo, veo” song/game. I used a short version and added a movement component to it. This game has been a hit in my in-person and virtual classes.
This game can be used with anything you are teaching in your classes. I have used it to review vocabulary, with images from stories for retelling and more! As you can see in the video, I used it with my virtual students during our Zoom class and gave them access to the annotation tool.
How to play the game:
One student chooses a picture of the chart projected in class. That same student says “Veo, veo” (I see, I see).
The rest of the class responds by saying “¿Qué ves?” (What do you see?).
The student that said “Veo, veo” says the name of the picture and also chooses a movement for everyone to do. For example, “Veo una cara feliz. ¡Corre!”.
The rest of the participants start running (in place) once they see the picture.
Then the student asks a volunteer to point at the picture, and the game starts all over again with a new student choosing the picture.
¡Hola! I am Carolina, a Colombian elementary Spanish teacher based in Boston, MA. Fun for Spanish Teachers is the result of my passion for teaching Spanish to children and my desire to inspire collaboration and creativity in a vibrant teaching and learning community. It’s the perfect stop if you are looking for songs, games, teaching tips, stories, and fun for your classes.
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