Number 3 with Mama Hen

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Number 3 with Mama Hen

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About This Activity

Let’s write the number three! ¡Número tres! This activity helps kids practice numbers in English and Spanish while making real world learning connections to further expand and interpret their knowledge.

Ages: 2-5
Level:
Easy
Materials: Printed activity sheet; pencil; eraser
Instructions

1. Print activity sheet.
2. Follow the arrow with your pencil. Then practice writing the number by tracing along the dotted lines before trying the last few by yourself.
3. Finally, shade in only three Mama Hens and three eggs.
4. Try your superpower! Take a nature walk and find three sticks, three stones and three flowers, see what else you can collet three of!

How Your Kid Benefits

By learning numbers your child forms a strong early math foundation in English and Spanish. Combine this activity with the Piñata game in the Learn section and the Beat music game in the Play section to deepen bilingual counting experiences.

Bonus Benefit!

Being bilingual opens the door for your child to be exposed to the diverse customs, ideas, and perspectives from the different cultures that speak that language.

Note to Grown-Ups

Make counting a regular part of your interactions with your child, which is a great way to stimulate learning through play. Look for easy ways to sneak in counting whether cooking in the kitchen, outside, running errands, walking the dog; there are always fun things to count!

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That Goes Here! ¡Guárdalo aquí!

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That Goes Here! ¡Guárdalo aquí!

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About This Activity

Organize with Pin Pon! This activity brings a creative twist to cleanup time, introducing bilingual vocabulary along the way.

Ages: 3+
Level:
Easy
Materials: Printed activity sheets; pencils; crayons or colored pencils
Instructions

1. Print out activity sheet.
2. Color in this poster and practice saying the names of the different objects.
3. Try your superpower! Identify other items that you have to put away during cleanup time. Following the same organization as your dictionary, sort together objects that start with the same letter.

How Your Kid Benefits

This activity helps with organization, vocabulary, social skills, while giving kids the opportunity for free word association in Spanish and English.

Bonus Benefit!

The earlier your child starts learning a second language, the more likely they are to achieve native profficiency, with a critical learning period between the ages of 2-4.

Note to Grown-Ups

Good habits take time to build, so hang the poster somewhere visible as a reminder for what little ones should clean up until they can tidy things without a visual aid. For further practice with vocabulary, watch the video “Cada cosa en su lugar / Everything in it’s Place” in the Canticos App.

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Canticos Lesson 22 Clean Up Poster! ¡Póster de la limpieza!

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Color by Numbers

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Color by Numbers

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About This Activity

Watch the Canticos World come to life as you color by numbers, practicing numeracy and vocabulary along the way.

Ages: 3+
Level: Medium
Materials: Printed activity sheets; pencils; crayons or colored pencils
Instructions

1. Print out activity sheet.
2. Identify the numbers in this picture and color in each section with its corresponding color shown in the key at the top of the activity sheet.
3. Try your superpower! Keep practicing numbers by counting how many different objects you can find in your home that have numbers (clocks, scales, maps).

How Your Kid Benefits

This activity encourages helps with word association and color vocabulary, as well as exposing kids to early bilingual numeracy through creative expression.

Bonus Benefit!

Studies have shown that children who are exposed to other languages are more likely to be empathetic and better communicators, allowing them to understand other perspectives more easily.

Note to Grown-Ups

These activities encourage children to practice numbers and colors in a fun, low-pressure way. Have them say the color words out loud as often as possible. Read All the Colors / De Colores in the Books section of the Canticos App for more practice.

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Color by Numbers

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The Small Little Plane / Había una vez un avión

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The Small Little Plane / Había una vez un avión

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About This Activity

Look on with the lyrics and sing along to this classic nursery rhyme in English and Spanish.

Ages: 2+
Level:
Easy
Materials: Printed activity sheets; pencils; crayons or colored pencils
Instructions

1. Print out activity sheet.
2. Have fun tracing the different patterns with a crayon, pencil, or colored pencil.
3. Get creative tracing on new surfaces- on salt trays, a steamed window, in the air, on your palm, anywhere you can think of.
4. Try your superpower! Look for different patterns around you, in nature, art, buildings, everywhere!

How Your Kid Benefits

This activity stimulates right brain activity, helping to commit new words to memory through movement, singing and dance.

Bonus Benefit!

Bilingualism helps your child gain a better aptitude for languages in general. This improved understanding of how language works, coupled with the experience they have already gained by learning a second language, makes it easier to learn a third or fourth language.

Note to Grown-Ups

Help your child out with the lyrics as you sing this song, for help with pronunciation, have them listen listen to song in Music section of the Canticos App.

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The Small Little Plane

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C is for Clean Up

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C is for Clean Up

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About This Activity

Let’s write the letter C! ¡Letra C! This activity helps kids practice letter writing in English and Spanish, and make real world learning connections to further expand and interpret their knowledge.

Ages: 2-5
Level:
Easy
Materials: Printed activity sheet; pencil and eraser.
Instructions

1. Print activity sheet, if you dont have a printer look at the activity on your computer and practice on a lined sheet of paper.
2. Follow the arrow with your pencil, then practice writing the letter C in upper case and lower case by tracing along the dotted line.
3. Test your knowledge and see how many books you can find in your house that start with the letter C.
4. Try your superpower! Take letter learning even further and see if you can alphabetize the books in your room.

How Your Kid Benefits

This activity helps create a foundation in early bilingual literacy by introducing letters in both creative and interactive settings.

Bonus Benefit!

Learning two languages gives kids a greater awareness of how language works, also known as “metalinguistic awareness,” which helps to accelerate reading skills.

Note to Grown-Ups

Take the time to help your kid alphabetize their books, encouraging them to say their new letter aloud in Spanish and English, and singing their ABCs for guidance. For help with pronunciation, have your child engage with the bubble game in the Canticos App, which will help them learn phonics through play.

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C is for Clean Up

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Color Bingo!

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Color Bingo!

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About This Activity

Play bingo with a Canticos twist and learn color vocabulary in English and Spanish. Complete with chips and sheets, this activity is a great way to bring family and friends together to learn through play.

Ages: 3+
Level:
Medium
Materials: Printed activity sheets; pencils; crayons or colored pencils
Instructions

1. Print out activity sheet.
2. Learn all the different colors in English and Spanish with our Color Bingo Game, following the instructions written on the sheet.
3. Try your superpower! See if you can find those same colors on your own in a scavenger hunt at the grocery store.

How Your Kid Benefits

This activity gives kids the opportunity for oral vocabulary practice, in addition to word recognition and association.

Bonus Benefit!

Evidence from a number of studies suggests that bilingualism improves the brain’s executive function — a command system that directs the processes that we use for planning, solving problems and performing various other mentally demanding tasks.

Note to Grown-Ups

This activity encourage children to say new vocabulary words in a fun, low-pressure way. Have them say the color words out loud as often as possible, especially while playing the bingo game. Check out the De Colores / All the Colors in the Book section of the Canticos App for more practice.

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Color Bingo!

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Number 2 with Sol Solecito

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Number 2 with Sol Solecito

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About This Activity

Let’s write the number two! ¡Número dos! This activity helps kids practice numbers in English and Spanish while making real world learning connections to further expand and interpret their knowledge.

Ages: 2-5
Level:
Easy
Materials: Printed activity sheets; pencils; crayons or colored pencils
Instructions

1. Print activity sheet.
2. Follow the arrow with your pencil. Then practice writing the number by tracing along the dotted lines before trying the last few by yourself.
3. Finally, count two suns and two moons and shade them in.
4. Try your superpower! Make your own hopscotch with sidewalk chalk and practice writing numbers and counting in English and Spanish.

How Your Kid Benefits

By learning numbers your child forms a strong early math foundation in English and Spanish. Combine this activity with the Piñata game in the Learn section and the Beat music game in the Play section to deepen bilingual counting experiences.

Bonus Benefit!

Children who are raised bilingual learn to follow social cues to determine which language to use, which person to use it with, and what setting to use it in. For this reason, they often have a heightened sense of empathy than monolingual children.

Note to Grown-Ups

Make counting a regular part of your interactions with your child, which is a great way to stimulate learning through play. Look for easy ways to sneak in counting whether cooking in the kitchen, outside, running errands, walking the dog; there are always fun things to count.

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Number 2 with Sol Solecito

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Learn the Days of the Week

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Learn the Days of the Week

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About This Activity

What day is it today? ¿Que día es hoy? One of the best ways to commit something to memory is by writing it down. This activity helps kids learn the days of the week with the help of Sol Solecito.

Ages: 3+
Level:
Medium
Materials: Printed activity sheets; pencils; crayons or colored pencils
Instructions

1. Print out activity sheet.
2. Using our classic “Sol Solecito”, trace the seven days of the week in English and Spanish.
3. Try your superpower! Use a calendar to learn name of each month and count how many weeks are in a year.

How Your Kid Benefits

This activity is great for early handwriting practice, exposing kids to new vocabulary and calendar organization.

Bonus Benefit!

Many people hold the common misconception that learning a language is difficult, or that you need to have a special “gift” for language. This is not true, and by setting goals and committing to consistent practice, bilingualism is completely attainable for your child.

Note to Grown-Ups

Writing and speaking in a new language can be challenging, especially for the littlest learners! Make sure to acknowledge and praise your child consistently for their hard work on practicing bilingual vocabulary. For further vocabulary practice, watch the video

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Learn the Days of the Week

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Canticos Learning with The Birthday Book/Las Mañanitas

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ENGLISH | SPANISH

Canticos Learning with The Birthday Book/Las Mañanitas
By Nuria Santamaría Wolfe

Canticos books are too much fun to reach just once!  Read them with your little one again and again and find something new to learn each time, while helping them become bilingual in Spanish and English. 

Here are some tips to help you maximize the learning and fun with the fourth book in the Canticos Classics series: The Birthday Book/Las Mañanitas – inspired by the classic Mexican birthday song “Las Mañanitas” (The Mornings). This song is sung to wake up a child on the morning of his/her birthday, it’s a fixture at every birthday party.  

  1. Talk

Use the book to talk about your child’s birthday. How did you celebrate his/her last birthday? Talk about the cake, the games, the friends that were part of it. Ask him/her what they would like to do for the next one? How would they like to celebrate? What theme would they like? Who do they want to be there?

  1. Sing

Sing the song and do it twice to double the fun! 

Check out our bilingual sing-along video to see the lyrics and to hear the pronunciation in Spanish, check out our collection of bilingual songs while you’re at it.

The Youtube cartoon video features Sammy the bunny and a traditional Mexican birthday celebration with cake, candy, and of course – a piñata!

  1. Read

Read the book twice to double the birthday fun! 

Novelty book: Interject your own sounds and commentary as you lift the flaps. For example, start by opening the first flap with a rooster crow. On the second flap you can say “Wake up snuggle bunny!” to the birthday bunny who doesn’t want to wake up. Play peek-a-boo with the next characters who pop up to surprise the birthday bunny. Read the story once in English. Flip the book and read it in Spanish. Open the book across to see all spreads and: 1. Lay it flat on the floor to see the whole story or 2. Stand it up and connect the ends into a circle to sit inside and be surrounded by the story.

Board book: Pick one language to read the story through to the end. Start again in the second language. 

  1. Write

Take out your arts & crafts box and make a birthday card for a friend or family member’s upcoming birthday. Sing Las Mañanitas and personalize it for each birthday you’ll be celebrating. 

  1. Play

Pretend it’s your child’s birthday and wake him/her up with the song. Act out a birthday party complete with cake eating and piñata breaking. Open an imaginary gift and eat imaginary cake with all their stuffed animals. Have fun with it, and know that your child is gaining tons of bilingual benefits!

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Make an Emotions Wheel

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Make an Emotions Wheel

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About This Activity

How are you feeling today? Get crafty and express your feelings with this creative exercise that helps kids identify emotions in two languages.

Ages: 3+
Level: Medium
Materials: Printed activity sheets; pencils; crayons or colored pencils
Instructions

1. Print out activity sheet.
2. Name and identify your emotions in English and Spanish by creating an emotions wheel.
3. Try your superpower! Retell a time when you felt happy, sad, anxious, sleepy and hungry, draw a face for each emotion you learn.

How Your Kid Benefits

This activity stimulates empathy while helping kids creatively identify emotions in two languages.

Bonus Benefit!

Bilinguals are better able to adapt social flexibility, suggesting that alternating between languages allows for them to more successfully alternate between social situations.

Note to Grown-Ups

Asking children to name their emotions is an important first step to regulating their emotions. Encourage them to voice how they are feeling by asking them directly, and have them explain their feelings. “I am feeling ___ because…” For more practice with emotion words, have your child engage with the Feelings game in the Learn section of the Canticos App.

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Make an Emotions Wheel

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