Bilingüitos PLAYConmigo Christmas Activity Guide

About the PLAYConmigo Navidad Play Guide

This play guide was created to help make playing in Spanish with your child an easy YES throughout the holiday season. We thought about how kids like to play/learn, how parents like to facilitate playing/learning, and the kinds of resources bilingual families need in order to make this type of play happen in Spanish (hint: YOU are the key, we're just here to help guide you). All of the activities included in the guide present an opportunity for language input and child-caregiver bonding/interaction. That's why it's called PLAYConmigo (play with me) Navidad. However, at the same time, many of the activities are set up in a way that the child may continue to play on their own while the caregiver moves on to another task (after providing the initial setup and language input). This is of course a win-win; we know you guys are busy grown-ups that need to do other things beyond providing language input 24/7.

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What kinds of activities are included?

This guide has lots of different activities and invitations to play.

• First, we have a section with Christmas music
• Then we have a page of suggested books with links
• Then, we have a page dedicated to bilingual Holiday apparel ;)
• Then, as the "MAIN COURSE" we have a ton of activities and invitations to play. These are, for the most part, simple activities that use basic materials that you already have at home (or can easily pick up on your next grocery run) The guide includes:
  • Six simple/easy Christmas activities (that don't require much prep)
  • Five "invitations to explore/play" (activities of all kids: sensory, fine motor, experiments, practical life) These more detailed activity pages contain:
    • Beautiful inspiration photos (showing the activity in action)
    • Materials list and set-up instructions
    • Keywords for the activity in English/Spanish and a list of child-directed phrases so that it'll be SO EASY to do the activities completely in Spanish
• The last section is three vocabulary pages for Christmas-related conversations
• At the very end we included an activity tracker, kinda like a Christmas bucket list.
• Additionally, sprinkled throughout the guide we have two visual vocabulary lists related to the activities.

Who wrote this guide?

Sociolinguist and early childhood language educator Kaila Diaz created this guide as an extension of what she does at home with her own 3 year old and what she does in the virtual Spanish classes that she leads for students ages 0-5. Kaila founded and directed a Spanish immersion preschool for four years before the pandemic led her to start Bilingüitos online programs. She has more than a decade of experience in early childhood language classrooms, both in the U.S. and abroad, but since having her own daughter she has become increasingly passionate about the learning that goes within one’s own home. So with this Spanish play activity guide (and more volumes to come), Kaila is excited to encourage and equip parents to facilitate hands-on language learning at home with their children. She believes that passing down a language happens first and foremost at home, and is most successfully done when the language is linked to play, meaningful experiences, and family bonding.

Who is this guide for?

This guide is for any bilingual family that is looking for extra ways to bring Spanish to life on a daily basis. It’s for families who want to make playing in Spanish an easy YES, and then take the guesswork out of it. Play ideas AND child-directed Spanish vocabulary/phrase lists to go with each activity? Count me in!

• Native Spanish speakers will benefit from this guide because it will provide all sorts of Spanish language play activities and extra resources, ultimately serving as a way to connect with your child in Spanish and link the language to fun. Plus it will include specialized vocabulary that may not be top-of-mind even for native speakers!
• Fluent (but non-native) speakers will benefit for the reasons mentioned above AND also from the guided phrase list written in a natural, child-directed Spanish (often different from what a non-native speaker will have learned in an academic setting).
• Finally, parents who are not fluent but actively learning Spanish will benefit from the reasons above AND from the quick-reference visual vocabulary guides sprinkled throughout. Plus, it’s a perfect way for not only your child to learn through hands-on play activities, but you too!

What ages is this guide for?

This guide is best suited for children ages 3 & 4, but with a few modifications (i.e. making activities easier or harder, making questions or prompts simpler or more intricate) it can be for any child between ages 2.5 and 5 years.

Who is this guide NOT for?

• Families with zero base in Spanish. This guide doesn’t come with video lessons or QR codes for pronunciation. The guide is written for families with an established base in Spanish who will be comfortable without the video/audio component. Also because of this, our vocabulary lists focus on less-common words. Like for the kitchen themed section we have words like ladle, spatula, whisk, etc. instead of plate, fork, and knife.
• Families that don’t want to set up play activities. There is parent set-up needed for each activity, and though it is minimal, the idea is that you’ll lead your child for the first several minutes and use it as an opportunity for language input and bonding in Spanish.
• Families looking for a Spanish workbook for their child to do on their own. This is NOT a workbook. There are no worksheets. There are no printables.

What kind of Spanish is in this guide? Some of the words are different than the ones I am used to.

The words and phrases here are written to be as widely-understood by the Spanish speaking world as possible. (“Neutral” Spanish, as much as possible, though nothing is ever fully neutral.) The list was compiled and checked over teamwork style, between a bilingual sociolinguist (yours truly), a native Mexican Spanish speaker (my husband), and a native Dominican Spanish speaker (our administrator). Of course, if your family speaks a specific variety of Spanish due to heritage roots or the like, please feel free to adapt them to your preference by adding in some regionalisms! We always recommend that families run through words/phrases they aren’t sure about with a native Spanish speaker close to them! ☺️

How long should it take me to go through the activities in this guide?

This guide isn’t structured in a way where you have to do certain activities on certain days (though it does have a playtime tracker to help you stay on track!) Instead, we encourage families to go through all of the activities at their own pace and then revisit their favorite ones time and time again! That said, if you do 2-3 of the play activities per week and the shorter activity ideas (no-prep games, bath time ideas, books, etc.) sprinkled in regularly throughout the week, then this guide can be completed in a month. And then repeated! There is no seasonal component to this guide so the activities will be great no matter what time of year it is.

Can I see a list of materials needed ahead of time?

Sure thing! Most of the materials needed are things you will already have at home or can be picked up on your next grocery store run. Here's a list of what you'll need throughout this play guide:

• Christmas decorations like lights, ornaments, etc.
• Plastic bin
• White rice
• Christmas toys
• Cookies, icing, and candy
• Christmas tree
• Kitchen items like strainer, spoons, and ladle
• Towel
• Wrapping paper
• Kid scissors
• Painter's tape
• Thread, twine, or string
• Optional: Popcorn, pom poms, cereal, beads, or dry pasta
• Optional: Peppermint or pine scented soap

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