The best websites to help children learn Spanish and enjoy it
When you start thinking about moving to Spain with a young family, one of your biggest concerns is no doubt about how your kids will cope with learning a new language. As you probably remember yourself from your school days, it’s not always an easy task to learn a new language from scratch. When you consider that your kids will need to speak this new language at school, do their homework, and make new friends all in Spanish, you can see why it’s so important to give them as much help as possible.
Immersion in a Spanish school is by far the fastest way to help children learn Spanish quickly, along with extracurricular clubs and activities, and you can expect your child to be fluent in Spanish within a year or two – although this obviously varies from child to child.
Even though children tend to pick up new languages quickly, it will still be a long process and hard going at times, especially if you don’t speak Spanish fluently yourself.
Of course you’ll want to give your children a helping hand as much as possible when it comes to learning Spanish, to make sure they can cope with school work and make Spanish friends easily.
There are so many excellent websites and apps designed to help children learn to speak Spanish in a fun and engaging way, it can sometimes be hard to choose one!
Our advice is to pick a resource that interests you most, try it out for a few weeks, and if it’s not for you try a different one instead. Children learn quicker when they enjoy it, so it’s important to find an app they like and that suits their learning style.
If you’re ready to get your kids started with learning Spanish, here are some popular websites and apps to help children learn Spanish and have fun at the same time…
Duolingo
Everyone knows Duolingo and you’ve probably tried it yourself. For older children and adults, this app offers interactive language lessons with a game-like format to make learning fun and engaging. If you want to learn Spanish for free, the basic version is perfectly fine to get you going and if the whole family signs up you can have a family challenge to see who progresses quickest!
Twinkl
If you live in the UK you’ve probably heard of Twinkl as it’s often used by teachers for worksheets. There are lots of Spanish resources you can download for free, from stories and songs to numbers, phrases and colours. There are resources for KS1 and KS2 so it’s ideal for both younger and older kids.
The Spanish School Bus
The easiest way to learn Spanish is by having fun and The Spanish School Bus is a really engaging kids app that includes a range of interactive games and activities to help children learn basic Spanish vocabulary, numbers, colors, and more. This is a paid for app but you can try a few levels for free first.
PBS Kids’ Spanish Games
PBS Kids offers lots of fun interactive online games in Spanish featuring popular characters such as Curious George and The Cat in the Hat. These games are designed to help children learn basic Spanish vocabulary and phrases in a fun way.
Rockalingua
The Rockalingua website has videos, songs, games, and worksheets to help children learn Spanish in a really engaging way. You do have to pay but you get a lot of resources for your money and there’s a free trial.
HelloTalk
HelloTalk is a language exchange app more suitable for older children and teenagers. This free app connects language learners with native speakers around the world for language exchange and practice. You can chat with individual members, or join group chats.
FluentU
This platform offers a collection of immersive, real-world videos, such as music videos, movie trailers, news, and inspiring talks, that are transformed into language learning experiences. FluentU videos have subtitles and translations to aid you in your learning, and there are also quizzes and online lessons available.
Gus on the Go
The Gus on the Go app teaches children basic Spanish vocabulary and phrases through short, familiar stories. There are 10 interactive lessons, vocabulary reviews and fun games to enjoy.
Endless Spanish
For the youngest Spanish learners, this funny and engaging app uses adorable monsters to teach children simple Spanish words and phrases. The Endless Spanish app is free and ideal for little kids around 3 years old.
Calico Spanish
If you prefer lessons to apps, Calico Spanish has over 300 hours of Spanish lessons for parents to use with their children. It’s a fun, animated program with games and printable resources to teach things like colours, numbers, animals, days of the week, and other basic Spanish vocabulary.
Muzzy BBC
Muzzy is a Spanish learning program developed by the BBC help teach children Spanish through fun and animated stories featuring Muzzy and friends. There are online games, videos, songs, worksheets and flashcards, with content available on both the website and app.
Spanish Playground
Spanish Playground is suitable for both kids and adults, and has a dedicated section for teaching children Spanish. The website includes games, jokes, poems, stories, songs, videos, and lots of engaging ways to learn Spanish vocabulary and phrases.
If you are moving to Spain with children and want to get them ready to speak Spanish at school, these fun and engaging websites and apps should give them a bit of a head start.
For more resources to help the whole family learn Spanish, check out this list of Spanish learning resources.
