This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #FunSizeMerienda #CollectiveBias. Here I’m sharing 40 Free Spanish-English Flashcards of Jungle Animals and 5 Fun Games for Kids to learn Spanish words to help families enjoy afternoon time together. The tradition of connecting with family in the afternoons with a play time and snack is known as the tradition of La Merienda in the Hispanic culture. This is one of our family’s La Merienda activities.
40 Free Spanish-English Flashcards of Jungle Animals and 5 Fun Games for Kids
The first word I read in Spanish was “oso”. Oso means bear. I can still remember the picture book my grandfather gave me when I was a very small child. My grandfather would be delighted with these fun Spanish and English vocabulary cards to help introduce his great grandchildren to Spanish.
Using the free downloadable Spanish and English cards of wild animals is incredibly easy. Just print them out and you can create memory or matching games, an “I spy” game, scavenger hunt, and enjoy reading and handwriting practice.
The tradition of La Merienda
This weekend we celebrated Nana’s 78th birthday. Getting together with family is an important part of family life in our home. La Merienda is all about spending time together as a family and using that time to create meaningful interactions and memories with our children.
We enjoyed a delicious lunch together, followed by singing “Happy Birthday” to Nana. My sister and brother-in-law prepared coffee while my husband and his mom played with MARS candies.
We’re all huge chocolate lovers around here.
A fun La Merienda Game for Kids
For some afternoon fun with the children, I pulled out the flashcards included in this post and some of our favorite books with wild animals in them to teach the kids a few Spanish names for the animals. These photos were taken of a game called “I Spy”. I’d take out a pair of cards from the deck (Spanish and English) and ask the children to find the animal in their book. Then I’d tell them the animal in English and Spanish and ask them to repeat the Spanish word for the animal a few times.
Photographed below is my niece. I gave her a book, and asked her to look through the book for animals. Once the kids familiarized themselves with their books, I would select both the Spanish and English versions of the jungle animal flashcards and tell the kids that “I spy” a lion (or another animal name). Then I asked the kids to see if they could “spy” a lion, giraffe, or other animal from the deck of cards in their books.
Once they found the animal, I would show them the same animal in Spanish. I would pronounce the Spanish name and ask them to repeat the Spanish name for the animal after me.
Some fabulous books to use for this game (Amazon affiliate links included for your convenience):
- Peek-a-Zoo written by Marie Torres Cimarusti
- Animals Around the World by LeapFrog Enterprises
- Snuggle Up, Sleepy Ones by Claire Freedman
- Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What do you See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle
We would practice repeating the Spanish words for each of the animals and we went through a good portion of the cards before we ran out of animals in the books. Feel free to mix and match books for this learning game and try different books at each interval to keep the searching fresh each time you play. I love chocolate M&Ms and a sweet snack in the afternoon while playing with the kids is a refreshing treat!
Back Inside at the “Grown Up” Table
Of course, back inside the silliness was still going on. My 78 year old mother-in-law has explained that she hopes she never has to grow, up. 😉 But wait, that’s my husband being silly in the photo!
As you can see, snacks and games are a regular part of our family’s routine. We enjoy coffee with some of our favorite chocolate treats.
Download 40 Free Spanish-English Flashcards Printables
This free downloadable printable set includes 40 Free Spanish-English Flashcards of Jungle Animals and 5 Fun Games for Kids. There are 20 animal names in English and Spanish with activities including:
- I “Spy”
- Reading
- Writing
- Memory Game
- Matching Game
- Cards can also be used for a scavenger hunt involving stuffed animals or toys
To download your FREE copy, just click the blue”download now” button below.
Where you can find delicious MARS Chocolates
You can find some wonderful children’s books with animals, supplies for creating printables, and delicious MARS Chocolates at Walmart. Explore more MARS candies at MARS online. My favorite variety pack from MARS is the Chocolate Lovers fun size 60 piece pack and it includes:
- SNICKERS® Fun Size Candy
- Fun Size TWIX®
- Fun Size M&M’s® Milk Chocolate
- Fun Size M&M’s® Peanut
I hope this free downloadable printable pack of 40 Free Spanish-English Flashcards of Jungle Animals and 5 Fun Games for Kids inspires you to have an afternoon of La Merienda family fun!
What’s your favorite way to celebrate La Merienda?
How does your family enjoy some “down time” together? Have any favorite games or activities? How about snacks? Are you partial to peanut or plain? Chocolate or a carmel covered cookie? I’d love to hear your favorite! Please leave a comment below and join the conversation. I love hearing from my readers!
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P.S. – I blog to encourage moms, offer free preschool tools, and share ideas for family fun. If you enjoy free recipes, printables, crafts and games for little ones, ideas for family fun and encouraging posts for moms, sign up and have Happy and Blessed Home delivered to your inbox. Simply enter your e-mail address here:
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