During my son’s early years of learning Spanish, there weren’t many screen-free products to support him in his journey. I had to come up with ideas to support his language learning and to teach him about his heritage and Latino culture. It was even harder to find educational products about Puerto Rico. While I struggled in his early years to find authentic Spanish language and cultural products, I am happy to report that isn’t the case anymore.
Why? Because these three Latina women are out here changing that narrative. They are creating authentic products just for you!!! They know what it is to look for authentic products in español and not find any.
Move over tablets, smartphones, and computers here are the 3 must-have screen-free Spanish language and culture products created by Latinas for your kids: A Spanish card game, a Puerto Rican culture subscription box, and a cultural magazine that’s like a book it’s a bookazine!
Disclosure: All the products listed below were gifted to me. They are aligned with my blog’s purpose of being: “A multicultural and bilingual resource for parents, caregivers, and educators across the globe” and opinions/thoughts are my own.
Spanish Language and Culture Products for Kids
¿Qué es? – a Spanish vocabulary card game created by Maestra Salaam
About Maestra Salaam – Fatima Abdus-Salaam is from New York City and of Panamanian heritage. She is a Spanish teacher who received her Bachelor’s degree in Bilingual education for grades 1-6 and her master’s degree in teaching Spanish K-12 from CUNY Brooklyn College. She considers herself a lifelong learner with a special passion for the Spanish language as well as the various cultures in Latin America.
About the game.
Salaam shares with us,
“Right before the pandemic hit, I was spending lots of time with family for the holidays. For my family and I, the end of the year is when we get together to socialize, eat and play board and card games. Some of our favorites are Scattegories, Uno, Taboo, and For the Culture. During this time, it occurred to me to create a Spanish card game that could not only be a learning tool but also fun and family-oriented. Hence “Qué es” was born! The objective for “Qué es” is for players to listen to clues and infer meaning to identify the word being described.”
Shop for the card game here.
My review and thoughts on this vocabulary card game:
I love this card game! There are very few or dare I say no other game like this one. Maestra Salaam has created these beautiful cards that are sturdy. Even if you use them over and over again, they won’t get ruined. I played this game with my son and he really enjoyed it. The clues are either adjectives used to describe or action verbs that can be very useful when trying to guess in español. I also used this game with my learners during our online Spanish class. Because they are learning Spanish before we played the game I made a list of vocabulary words. In this instance, I used the words from the deck of cards “la comida” from the game and made a presentation for them. You can see the presentation here. I first showed them a picture and ask them what is it in English and then I show them the Spanish word. I also have them write the words down and then we go over them again. This time I ask them to look for any cognate word association since they know the English word (at least 8 of the words in the card game are cognates) and descriptors. Then we play!!! This Spanish card game has so many possibilities to play just for fun or use as an educational tool. You can totally use this in your classroom or home.
We are Root-ed – Puerto Rican box subscription by Marimer Maldonado-Hilker
About Marimer – She’s a Puerto Rican mom and entrepreneur. Born in Puerto Rico, Marimer moved to the United States in 2009 to complete her master’s degree in marketing. After 10 years working in marketing, she decided to start Root-Ed, a subscription box for Puerto Rican kids. She now lives in Illinois with her husband and daughter, Victoria.
About the box subscription.
Marimer shares with us,
“As a Puerto Rican mom, it was important to me that my daughter had a strong connection with our roots, that even though we live far from Puerto Rico, she feels Puerto Rican at heart. I designed Root-Ed to be educational and fun so kids can learn everything about Puerto Rico, and as a result, develop a sense of pride in their roots. We deliver a box packed with educational activities and resources about our flora, fauna, geography, history, culture, and much more. Root-Ed wants to inspire kids to learn about Puerto Rico, connect with their roots, and feel proud of being Puerto Ricans even if they are growing up away from Puerto Rico.”
Shop for the box and other goodies here.
My review and thoughts on the box:
All righty, all righty… I’m very biased towards this box subscription for obvious reasons hahaha and honestly, I wish I had this when my son was 4 years old. Nevertheless, it is an amazing cultural subscription box catered to Puerto Rican children. However, any child at any age can enjoy the contents. ¡Wepa! The boxes are carefully curated with fun and educational resources about Puerto Rico. Each month there’s a different theme and she graciously gifted me a box with what I call a “medley” of things she’s included in her past boxes. This box is ideal for younger kids. Although I now have a teenager it was fun looking through the box with him. I plan to use the contents to teach my learners about Puerto Rico’s rich and vibrant culture. Marimer has taken great care and attention to the details in each box. You will have a little bit of Puerto Rico in each one! The best part is that all you have to do is open it and enjoy it with your child. You can check out the sample of items included in the box she sent me here.
Explora Magazine – La revista para curiosos de corazón by Daniela Pérez
About Daniela – She’s a Chilean educator and entrepreneur. Daniela has a B.A. in Elementary Education and an M.A. in Second Language Acquisition. She has taught different grades from kindergarten to college in Chile, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Minnesota. She currently teaches 4th grade at a dual immersion school in Minnesota. She has also worked as a travel writer, writing articles for blogs and magazines. She enjoys the science of learning languages and exploring new places.
About the bookazine.
Daniela shares with us,
“Knowing how important it is for our kids to know more than one language, as well as developing empathy for other cultures, I combined my love for Spanish and traveling creating a bookazine in Spanish for kids. Through the bookazine Explora, kids can practice their Spanish language skills while learning about the world.”
Shop for the magazine here.
My review and thoughts on the bookazine.
I was thrilled when Daniela reached out to me about her bookazine. She sent me the Monumentos por el mundo edition and I was blown away. She created this one-of-a-kind bookazine for kids with two things in mind the Spanish language and learning about cultures. This edition has 50 pages of resources in español about the monuments of the world that consists of questions, interviews, timelines, fun facts, and a lot of activities. The layout is such that children will enjoy going through each page, reading, learning, and coloring too! The pictures used are high-quality color images. Throughout the magazine (bookazine) your child will read short excerpts and paragraphs ideal for Spanish language readers. Young and older kids (like my 13-year-old) will enjoy this bookazine. What I love the most is that it is in Spanish! I don’t know of any other resource like this bookazine.
Please support these amazing Latina entrepreneurs!
You can find them on Instagram:
Maestra Salaam “Qué es?” Spanish Card Game
Daniela Explora Spanish Bookazine
Marimer We are Root-Ed A Puerto Rico Box for Kids
