Learn Spanish with Ladybugs // Prepositions

by | Aug 22, 2013 | Uncategorized

My boys love reading and they humor me by enjoying crafts once-in-a-while, but their favorite place to do hands-on learning?  Outside!  You can read about how we used a ladybug craft to learn counting and the color red in Spanish here.  And quickly after we made it, we of course took it outside to play.  Who knew learning Spanish prepositions could be so easy and fun?!



Learn Prepositions with Ladybugs
You of course do not have to have a ladybug to practice prepositions in Spanish.  Just grab any toy or stuffed animal your kids love, learn how to say it in Spanish (www.wordreference.com is a great on-line English-Spanish dictionary), and take it outside for some learning fun!

Look for places you can put the toy above, below, in, inside of, between, under, or beside.  Here are some places we found to put our ladybug.

debajo (day-BAH-hoh) = under, underneath, beneath, below

“The ladybug is under the van.”

detrás (day-TRAHS) = behind

Here we were playing a chase game.  I used the phrase in the photo’s caption: “The ladybug is behind you!”

en (ehn) = on

“The ladybug is on the ground.”

en (ehn) = in, inside

“The ladybug is in the wagon.”

encima (ehn-SEE-mah) = on, on top of, over, above

“The ladybug is on top of the rock.”

entre (EHN-tray) = among, amongst, between

“The ladybug is between the branches of the tree.”  I was not sure whether or not to call these branches or trunks.  This is our birch tree and it has two giant “branches” at the bottom that really look like trunks.  The word for tree trunk is tronco (TROHN-koh).  

And remember, if you are not comfortable with full-on Spanish sentences, just try inserting Spanish words.  For example, with the prepositions above, hand your child the toy or animal you are playing with and say, “Can you put the ladybug entre the tree trunks?” or “Hey!  See if you can reach and put the ladybug encima!” or “Where is the ladybug (as you hide it behind your back)?” to which the kids can answer or you can shout out “Detrás!”  
Feliz prepositioning!
What are some fun ways you practice your prepositions?
Kali Carollo

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