{"id":18472,"date":"2025-06-28T17:15:38","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T17:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/?p=18472"},"modified":"2025-06-28T17:15:38","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T17:15:38","slug":"10-fun-practical-and-culturally-engaging-ideas-for-helping-bilingual-kids-practice-their-language-skills-over-the-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/?p=18472","title":{"rendered":"10 fun, practical and culturally engaging ideas for helping bilingual kids practice their language skills over the summer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are 10 fun, practical, and culturally engaging ideas for helping bilingual kids practice their language skills over the summer \u2014 whether they\u2019re maintaining two languages or strengthening a heritage language.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\ud83c\udfad 1. Language-Immersion Theme Weeks<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Choose a theme based on children&#8217;s interests for the week (e.g., Dinosaurs, Outer Space, Cooking, Travel) and do everything around that theme in the target language:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Watch shows\/movies in the language<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do crafts and science experiments<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read themed <a href=\"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/?product_cat=spanish-books\">picture books<\/a> or comics<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make a themed word wall<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\ud83d\udc6a These are great for siblings or friends learning the same language!<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\ud83d\udcda 2. Summer Reading Challenge (in the Target Language)<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Set up a bilingual reading log with rewards for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Number of books read<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Minutes read per day<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Retelling the story in their own words<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finding new words and drawing them<\/li>\n<li>Engaging in online activities after the readings<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Check out our collection of picture books in <a href=\"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/?product_cat=english-books\">English<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/?product_cat=spanish-books\">Spanish<\/a> and the online interactive activities for each picture book<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\ud83d\udecd\ufe0f You may reward kids by taking them out for ice cream, making book-themed stickers, enjoying special playdate, or watching their favorite program on TV.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\ud83c\udfae 3. Turn Favorite Games into Language Practice<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adapt everyday games to include the target language:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Charades (guess the word in the target language)<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Simon Says (use target language only)<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scavenger Hunt with clues in the language<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Guess Who \/ 20 Questions (focus on adjectives, descriptions)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\ud83c\udfa4 4. Create special Family Videos<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let your child make recordings in the target language:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Storytime<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Interviewing grandparents or friends<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cooking tutorials<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/?product_cat=downloadable-songs\">Singing songs<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\ud83c\udfa7 Share these videos with family members or pen pals who speak the language!<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\ud83c\udf0d 5. Culture Days<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Choose a country or region that speaks the language and have a full-on cultural immersion day:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Encourage kids to cook with you traditional foods<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learn a folk song or dance<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Watch travel videos or take a virtual museum tour<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Create a craft or map from that culture<\/li>\n<li>For English and Spanish songs you can also try our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCl1EcakPxMtNB5_0GuPdfNw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Youtube Channel<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\ud83d\udcdd 6. Summer Journal or Comic Book<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Provide a bilingual summer journal (half-page in each language, or language of choice per day):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Write about daily adventures<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Draw scenes with speech bubbles<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use stickers or washi tape to decorate<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\ud83d\udd8d\ufe0f Younger kids can dictate stories and draw; older kids can write paragraphs or comics.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\ud83c\udfb2 7. Bilingual Board Game Night<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Play games that naturally lend themselves to language use:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bingo with vocabulary words<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Uno with custom rules (say the color or number in the language)<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Story Cubes (build a story in the language)<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pictionary with vocabulary from the week<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\ud83d\udcf1 8. Connect with Grandparents, Cousins and other family members and friends<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Write weekly, emails or video messages<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Exchange voice notes on WhatsApp or Messenger Kids<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Have video calls<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\ud83d\udca1Use technology to keep children connected to family and friends<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\ud83c\udfa8 9. Art + Language Mashup<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Label all their artwork in the target language<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do \u201cdescribe what you drew\u201d presentations<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make bilingual flashcards for art materials<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PL2vt_TPKQbZqic8b_qWrtMreAuIbxY3Vx\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">origami<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLIKUwqZzNezzQzZTWDhZPbGBadnyoDHh-\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">step-by-step drawing<\/a> in the target language<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make albums with their creations<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\ud83c\udfd5\ufe0f 10. Nature Walk &amp; Tal<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Go on local hikes or walks and:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Label things in both languages (\u201ctree,\u201d \u201csquirrel,\u201d \u201csunshine\u201d)<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Collect nature things (rocks, leaves, flowers) and make a bilingual nature journal in the target language<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are just some activities that you can do with your kids but the important thing is to have fun and enjoy time with them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here are 10 fun, practical, and culturally engaging ideas for helping bilingual kids practice their language skills over the summer \u2014 whether they\u2019re maintaining two languages or strengthening a heritage language. \ud83c\udfad 1. Language-Immersion Theme Weeks Choose a theme based on children&#8217;s interests for the week (e.g., Dinosaurs, Outer Space, Cooking, Travel) and do everything [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,24,21,22,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-educational","category-kids-activities","category-parenting","category-teaching","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18472"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18578,"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18472\/revisions\/18578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}