Little Pim Blog
Fun Activities & Teaching Tips
Grocery shopping with your children is sometimes tough simply because there is so much to ask about and question in a shop so full of items! One way to make the grocery shopping trip fun for your child while also teaching them a valuable skill is to use the store as an object lesson for learning Spanish words. Children learn very quickly but usually appreciate concrete items they can see and touch, so the grocery store and food preparation time can be wonderful opportunities for learning.
Hop, hop, hop into a new language with Little Pim! Celebrate the upcoming Easter holiday by printing out this free Little Pim Easter Coloring Page for your little ones.
We’d love to see their finished creation, so please share your photo with us using the #littlepim on Instagram, Twitter, or tag us on Facebook! Also if you’re teaching your child a new language with Little Pim - Languages for Kids, post a photo or video of them watching our series and we’ll send you a free panda plush!
We hope you all have a fabulous Spring and Easter holiday for those celebrating!
If you’re interested in teaching your child a foreign language, take advantage of our Spring sale for 50% off your first 3 months of Little Pim’s Unlimited Subscription with code HOP50.
Congratulations on choosing the most effective method for introducing babies, toddlers, and pre-schoolers to a second or third language at the time they learn best. The series is especially designed to take advantage of the critical window when young minds are hard-wired to learn up to three languages with ease, which is up to six years old.
September 10th is the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, a day in which Jewish families around the world ring in the year 5779. Whether your child or classroom is learning Hebrew or not, it's a great time to expose them them to Jewish culture and global traditions surrounding this important Jewish holiday.
Rosh Hashanah translates from Hebrew to mean "start of the year." Traditionally, Jewish families attend services in a synagogue and enjoy traditional holiday meals with family on this day and the next.
The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, the ram's horn, which is sounded on both days of Rosh Hashanah to mark the start of the new year.
For a fun craft, your child can make his or her very own (thankfully less noisy) cardboard shofar here.
Many of the foods Jewish families eat during this holiday are also symbolic. For example, apples dipped into honey help prepare followers for a "sweet" new year.
And Challah, a round loaf of egg bread is also commonly eaten on the first night and symbolizes the circle of life.
Teach your child about this yummy tradition by whipping up a batch of Honey Apple Cupcakes together.
If you want your children to learn more about Jewish tradition and learn Hebrew, check out our award-winning Hebrew for kids program.
Are you celebrating the holiday this year or teaching your child Hebrew? Be sure to send us your pictures or share them on our Facebook page.
And don't forget you can get Rosh Hashanah cards here to wish your Jewish friends or family members a happy new year! The traditional greeting is "shana tova," which translates to "good year."
With the heatwave we're experiencing here in the northeast, there's nothing like cooling off at the beach or pool. In this coloring page, Little Pim is at the beach ready to enjoy the hot summer day. When it feels like over 100 degrees outside, cool off indoors in the A/C while your little ones color with Little Pim!
Print your FREE "Little Pim Beach Day" coloring page here or by clicking the image below:
If you're subscribed to Little Pim's new subscription product, in addition to all of our videos, you'll receive new episodes introducing your child to new words and phrases describing the weather, seasons, and greetings. Here's a sneak peek at some of the vocabulary covered in our "Sunny Day" episode in English & Spanish that you can teach your little ones while they're coloring:
summer / el verano
it's sunny / está soleado
beach / la playa
sand / la arena
swimming pool / la piscina
swim / nadar
Stay cool, stay hydrated, and enjoy the last few weeks of Summer! - The Little Pim team
Summer is in full swing and the kids are out to play and maybe even going to camp! Download our FREE Little Pim Summer Camp Coloring Page for a fun coloring activity for your kids:
Let's see your kids' creations! Share their coloring page on Instagram/Twitter using #LittlePim or tag us on Facebook and we will send you a FREE Little Pim Panda Plush bear! Offer ends July 31st, 2018. Limited 1 panda plush per household.
Happy November! With Thanksgiving coming up, download and print Little Pim's Thanksgiving Coloring page!
Don't forget to incorporate language learning into your holiday while cooking, spending time with family, and during playtime! Teach your kids how to say "thank you" in different languages and other seasonal vocabulary, like the Spanish word for "leaf" = "la hoja."
A post shared by Little Pim (@littlepimhq) on Nov 6, 2017 at 5:01am PST
For other fun activities, check out our blog post on 4 Fun Thanksgiving Activities you can do with your little ones!
Happy Fall! What fun activities do you have planned this weekend? Celebrate the start of the beautiful season by printing out your free Autumn Coloring Page of Little Pim picking apples! While you're coloring, teach your little ones how to say "apple" in the 12 different languages we offer on our website: English - Apple
Spanish - Manzana
French - Pomme
Mandarin Chinese - Píngguǒ
Italian - Mela
German - Apfel
Russian - Yabloko
Korean - Sagwa
Portuguese - Maçã
Arabic - Tafaha
Japanese - Ringo
Hebrew - תפוח עץ (tah-POO-ahkh)
Click here to download your free coloring page.
A child’s grip on a pencil starts out loose, like their understanding of cultures and worlds beyond their own. As they master holding the pencil, drawing basic shapes, and later letters, more and more of the unknown comes into focus. They begin to recognize the semi-circular shape of an Iranian mosque’s dome. They are familiarized with the square shape of mosaic tiles in Roman churches. The muscles in their hands know what it’s like to write out characters, the same ones that Shakespeare used to assemble his sonnets. Via these examples, we see how motor skills underlie art, which is a vehicle of cultural exchange. While we at Little Pim often emphasize learning languages as a means of cultural exposure, we want to use this post to highlight learning motor skills as a perfect time to introduce your children to different cultures through art. Accordingly, below is a list of artists from around the world who can inspire activities that will reinforce your children’s motor skills, cultural awareness, and familiarity with art as a tool of self and cultural expression.
A child just learning motor skills requires a great deal of concentration just to bring these simple shapes to life. Resultantly, they have a heightened appreciation for them, an appreciation that Mondrian relearned. Your child might thereby be able to relate to an important figure in Dutch culture.
Ask your children to draw 10 dots at random locations on a piece of paper. Then, have them connect one dot to each of the others on the paper with straight lines. (Use a ruler if straight lines are difficult for them.) Repeat for the other 9 dots. The result is a very cool geometric pattern. Take out primary color markers, colored pencils, or crayons and have them fill in the shapes as they see fit. With that, you have a Mondrian inspired piece ready to be hung on the fridge.
The fun, quirky nature of these pieces will appeal to your child’s innate happiness and creativity. Let their curiosity take over upon asking what the sculpture below on the left represents.
Break out the colorful Playdough for this activity! Show your child images of Niki de Saint Phalle’s sculptures and let the fun ensue. You can suggest rolling out small segments of different colored dough and connecting them to make a multi-colored snake, which is what I see in the sculpture on the left.
The abstraction of Miró’s pieces reinforce to your children that there is no such thing as perfection, especially in art. It is all about personal perspective and emotions. Encourage them to make “mistakes” and try something wacky in their own pieces.
Grab a few hangers from the closet, thread/yarn from the sewing kit, scissors, and construction paper. You now have all the tools necessary to make your very own mobile, like the one above on the right, perfect for a younger sibling’s room. Snip the hook off of a hanger; that is how you will be able to hang the mobile. Then, cut a few straight pieces of wire from several hangers. Twist them to attach them to the hook. Splay them out in different directions. Afterwards, cut some pieces of thread/yarn and knot them onto the end of the wires. Go crazy cutting out awesome shapes from the colorful construction paper. Pierce a hole and knot the other ends of the threads into the construction paper cutouts. Boom! Your very own Miró inspired mobile!
While less child-like in its appearance than the works of the aforementioned artists, Guangyi is unfiltered and unapologetic for his opinions in his art, just as a child is before he or she is molded to fit into a society that values conformity.
Let your children make a statement with this next piece of art. Suggest to your children that they draw how they feel about their least favorite food. See how their emotions translate into art.
Father’s Day is a time to celebrate family, love, and happiness. All of the warm sentiments conjured on this day will mirror the warm weather forecasted in New York, where Little Pim is based, creating perfect conditions to have a wonderful day. What could make the day any better? Foreign language. While a shared appreciation for a father figure unites a family, exposure to a foreign language can unite an immigrant or multicultural family with its roots and can unite a curious family around a common love for learning. Language learning can be seamlessly incorporated into your plans for the day, whether you are attending a barbecue, heading to the beach, or staying in the comforts of your own home. It’s not only easy but fun, so read on for some helpful tips.
As you are slicing the fruit for a platter or tossing the salad to kick off the barbecue, you can make use of the vibrant array of colors on display to teach your child another language. The Little Pim flash card sets include the words for colors for each language offered. Accordingly, even if you aren’t proficient in the language you would like to teach, the cards can provide you with the necessary vocabulary to turn this fairly boring task into a fun language learning opportunity.
Moreover, as the adults surround the grill, and conversations about work inevitably ensue, your child might grow bored. To keep them happy and engaged, you can simply hand over your iPad. While this parenting move often leads to gaming, which isn’t necessarily intellectually challenging or fruitful for your child, you can use Little Pim livestream, to turn this moment into another language learning opportunity.
As the eating winds down and everyone is still gathered around the table or fire pit, you can introduce a fun language learning game to liven up the mood. In the game, you can choose a flashcard from the deck at random. You can’t let your child see it. Similar to the wildly popular game “Heads Up,” your child then holds the card to their forehead. Make sure to have the English translation side face the rest of the table. The other family members and friends have to give verbal hints or act out gestures based on which your child can guess the word in English. Once your child has successfully guessed the word, in order to earn a bonus point, he or she must translate the word into the foreign language of your choice.
As you pack your bag for the beach, make an assembly line with you and your child. As you pick up an item, pass it to your child and have him or her try to name the word in the foreign language. Many of the words that would likely be useful during this exercise are part of the flashcard sets, but below is a short list with translations into French and Spanish for your convenience.
The highly anticipated ocean entry is another chance for you to involve some language learning into Father’s Day fun. While some kids are hesitant to enter the cold water, you can make it less intimidating by turning it into a game. You can call out what is written on one side of the flashcard and have them translate into or from English. Each correct answer can be a step backward towards “safety,” and each incorrect answer can be a step closer to the waves, or vice versa if your child is excited to go into the water.
The car ride home is perfect chance to pop in a French Bop or Spanish Bop CD. More information and statistics encouraging listening to music sung in a foreign language can be found in a recent blog posting.
If Father’s Day will be low-key at home for you and your family, language learning might be the perfect stimulus to brighten the day. For example, while your child is writing that cute letter to Dad that you will save for years to come, you can teach them how to say some of the words in his or her letter in other languages.
While below is a short list of words and phrases your child is likely to use translated into French and Spanish, Little Pim’s content covers many more languages.
Happy Father’s Day from Little Pim to you and your family! We hope language learning can make an amazing day even better.
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