I’ve shared how we’re big book nerds over here, right?! It’s one item I never feel guilty about buying for my girls, so we have quite the collection! I recently shared our top Hispanic Heritage books for kids, but I wanted to take it a step further for my family. Children are so receptive to developing their language skills at young ages, so finding Spanish language and bilingual children’s books for my girls was of the utmost importance to me!
Studies have shown that learning a second language increases children’s problem-solving abilities and helps develop cognitive advantages! Bilingualism is also a skill that will serve them throughout their lives!
From personal experience, I know how incredibly important it is to hear other languages as early as possible! I grew up hearing my family speak Spanish but didn’t begin learning in earnest until I was in high school. However having that ear for the language made picking it up much easier on me! Everything from reading to pronunciation to spelling was just easier since I had heard the language spoken as a child!
So even though I haven’t taught my children to speak Spanish, (it’s a goal I keep telling myself I’ll get to one of these days!), I know that simply hearing another language makes an impact. And an easy way to do that is through reading to them in Spanish!
Spanish Language and Bilingual Book Tips
For those with limited Spanish language knowledge, I know that the thought of reading in another language may seem overwhelming. Thankfully, there are so many online resources you can tap into! I highly recommend searching for book titles along with “read aloud” into YouTube. (For example, searching “Me gusta cuando read aloud” in YouTube brings up a great option to listen to the story read by a native speaker!) So many titles have been read aloud and are a great starting part for learning the proper pronunciation. Follow along in your at-home book until you’re comfortable with reading! Or if you prefer the read-along, you can still snuggle your child and share the book while listening to the story read aloud! Let’s get to the books! 😉
Spanish Language and Bilingual Children’s Books
For my Spanish language and bilingual children’s books suggestions, I’m including both younger children’s picture and vocabulary-style books up to early readers that will be perfect for elementary aged children! I’ve also separated the books out into categories to make it even easier to find what you’re looking for!
Vocabulary Board Books
For the goal of teaching simple Spanish language vocabulary to little ones, these picks will be your go-to’s! They have bright, kid-friendly pictures and only one or two words per page. They are also board book style, perfect for the youngest of children. I purchased many of these before my oldest was even a year old. It was amazing to see how quickly she picked up the words!
Colores and Animales (both Bebé Listo books!) are great first word books! LoterÃa also has easy words such as hen, moon, and heart. La Catrina teaches the Spanish words for various emotions! If you’re looking for even more suggestions, I highly recommend the Lil’ Libros books! Both LoterÃa and La Catrina are a part of the series, but there are countless other options! Topics range from first words to kid-friendly biographies (like La Vida de Pelé for my soccer fans!) to travel (like Vámanos a San Juan!) to history!
Bilingual Books
For bilingual children’s books that have both complete translations, these are some of our favs! ¿Dónde esta la oveja verde? (Where is the Green Sheep?) is a cute board book great for even the youngest of kids! Me Gusta Cuando… (I Like it When…) is another sweet option, sharing what a mommy and child penguin like to do together! Along those same lines, check out Quiero a mi Mamá Porque… and Quiero a mi Papá Porque… ! Both would be great gifts for a parent or a sweet bilingual library addition, sharing all of the reasons why a baby loves their parent. Both feature beautiful illustrations of animal families!
If you’re looking for classics that you might already be familiar with, there are so many cute translations like the Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do you See? bilingual addition! One of my all-time favorites though is the bilingual Perro grande… Perro pequeño! It’s such a great book for younger kids that focuses on opposites like big and small, fast and slow, and more! It’s chock-full with wonderful vocabulary! And of course I can’t forget La oruga muy hambrienta/The Very Hungry Caterpillar bilingual edition!
Spanish Language Options
Like I mentioned before, we don’t speak a lot of Spanish in our household. It’s something I continually say I’ll do but haven’t followed through…YET! Add it to my never-ending to-do list. 😂 But reading these Spanish language books to my girls feels doable. To keep them engaged and make reading in Spanish more accessible, I opt for titles they’re already familiar with! Buenas Noches, Luna, (Good Night, Moon) ¡Corre, Perro, Corre! (Go, Dogs, Go!), ¿Eres mi Mamá? (Are You My Mother?), and Huevos Verdes con Jamón (Green Eggs and Ham) are some of our go-to’s! There are quite a few Dr. Suess books Spanish translations that I recommend checking out to find your child’s favorites! The translations do a great job of still creating that rhythmic cadence that children are used to from Dr. Suess!
But there truly are a multitude of options that you can search through that will meet your child’s interest! At one point my daughter was going through a Peppa Pig stage, and I was excited to find plenty of Cerdito Peppa books online! (We have Peppa se va a Dormir and Peppa va a Nadar!) I recommend checking out the Scholastic Spanish books options for fun translations and more Spanish language options, including Clifford, LEGO Superheros, and more!
Hispanic Heritage Children’s Books
If you’re also interested in sharing and teaching more about Hispanic heritage, be sure to check out my list of Hispanic Heritage children’s books as well! There are a couple of Spanish language bilingual books included there as well!
Happy reading!
