Memorama Natural - Nature Memory Game
Guest post from Ninos and Nature!
Memory games hold such a special place in my childhood. I remember playing them all the time with my brother, who was kind enough to let his little sister win over and over despite my gloating at the end. As a Spanish teacher, even in a high school classroom, I would always bring memory games into my students’ learning and they loved it! It is an amazing way to bring play into any educational setting and the repetition is incredibly beneficial with language learning.
My three-year-old twins are just now getting to the age where they are patient enough to play a memory game and I have been dreaming of ways to bring our love of nature into it! We are a bilingual home, I have been speaking Spanish to my children since they were six months old, and this became a great Spanish activity that they asked to play again and again.
The set up can be so easy, especially if you have the outdoors accessible! We went on a morning nature walk and looked for some special treasures to collect. We found pinecones from a hemlock tree on a short hike, a few feathers from our chicken coop and some lavender that was lovingly plucked from our neighbor’s garden (thank you neighbor!) Because my children are so young, I kept the game to just a few objects at a time but if your children are older you could gather a big collection of magical nature items to do this with. Imagine how magical this could be with seashells, bits of moss, wildflowers, fallen autumn leaves…the possibilities are endless.
My husband is a jeweler and I raided his studio to find these empty jewelry boxes which were perfect for hiding each item. You can also hide things under cups or Tupperware, inside toilet paper rings or even under socks or bits of paper (seriously, just use what you have!) Then I showed my children how the game worked. I purposefully chose two items that didn’t match and said the word for each item in Spanish before I showed them how I put the lids back on. They got it right away. After playing a few rounds, we introduced more items and spent almost an hour cycling through different set ups. The girls were speaking in Spanish with me without any pressure as they called out gleefully each item they uncovered while they played.
For older children, this is a really fun way to introduce or practice leaf and plant identification. You can have leaves from five popular trees hidden and ask your child to find the match and talk about how to identify what tree it comes from. This could be done with flowers, fruits & veggies, seeds, maybe even bugs if you are feeling brave and you want to try it outside! It seems like a simple enough idea, but don’t underestimate the learning to be had with this activity. Also, if you are a bilingual home (or learning another language together) this is a great game to add to your family time!
Get your own Spanish Nature Vocabulary Guide to help bring language learning into all your time outside. For more bilingual nature ideas and more hands-on Spanish learning, follow me @ninos.and.nature. You can also check out my play-based, nature inspired Spanish course for children 2-6, Con mi Familia! It is a screen-free course that empowers all families to learn Spanish together and is perfect for total beginners and bilingual families alike.
