5 Spanish Class Activities For School Vocabulary

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Spanish Class Activities can be both fun and super effective when you’ve got the right tools up your sleeve! Have you been searching for engaging ways to liven up your Spanish class? Whether you’re teaching in a classroom or online, these five activities will help your students learn school vocabulary in an interesting and enjoyable way. From talking about their classes and subjects to sharing their opinions about them, school is a great topic for novice Spanish students!

Spanish School Objects and Terms Bulletin Board

A great option to support your students is by creating a word wall. This classroom display is great for back to school or your school unit. By posting the pictures and words they become a visual reference for students and an easy display for you to reference as you tell your students what they need to be prepared for your lesson!

Play Games with Spanish Class Vocabulary

We don’t have to tell you how excited kids get when it comes to playing games. One engaging game that works for teaching school supply vocabulary is to play a game that is similar to “Hot and Cold”, but with vocabulary terms. Students hide classroom objects and coach each other to find them by saying the name of the hidden item!

Another fun idea is to play Partner Matamoscas or with small groups! Students have a paper with the pictures of the vocab and they race to find the word called out by the teacher. Eye spy is another great option! These games incorporate several different learning modalities which is helpful when teaching your students.

Writing and Craftivity

In this fun writing activity, students draw and describe what is in their backpacks. It’s one of those Spanish Class Activities that gets students thinking, creating, and using vocabulary in a meaningful way. They choose several objects to draw and label, then write about what they have in their backpack. Print and go craft makes prep easy for you and fun for them. You can hang them for a neat classroom display or bulletin board when they’re all finished.

Digital Task Cards with School Vocabulary

Your students can practice school supply vocabulary with these digital task cards. From simple vocabulary practices with the images to more in-depth reading comprehension, these auto-grading task cards are a great, no prep option for your students to practice!

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Reading Activities

Incorporating reading into your lessons is a great way to help vocabulary sink in. Readings and short stories can provide a lot of Comprehensible Input for your students!

One option is to do a gallery walk with your students. Hang the readings around the room, or post them digitally, then have your students complete comprehension activities to go with each of the short reading activities. Click here to learn more about how to do a gallery walk in your Spanish classroom. It’s one of those Spanish Class Activities that gets students moving, reading, and engaging with the content in a totally different way.

I also love to reinforce sets of vocabulary with short stories! You can story tell them with circling strategies, or use them for individual reading comprehension activities. I have a few stories that I mix in throughout the year so the students don’t forget the school vocabulary we’ve learned. There’s a printable and digital story for telling time and school, and printable and digital options for tener que and school!

Spanish Class Activities That Get Them Talking
Once your students know a few words, it’s time to put them to work in the most fun way possible. These Spanish Class Activities are perfect for getting students to speak up and use their school vocabulary in context. You can set up a pretend school day in class where students take turns playing the teacher and the students.

They can ask for supplies, take attendance, or even hand out imaginary homework. Try fun lines like “¿Dónde está mi cuaderno?” or “Necesito un lápiz.” You can even add in a surprise visit from “el director” or a quick call to “la enfermera.” They’ll be using vocabulary without even realizing they’re learning. This one always gets laughs and helps those words really stick.

Notebook Fun They’ll Actually Want to Do
Let’s be honest, we love a no-fuss activity that gets students cutting, coloring, and writing. That’s where interactive notebooks come in. Give them a printable page with pictures of school supplies and their Spanish names. Students cut them out, glue them into their notebooks, and write little sentences underneath. Think “Tengo un bolígrafo azul” or “Hay una regla en mi mochila.” It’s creative, low prep for you, and super engaging for them. Plus, once they’re done, you’ve got a colorful reference page they’ll flip back to again and again. This works like magic for all levels, and you can reuse the same activity with new twists throughout the year.