Teach your child how to count in Spanish – starting on his fingers – and then move on to bigger numbers he can use. Every day you should count some items together and make it fun like a game. Then ask your child how many of a particular item there are. In addition to items around the house, you can count items in the backyard or during a trip to the mall or the grocery store. Challenge him to count as high as he can for a small prize.
Point out the different colors of objects around the house, as well as the colors of the rainbow, and help your child become good at recognizing colors in Spanish. Once your child can comfortably tell you the color of all the objects in the house and his familiar environments, take him to local places or shops – or even an arboretum – and ask him to describe the colors he sees. On a regular basis, ask him what color the different things he sees are.
Teach your child to talk about the foods he eats every day: the names of the foods or ingredients, how the foods are grown or made and what they combine with to make. Then each time you introduce your child to a new food, whether in your home or in a restaurant, tell him the Spanish name and introduce him to the new dish or ingredients. Then ask him to name or tell you about the foods with which he is already familiar, such as what color they are, how else you can eat them and whether they grow in the ground or on a tree.
Slowly introduce your child to the names of different animals and plants in Spanish and even their characteristics, like color, size and the presence or lack of claws. Start with the family pets and plants in the backyard and then move on to the different specimens featured in magazines and library books or in the local zoo or botanical garden.