Fun Ideas and Activities with La Comida

             Fun Ideas and Activities

                 with La comida

Here is an activity that will engage your students in hours of fun while the most important thing is taking place: learning!

La comida activity is intended not only to teach students the names of different foods but also to encourage active participation and language development.  Students will learn to use the new words in context of what they like and want.  The ideas I’m about to share here will aide in helping teachers and parents encourage children to speak while at the same time having fun. When kids are actively participating and having fun, the intimidation for speaking the language diminishes.  Throughout this blog you will have access to several Free activity sheets you can immediately download for use. You can also purchase the complete activity of “Los alimentos” that has a full variety of different kinds of foods and additional work sheets. You can find the link at the end of this blog.

These are just some ideas to use as a spring board for other ideas you may come up with.  I will also recommend the appropriate age for each activity, but each group and scenario is different so feel free to make adjustment with the age group if needed.  

You can use plastic food as well!

Activities/ideas:

1.      Me gusta/no me gusta:  for ages five and up.

Have students select the foods they like and they ones they don’t like. This can be done in several ways: students can cut and paste the foods they like and don’t like. For younger children, the foods can be precut for them. Another way to do this activity: they can circle the foods they like and put an X on the ones they don’t like. Free activity sheets included for this activity.

Me gusta/ no me gusta for ages 10 and up:

With this activity, students will write the names of the foods they like and don’t like. After they do that encourage students to read out aloud what food he or she likes. This activity is a good practice for writing in Spanish and also good for the reading/pronunciation part in Spanish.  Free activity sheets included for this activity along with a variation.

2.      Yo quiero/no quiero: for ages five and up.

Give each student a small disposable plate. Each student one at a time says to instructor for example: “quiero pan, quiero pastel, quiero pollo. (At least three things)Variation: as students get more and more familiar with the names of the foods, you can select a student to be the one to give the appropriate foods to the student or students that are asking. They can also say: "no quiero jugo....and so on.

3.      The “tengo hambre/dame” game:  for ages five and up. Have students sit in a circle facing outwards. Then give each student a small disposable plate. Instructor will walk around the circle with a tray of food. (it can be cut out food or actual play food)Then all the students sitting in the circle say this chant in a rhythmic fashion: “tengo hambre” while instructor is walking around the circle. While instructor walks around the circle, students one at a time lift their plate and say: “dame….(they can say what they want) for example : “dame pan” then instructor put “pan” in the student’s plate. Right after that the group chants once again “tengo hambre” while instructor is walking around the circle. Another student will raise their plate and say: “dame pollo” and so on until everyone has something in their plate. If time permits the activity can go on for second or third round leaving students with two or three items on their plate.  All depends on time and size of the group. Variation: instead of having the instructor go around in a circle, you can select a student to do it.  Make sure everyone is familiar with each food before playing the game. If a student asks for a food that is no longer available then instructor can say: “no hay….” and keeps walking in the circle. So that student will need to think of another food to ask for when instructor gets close by again. This game can be done with the beverages. Instead of saying “tengo hambre”, students say: “tengo sed”

4.      En mi plato hay activity:  For ages 5 and up. With this activity you will need small disposable plate or toy plates. Put in each student’s  plate three or four foods. Ask each student: “¿qué hay en tu plato?” student should respond: “en mi plato hay…..” Variation: you can ask student to say what is in someone else’s  plate. Example: “¿qué hay en el plato de María?”  Decide whether or not students respond in complete sentence.  I personally prefer them to respond in complete sentence just for the sake of practicing the language. But either way they are still learning!

5.      The restaurant activity: for ages 10 and up.

Students have menus and another student take orders. The student taking the order can say: “hola, que quieres comer?” the other student can say as an example: “yo quiero pollo, papas fritas y hamburguesa.” The student taking the order marks that down on the menu card and brings it to the student. The student taking the order can also ask: “¿que quieres para beber?” Student can say: “quiero jugo de naranja” or also say: “¿que hay para beber?” the student taking the order says for example: “hay limonada, leche, batido and so on….”  This activity encourages understanding and listening skills as well as language development.  Small or medium size disposable plates will be needed for this activity. Free menu sheet and menu card included for this activity.

And here is an additional Free activity sheet for you!

You can purchase Los alimentos Activity  for a greater variety of foods and other activity sheets. To purchase click here.

Hope you have lots of fun with these activities!

Please share your comments and ideas!

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Thank you and….                                                                                                      

Have Fun!