Library Playgroup: Hispanic Heritage Month, drums and circle game

I had a really fun time finding ideas to celebrate Hispanic Heritage month!

Welcome song:
Cantemos todos juntos, Halo, Halo, Halo
Cantemos todos juntos, Halo, Halo, Halo

Cantemos a (name here), Halo, Halo, Halo
Cantemos a (name here), Halo, Halo, Halo

Cantemos a (name here), Halo, Halo, Halo
Cantemos a todos, Halo, Halo, Halo

Let's all sing together, Hello, Hello, Hello
Let's all sing to (name here), Hello, Hello, Hello
Let's sing to everyone, Hello, Hello, Hello

Getting to know you:
Jimbo the puppet introduced himself and asked kids, "Cómo te llamas?" and "Cuántos años tienes?" which means, "What's your name?" and "How old are you?"

Activities:
1. We did a traditional circle game from Spain called "La Tía Mónica". You can watch some little girls dance to a slightly different version on youtube.

Lyrics in both English and Spanish are found here, as well as a sound file you can play on your computer.

We actually played the José-Luis Orozco version at the playgroup though, it's from his cd "Diez Deditos". In English it's "My Aunt Monica" and it's a cute song about how a child's aunt moves different body parts when she dances.

Vocabulary:
los ojos - eyes
las sejas - eyebrows
las pestañas - eyelashes
la nariz - nose
la cabeza - head
los hombros - shoulders
los codos - elbows
"así se da la vuelta" - this is how she turns

2. We made caribbean congo-style drums with plastic circles cut from a blue kiddie pool and some sturdy plastic cups. We used rubber bands to attach the plastic and then decorated them with stickers and paper. I got this idea from Handy Manny's Hispanic Heritage Month Party page.



After that we drummed along to a song called "Debajo del Botón" on the same José-Luis Orozco cd. It has these great repetitions like, "Debajo del botón, ton, ton que encontró Martín, tin ,tin" and so on that are perfect for keeping rhythm with. I said "un, dos, tres" a few times to add extra emphasis as I drummed.

Transition to playtime song:
Ahora vamos a jugar, a jugar, a jugar
Ahora vamos a jugar, a jugar, a jugar

Excerpt from "Y Ahora Vamos a Cantar" also on the cd "Diez Deditos"

Cleaning song:
Limpia, limpia
Guarda todo en su lugar
Limpia, limpia
Todos deben cooperar

Taken from Barney, it's the "Cleanup" song, spanish version