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Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

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For the next four weeks, we celebrate Hispanic Heritage month. During this month we recognize the contributions that Hispanic and Latino Americans have made to the United States and we are able to teach our children about Hispanic and Latino culture – we can do this the rest of the year too, there is just more to take advantage of during this month. Here are a few different ways to celebrate Hispanic Heritage month.

things to do to celebrate hispanic heritage month

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Cook some Hispanic Dishes

Take an online cooking class with a chef from Mexico City. You can make tacos, Mexican salsas, Mexican sweets and more.

If you want to go out on your own, with a recipe as a guide, take a look at the Hispanic Food Network. They have a variety of recipes from the different Hispanic countries. Make Dobladas from Guatemala, Chilean Empanadas or Sopa de Queso from Nicaragua.

Take a Class

Kids can join the Hispanic Heritage Month Club on Outschool. Over 7 sessions, kids will learn about different Spanish speaking countries, including the holidays and celebrations which occur in the fall, such as Hispanic Heritage Month and Día de los Muertos.

Kids can also take a language class and learn Spanish or Portuguese. There are a variety of places that kids can take classes including DuoLingo, Little Pim, Muzzy and Outschool.

Read Books Showcasing Hispanic Culture

There are a myriad of books written by Hispanic authors that give some insight into Hispanic life and culture. Some books that we would recommend for kids are:

Younger kids
Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño played the piano for President Lincoln
My Name is Celia
Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré
Vamos! Let’s Go to the Market
What Can You Do with a Paleta?
Where are You From?

Older Kids
Growing Up with Tamales
The House on Mango Street
Me, Frida and Secret of the Peacock Ring
Mercí Suarez Changes Gears
Turning Pages: My Life Story (by Sonya Sotomayor)

Listen to Hispanic Music

Play music from different Hispanic countries. Introduce kids to merengue and bachata from the Dominican Republic, salsa from Puerto Rico, mariachi music from Mexico, cumbia from Colombia and more.

Learn about a Hispanic Country

Have kids pick a Hispanic country and do a research project on that country. If you have multiple kids, have each one do a different country and then do a presentation night. Kids will not only learn about the country they research, but about another country or two as well.

This would be a great activity to combine with another mom or two, and do the presentations via zoom, so kids will learn about 4-6 Hispanic countries.

Do a Hispanic Craft

What kid doesn’t love arts & crafts? Use art time as a teaching time for kids. They can do a fun activity, while also learning about Hispanic culture.

A Hispanic craft that you can make with kids is a Guatemalan worry doll (muñecas quitapenas). Guatemalan worry dolls are traditional Guatemalan toys. Kids tell a worry that they have to the doll at night, place it under their pillow and in the morning, the doll has taken their worry away.

Have kids make a Mexican amate painting. Amate is a type of Mexican folk art that is made on bark paper. Paintings are usually about daily life, history or nature and are brightly colored. You can recreate the paintings with kids, using brown paper or paper bag to simulate the bark paper and brightly colored paint.

Teach kids about Nazca lines from Peru and do a Nazca lines craft. The Nazca lines are large designs in the desert of southern Peru. Some are straight lines across the desert, while others depict different animals such as a hummingbird, spider, fish, monkey, lizard and more. Kids will be fascinated learning about the lines and creating their own picture.

Have kids create their own mini piñata. Kids can learn about Mexican culture and celebrations while creating their own mini piñata.

If your kids love making music, they will love making their own maracas and their own Peruvian cajita (box drum). If you have multiple kids, you can hold an impromptu jam session.

There are a lot of great ways to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and teach your kids about Hispanic heritage. Which ones are you most interested in trying?

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