Spanish apps for kids are designed to teach the language in a fun and engaging way.
Kids generally have different learning needs and interests than adults.
For example, kids respond well to bright cartoons, memorable melodies, big, bold fonts that focus on key vocabulary and gamified learning where they can earn prizes for their efforts.
We’ve rounded the best Spanish apps for kids (and for kids at heart) so you can see what makes them so special.
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1. Best for YouTube Videos: Learn Spanish for Kids
Available on: Android
Ages: 4+
Pricing: Free
Learn Spanish for Kids is a free app that contains study materials, videos, games and quizzes.
The study material consists of 694 words that fall into 24 different topic areas, including common word sets like the alphabet, numbers and colors. However, Learn Spanish for Kids also adds in a bit more by including country names, body parts, clothing, school, flowers and more.
While Learn Spanish for Kids doesn’t produce its own learning videos, it does offer a collection of YouTube videos in its app. Additionally, there are a couple of games and a listening quiz to round out the app’s learning options.
2. Best Immersive: Spanish Learning for Kids
Available on: iOS | Android
Ages: 4+
Pricing: Free; in-app purchases available
Spanish Learning for Kids offers learning material and fun activities to help kids and anyone who’s a child at heart learn basic Spanish vocabulary.
Using cute animations, the app teaches vocabulary like numbers, the alphabet, animals and more. Words are both spoken and displayed in writing, and you can repeat the words if you need to hear them again. Plus, words appear in poppable balloons to add a delightful twist to the learning process.
Additional activities include coloring, puzzles and games to help reinforce your learning.
Some users are dissatisfied because the app is entirely in Spanish—there are no English-language instructions. However, this offers a more immersive approach than apps that use English since users will figure out word meanings through context. This encourages users to think in Spanish, which is important for moving towards fluency.
The basic app is free. In-app purchases unlock additional word categories.
3. Best All-Round: Learn Spanish for Beginners
Available on: Android
Ages: 3+
Pricing: Free; in-app purchases available
Learn Spanish for Beginners is a free app that offers 500 words with both images and audio.
The app uses games to help you learn valuable vocabulary in basic categories like colors, numbers and days of the week, in addition to more advanced categories like Christmas, sports and music.
The app aims to improve your reading, listening and speaking.
4. Best Educational Music Videos: Spanish School Bus for Kids
Available on: iOS
Ages: 4+
Pricing: Free; in-app purchases available
Learn Spanish for Kids (also called Spanish School Bus) focuses on teaching 300 common words. There are over 60 levels based on themes such as verbs, travel, colors and more. There are four different learning modes, as well as games.
What sets Learn Spanish for Kids apart is its music videos and achievements. Yes, Learn Spanish for Kids offers several educational music videos. There are also achievements you can unlock for a greater sense of accomplishment. Plus, you can get certificates of completion as you advance through the app. This is a good motivator to keep you moving along.
The basic download is free. In-app purchases unlock additional content.
5. Best for Games: Fun Spanish for Kids
Available on: iOS | Android
Ages: 3-8
Pricing: Free; in-app purchases available
Designed for kids ages 3-10, Fun Spanish: Language Learning Games for Kids offers Spanish lessons that incorporate a wide array of learning games. The audio for the words uses both male and female voices, which will help you nail down the pronunciations and understand how sounds may vary slightly between voices.
The basic app is free and contains two lessons (covering colors and animals) and 13 games. Additional in-app purchases unlock more lessons and games on topics including the body, vehicles, sea animals and more.
6. Best Variety of Vocabulary: 15,000 Words – Learn Spanish
Available on: iOS (6,000 Words) | Android (15,000 Words)
Ages: 4+
Pricing: Free; in-app purchases available
15,000 Words offers a nice array of words to help beginning and intermediate learners advance their skills.
For each word, this app offers an image, the written word and audio pronunciation. The app also includes seven different games to reinforce your learning.
15,000 Words also has a number of unique features. You can let the app select a random category for you to practice, which is a great way to test your progress. Additionally, there’s a Review Manager that tracks the words you’ve learned during a game so you can give them another look.
15,000 Words is free to download. Additional in-app purchases remove ads and add additional levels. You can also use the app offline.
7. Best for Learning the Alphabet: Alfabeto Spanish Alphabet
Available on: Android
Ages: 2+
Pricing: Free
Alfabeto Spanish Alphabet is a free app for early beginners. It’s designed for babies through toddlers, but don’t let them hog all the learning!
The app focuses primarily on teaching users the alphabet. There are a total of 100 flashcards that incorporate pictures to teach users the alphabet and basic words (most of which are used as examples of words that begin with each letter).
Additionally, there are writing lessons to help users master the basics of forming letters. Adult learners won’t benefit much from this, but it’s great for toddlers!
8. Best Engaging: Learn Spanish with Amy for Kids
Available on: iOS | Android
Ages: 2-7
Pricing: Free with available upgrade for $5.99
If you’re wondering how to teach your child Spanish at home, this app will certainly help get the job done! It’s intended for young learners and is formatted so that it feels like play.
The games use both English and Spanish and cover transportation, numbers, shapes, colors, farm animals and more. They introduce basic vocabulary using kid-friendly pictures. Matching games, puzzles and quizzes are fast, fun play for young children. This is an ideal resource for making Spanish for kids super fun!
Free topics are “food and drinks,” “zoo” and “body.” Access the others with in-app purchases. Try out the free categories and if your child enjoys this app, purchase the other lessons. It’s a great introduction to Spanish for toddlers and young children.
9. Best for Play: Pili Pop Español (Spanish)
Available on: iOS | Android
Ages: 4+
Pricing: Free with subscriptions available from $9.99-$59.99
Pili Pop Español is an award-winning app that’s so much fun that children ask to use it. My four-year-old niece loves Pili Pop—and her Spanish skills are completely amazing! If you’re looking for an option to add Spanish learning games to your child’s language program, I absolutely suggest this one!
This is basically a game app that teaches the language. Choose from a variety of pronunciation exercises or themes that are all designed to encourage children to want to play. Speaking out loud and repeating vocabulary as it’s introduced are great ways for kids to practice pronunciation. Some English is used in this app.
Caring for Pili by playing often makes language learning part of a child’s daily routine. There are free themes to download. Subscription options open up unlimited access to all content, which is regularly updated.
10. Best Simple: Bilingual Child
Available on: iOS
Ages: 2+
Pricing: Free; in-app purchases available
This app uses animated books to teach young learners how to speak Spanish and English.
With interaction between two characters, Lucy (who speaks English) and Carlos (who speaks Spanish), very clearly brings both languages to life. It’s a thoroughly uncomplicated introduction to either language.
The content is fun, sweet and perfect for even very young learners, including babies. Toddlers will love interacting with these two friends—and gain some solid pronunciation practice while they’re busy answering questions and learning vocabulary.
In-app purchases offer additional books. Many subjects are covered, including animals, numbers, colors, body parts, transportation and shapes.
11. Best Challenges: Learn Spanish with Lingo Arcade
Available on: iOS
Ages: 4+
Pricing: Free with upgrades available from $.99 to $8.99
Lingo Arcade is an excellent resource for kids as well as for their parents. Even young children can use this app for learning vocabulary. Older children and adults will enjoy playing games. The app keeps tabs on learning streaks, levels and high scores, so this is an ideal resource for anyone who likes a bit of competition!
There are thousands of words and phrases that provide learners the opportunity to build an impressive vocabulary. The focus of this app is on keeping learners engaged. Mini-challenges and the ability to skip forward to more difficult material encourage learners to work harder—and see benefits more quickly!
If you’re wondering which apps can be used for middle schoolers, this is one to try. Also, this is a fun way for adults to learn Spanish, too! Both English and Spanish are used in this app, so it’s suitable for even beginning learners.
The first level is free to try. In-app purchases offer two options, either 20 levels or unlimited access.
12. Best Natural Learning: Learn Spanish Lessons for Kids
Available on: iOS
Ages: Infants+
Pricing: Free
Learn Spanish Lessons for Kids is geared toward young children—including babies! It’s a learning system that builds on material learned in previous lessons, featuring vivid images and short videos that are wonderfully engaging.
Audio models, pronunciation and flashcards help with vocabulary and spelling. Games to encourage learning are simple but effective.
This app teaches Spanish in a manner that is similar to how we learn our native languages. Words are introduced, then built upon, and prompts are made in English. For example, a dog becomes a brown dog and then becomes part of a whole sentence. This is a super great method for teaching!
Adults can use this app as an additional resource in a Spanish language program. Any method that teaches vocabulary is an asset to every language learner’s program!
13. Best for Core Vocabulary: Infinite Spanish
Available on: iOS | Android
Ages: 4+
Pricing: Free with full unlock for $6.99
Infinite Spanish is an app that teaches Spanish—only using Spanish. There is no English used in this app, so it forces learners to think in Spanish right from the beginning.
The whole app is a series of games designed to teach basic Spanish vocabulary. There are over 200 words featured, so this is an ideal method for teaching children a core vocabulary. They learn animals, food, numbers and more with visual and audio prompts.
Levels in this app bring a challenge to the games! Also, there’s a review option that helps to distinguish material learned from what still needs more review. Parents and children will both enjoy this app—and there are more Infinite apps available for other languages, too!
14. Best Relaxed Approach: Endless Spanish
Available on: iOS
Ages: 4+
Pricing: Free with upgrades available for $5.99 each
In this app, children learn Spanish with some friendly monsters—what’s not to love? This program is very low-key in that it doesn’t keep track of scores or winning streaks or note failures. It’s a peaceful, low-stress method for introducing young children to the language. Using both English and Spanish to teach the Spanish language makes this a very friendly option for even very young learners.
There are basic vocabulary words to learn, puzzles that become animated while they’re being worked on and sentence puzzles that give visual representations of their targeted words.
There are six free words to try, and in-app purchases make more word packs available.
Two audio options are available. “Spanish Immersion” is for advanced learners and native Spanish speakers. “Spanish with English Translation” works for beginners and English speakers.
15. Best for Toddlers: Peekaboo Barn
Available on: iOS
Ages: 1-2
Pricing: $1.99
Peekaboo Barn is geared towards the youngest of learners—toddlers. A toddler is defined as a child between the ages of one and two years, so this app is very basic.
Uncomplicated? Yes. Packed with lots of Spanish learning? Also yes. And it’s a boon for visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners. (Which pretty much sums up most toddlers!)
Toddlers are introduced to Spanish vocabulary as they head inside an inviting bouncing barn. Animals appear from behind the barn door through the use of friendly animation.
Anyone who knows a toddler realizes one of their favorite things is repeating an action or seeing something again and again. In this instance, a toddler’s fondness for repetition reinforces the learned vocabulary. So let the little adventurer play again and again while practicing the sounds and vocabulary as many times as necessary.
16. Best Premium: Little Pim
Available on: iOS | Android
Ages: 0-5
Pricing: Free trial, then $9.99-$69.99 subscription fee
Little Pim is geared toward raising bilingual children from an early age. Vocabulary and phrases are taught using the Little Pim videos that are also featured on YouTube, like this one called At the Park.
Little Pim is the brainchild of Julia Pimsleur Levine, daughter of the Pimsleur language learning method creator Dr. Paul Pimsleur. Little Pim resembles the adult Pimsleur language program, with entertaining, immersive and integrated material.
This is a hit. The characters are adorable and the app pulls young learners right into the action. There’s a “child mode” to simplify the experience, so it’s a snap for young learners to flip through vocabulary in a flashcard-like fashion or check off boxes without distraction.
17. Best for Adventures: Gus on the Go: Spanish
Available on: iOS | Android
Ages: 0-5
Pricing: $3.99
While being fun and fast-paced, Gus on the Go also wants to make sure students have a strong command of their new vocabulary with reviews after each lesson. And—the owl is adorable! The pictures are uncomplicated, the vocabulary provides everyday language skills and the whole interface is bright and friendly.
The wide variety of lessons is perfectly equipped to keep a young learner’s interest. There are over 90 Spanish words to learn, activities that call for navigating country and city maps and animations that make learning anything but dull!
Games allow kids to “go along” on adventures. When the child tires of a lesson, move on. Until then, let Gus do the job!
18. Best for Verb Conjugation: Verb Challenge Spanish
Available on: Android
Ages: 5+
Pricing: $4.99
Verb Challenge Spanish is aimed toward older kids who already have some language skills under their belt. It’s a little more advanced, with games to help conjugate the 100 most-common verbs.
There are many levels and larger-than-life quests to complete, so it’s not at all static. The goal is to help the Mayans build their pyramid by making sentences in Spanish. Watching the pyramid grow, clearing levels and racing against the sun show conjugation patterns and irregular verbs in a whole new light!
The content is engaging and challenging, with bright graphics. It’s a great addition to the language-learning routine for both visual and auditory learners, and also contains a verb conjugation chart for those must-know-now verb conjugations.
Why Use Spanish Apps for Kids?
There are several good reasons to pick up these apps.
Because you’re a kid and you want to learn Spanish.
These apps are designed to help children learn Spanish. Introducing kids to Spanish early is a great idea, too, because children have an easier time picking up new languages than adults do. So if you’re a kid looking to learn Spanish, these apps are a fun, engaging and interactive option to help you learn basic vocabulary.
Because you’re an adult and you want to learn Spanish.
The material is the same whether it’s formatted for children or adults. When presented for kids though, it’s usually a little slower and more visual. Plus, there are often more games and activities. And what sort of grump doesn’t enjoy games and activities?
If you fit into this category, you can learn the basics from children’s apps before moving on to language learning apps catered toward adults.
And when this happens, you don’t have to let go of the fun that kids apps provide! Adult programs might not be as overly colorful and hand-holdy as apps meant for kids, but many adult digital language learning programs understand the importance of sight and sound in their teaching approach.
For example, remember when I said that kids enjoy learning with videos, cartoons and animated movies in Spanish? Well, so do adults. And the FluentU app knows this.
Because they’re fun and convenient.
Kids’ apps are meant to keep children entertained so that they continue learning more and more. But adults can also benefit from this entertainment. Because the apps are fun, you’ll keep going back to them. And because the apps are convenient, you can use them whenever and wherever.
The desire to use an app combined with the ability to use it anywhere means that you’re more likely to use the app frequently, which equates to more learning!
So introduce one of these Spanish apps to your kiddos or try one for yourself. It’ll make you feel like a kid again!
Download:
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you
can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing…
If you’ve made it this far that means you probably enjoy learning Spanish with engaging material and will then love FluentU.
Other sites use scripted content. FluentU uses a natural approach that helps you ease into the Spanish language and culture over time. You’ll learn Spanish as it’s actually spoken by real people.
FluentU has a wide variety of videos, as you can see here:
FluentU brings native videos within reach with interactive transcripts. You can tap on any word to look it up instantly. Every definition has examples that have been written to help you understand how the word is used. If you see an interesting word you don’t know, you can add it to a vocab list.
Review a complete interactive transcript under the Dialogue tab, and find words and phrases listed under Vocab.
Learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU’s robust learning engine. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you’re on.
The best part is that FluentU keeps track of the vocabulary that you’re learning, and gives you extra practice with difficult words. It’ll even remind you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. Every learner has a truly personalized experience, even if they’re learning with the same video.
Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
