A friend married to a Peruvian wrote me a while back, asking for advice in raising children who feel good about their Latino roots and about Peru– especially when the world around says they shouldn’t. I didn’t know how to respond, because truthfully where we live we’ve never felt that negativity. Mostly, we’ve gotten admiration for raising bilingual kids and genuine interest in my husband’s Peruvian background, from locals and from readers at my blog Spanish Mama.
But it made me think: What should I be doing to make my kids proud of their Peruvian roots? Living in the U.S., how can I raise children who love and appreciate their Hispanic heritage?
Today, as part of Hispanic Heritage Month, I’m sharing about Peru and how I want my kids to love their Hispanic roots. Here are four ways I hope to do this (with lots of links in case you want to learn more about Peru!).
Teaching Kids about Peru
1. Tell Stories.
We will tell the story of how we met, and what Daddy remembers about growing up in the high jungle. We will study Peruvian history, reading tales of the powerful Incan civilization and how they built Machu Picchu on top of an impossible mountain. Like in every culture, some stories will be flattering, and some won’t. But our goal isn’t to romanticize Peru or the Latino world. We want to connect our children to Daddy’s home, helping them to understand and empathize with people far away. Good stories teach us to love places in a way that just memorizing capitals and historical dates can’t.
2. Find Beauty.
This is really easy for Peru, home to world-renowned natural wonders. Hopefully we’ll get to see the towering Andes Mountains or vast Amazon Rainforest with our own eyes, or we’ll at least see them through videos and pictures. We’ll learn about the Amazon river (the second longest river in the world), Lake Titicaca (the highest lake in the world), or the more than 3,000 species of orchids in the Alto Mayo Region, where our family is from. We’ll listen to our favorite folk music from Perú.
3. Be curious.
Peru has an amazing variety of tourist sites and traditions that will fascinate young learners. We can study the Uros who built entire floating islands out of reeds. We will wonder how the Nazca Lines, figures which can only be seen from the sky, were constructed before planes existed. We will watch traditional dances from the coast, sierra, and jungle. We can learn new words in Quechua, an official language in Peru along with Spanish. They will get to see that being from two very different cultures makes life extra-interesting!
4. Learn and Share.
Whether through Spanish play groups, sharing Peruvian dishes, or birthday traditions, our family and friends here will have the chance to learn about Peru through us. Just as I want my children to be interested in cultural differences, not frightened by them, we have the opportunity to develop that among our community here. I have created the All About Peru Mini-Book to use with my kids, and also for anyone else who wants to learn more about Peru and Latin America.
Click here to download my free All About Peru Mini-book in Spanish and English!
Make sure you pin or bookmark this page for more posts celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, and don’t forget to participate in and share our giveaway!
Multicultural Kid Blogs Hispanic Heritage Month Series and Giveaway
Multicultural Kid Blogs is excited to be hosting its FOURTH annual Hispanic Heritage Month series and giveaway! Throughour the month (September 15 – October 15), you’ll find great resources to share Hispanic Heritage with kids, plus you can enter to win in our great giveaway! Visit our main page for a full schedule of the articles in this series
Enter below for a chance to win one of these amazing prize packages! Some prizes have shipping restrictions. In the event that a winner lives outside the designated shipping area, that prize will then become part of the following prize package. For more information, read our full giveaway rules. Giveaway begins Monday, September 14 and goes through October 15, 2015.
Grand Prize
Home Learning Series Level A Curriculum from Calico Spanish US Shipping Only
Puzzle and app from Mundo Lanugo US Shipping Only
Sheet of Mexico themed nail wraps from Jamberry US & Canada Shipping Only
Complete set of If You Were Me and Lived In… books (15 countries) from Carole P. Roman US Shipping Only
Large Latin American prize basket (scarves, purse, bracelets, books, map) from Spanish Playground US Shipping Only
Growing Up Pedro & Mango, Abuela, and Me (in English or Spanish) from Candlewick Press US & Canada Shipping Only
The Giraffe That Ate the Moon and Caroline’s Color Dreams (bilingual books in English and Spanish) from Bab’l Books US, UK, & Europe Shipping Only
Bienvenidas las raras (bilingual book in English and Spanish) from Delia Berlin
Los Animales CD from Mister G US Shipping Only
Hola Hello CD from Mariana Iranzi US Shipping Only
Bananagrams game in Spanish from Bananagrams US Shipping Only
Kids’ T-shirt from Ellie Elote US Shipping Only
First Prize
Perú, México and Portugal books from the If You Were Me and Lived In… series from Carole P. Roman US Shipping Only
Smaller Latin American prize basket (scarves, purse, bracelets) from Spanish Playground US Shipping Only
Bienvenidas las raras (bilingual book in English and Spanish) from Delia Berlin
Los Animales CD from Mister G US Shipping Only
Hola Hello CD from Mariana Iranzi US Shipping Only
Bananagrams game in Spanish from Bananagrams US Shipping Only
3 picture books: Finding the Music/En pos de la música by Jennifer Torres
Water Rolls, Water Rises/El agua rueda, el agua sube by Pat Mora
The Upside Down Boy/ El niño de cabeza by Juan Felipe Herrera (in honor of his recently being named the Poet Laureate) from Lee and Low Books US Shipping Only
3 board books: 3 Board Books – Loteria, Zapata, Lucha Libre from Lil’ libros US Shipping Only
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage – Musical Craft and Coloring E-Book from Daria Marmaluk Hajioannou
Kid’s foreign language T-Shirt (available in Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Swahili, Hawaiian, Italian, in infant onesies, toddler and youth sizes tees and tanks; women’s tees and tanks SM-XL) from Mixed Up Clothing US Shipping Only
Second Prize
Perú, México and Portugal books from the If You Were Me and Lived In… series from Carole P. Roman US Shipping Only
Smaller Latin American prize basket (scarves, purse) from Spanish Playground US Shipping Only
2 picture books: Maya’s Blanket/La manta de Maya by Monica Brown
Call Me Tree/Llámame Árbol by Maya Christina Gonzalez from Lee & Low books US Shipping Only
Bienvenidas las raras (bilingual book in English and Spanish) from Delia Berlin
Los Animales CD from Mister G US Shipping Only
Bananagrams game in Spanish from Bananagrams US Shipping Only
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage – Musical Craft and Coloring E-Book from Daria Marmaluk Hajioannou
Bonus Prize!
Mexican luchador piñata from Las Piñatas de Laly EU Shipping Only
Latest posts by Elisabeth Alvarado (see all)
- Hispanic Heritage Month Decorations: Beyond Tacos and Sombreros - September 28, 2018
- World Music for Kids: A Multilingual Round-Up of Song Lists - July 23, 2018
- 10 Fun Facts About Peru - September 1, 2017
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Read books in Spanish!
Yes, we LOVE Spanish books at our house. Especially as I am not a native Spanish speaker, they are a wonderful resource.
Hola Elizabeth, acabo de darle una mirada a este blog y acabo de bajar los libros de todo sobre el Peru en Ingles y Espanol, excelente idea. Yo tambien soy peruana y tengo dos hijos. Para mi es crucial que hablen espanol (nuestra regla es espanosl 100% en casa) y conozcan mi/nuestra cultura y se enorgullescan de ella. Tengo la fortuna de poder ir al Peru todos los anos con ellos desde que eran recien nacidos entonces no ha sido muy dificil que les encante y quieran al Peru. Mi marido es de El Salvador y lamentablemente aun no hemos podido ir a conocer aunque tambien incluyo comidas y actividades salvadorenas en nuestra vida cotidiana. Fijate que tambien soy educadora. Soy psicologa escolar y trabajo con la comunidad Latina/Hispana aca en Denver que principalmente esta compuesta de Mexicanos y Centroamericanos. Solo queria saludarte.
Un gusto saludarle Flor! Gracias por sus palabras– nosotros también llevamos nuestro hijo a Perú cuando era bebé y fue un viaje muy lindo, espero que podamos ir los cuatro. Vivía en Perú, en la parte selva dos años y me encantó. 🙂 Siga adelante en su trabajo y con su familia!
Hola, esta lindisimo tu blog, Felicitaciones!
Difinitivamente lo recomendaré a las familias que participan de mi programa Voces Bilingues en Maryland. Tambien quiero aprovechar y mencionarte que acabo de sacar mi primer cuento, Las aventuras de Paloma por el Perú, y ya estan aqui en USA para ser vendidas. Si deseas una copia solo tienes que ir a la página de mi fundación http://www.umbrellainitiatives.org . Por cada cuento vendido donaremos un cuento a un niño-a en Perú que participa del Proyecto Mochila Perú, cada verano alrededor de 2000 niños-as son parte de clases en escuelas públicas, reciben esacios de juegos, arte,música, todo gratuito, al finalizar reciben una mochila , un kit de útiles y un cuento. Abrazos y exitos en tu blog. Yenny
Gracias, Yenny! Muy impresionante tu iniciativa, me gustaría apoyar en publicar lo que están haciendo, y con Las aventuras de Paloma por el Perú. Que lindo dar a conocer tu tierra y también apoyar los estudiantes allá. ¡Abrazos!
Thanks so much for the printable! We are meeting with an exchange student from Peru this afternoon. My daughters are going to do this packet with her.
How fun! So glad you could use the mini-book. Thanks for sharing!
Interesting Resource! We live in Chile now, so will dip into this when I want to introduce him to Peru 🙂