Spanish-English bilingual baby things - where?

[LaTrucha]

My DH is Spanish and I'm English. We live in Wales. DD is 18 months.

I'd like to find the kind of things you might usually put in an child's room (posters, pictures etc). We're always at a push for luggage when we visit family in Spain, so buying things there isn't easy.

I have bought some Spanish baby books. All the other things I can find are either clearly with an English bias, like 'my first words in Spanih' or the like or very 'educational'.

Do you know where I could get them?

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Don't know about shops in UK, but couldn't you ask family in Spain to buy some and post over? Or even post it yourself when you visit Spain?

DIY. I get English posters and make labels in Spanish that I stick next to the English version.

That's a good idea plisplas. Thanks.

Cies - I'd feel a bit cheeky because it was Spanish family who gave me money to buy a present for DD, but in theory, yes.

Instituto Cervantes? Grant & Cutler (Gt Marlborough St in London)? I'm thinking online or mail order for both ...

Amazon.es or Mexican equivalent?

Worth knowing, too, that there is Mothercare in Spain - tried their Spanish website?

Will stop there before I get out of my depth ...

Cant you just make some things?

Also, if they are things with only a few words on them I dont really see the benefit.

At your Dcs age the most important thing is to speak, sing and read to him in Spanish.

Once he's at the stage of learning letters etc then you could get some magnetic letters and write words for him on a whiteboard easel or find poems and make posters of them. Or make an alphabet frieze with him using pics cut from magazines etc...

I have just moved back to the Uk after nearly 20 years in Spain and have found it really hard to find good Spanish childrens' literature to keep my DDs Spanish up.
Sesame street dvds (Barrio Sesamo) might be a good investment. Your IL could get a boxed set at the Corte Ingles for you.

Im english and my DH is half spanish and half english (tho if you ask him he always says he's all spanish and all english - lol!)

We bought a bilingual english/spanish/french book called 'langauge nursery' by Baby enstien. Its got a pick on one page and then on the opposite pase a sentnce in each lnaguageabot the pic. We've found this really helpful as my DH doesnt always speak Spanish when Im around so reading the book helps to remind him lol! It isn't 'totally spanish' but its a start. Also when we were in Madrid visitng family we bought some DVDs from FNAC that you could play in Spanish or English (e.g Shrek etc) for when she was older - however I've been watching them i an attempt to improve my spanish!! You can also down load some childrens cartoons from RTVE (bit like using BBC Iplayer)

pinkkatie - we have the book! And Dora the Explorer in Spanish too. Thanks. And thanks too for the tip about RTVE - I hadn't thought of that.

Shitemum- Barrio Sesame a good idea - especially as DH thinks he is Supercoco. Magnetic letters too good for when older. DH does speak to her in Spanish all the time, but I also realised that everything around her is in English and even though she can't read yet, I want to make sure I keep it in mind (as I do all the baby buying!)

Miflaw - I did know about Mothercare in Spain - It's a good idea that I hadn't really thought of though. Grant and Cutler kids books are very expensive (Sopanish prices - which are astronomical). Instituto Cervnates though definitely worth a shot. I hadn't thoought of that. Thanks.

Let us know if you find anything useful cos I'd be intereted in buying stuff too. Just been remansing with DH re Barrio Sesame -Espinete has amazing hair (btw supercoco has his own fan page on Facebook!)

It is def a good idea to try and have spanish things 'around' - according to my boss (Im a speech therapist) research suggests having both langauges 'around the place' has a postivie influence on the 'status' of that langauage in the home and therefore the child will 'value' the lanaguge more. There are also some spanish nursery rhymes we found on you tube (un elephante etc) which was fab as DH had forgotten the tune-lol!

Do you have any other spanish speaking families around where you live?? I was reading a web site the other day and it suggested that it can really help a child's language development especaialy as they get older if they have peers they can talk too - it shows them that its not just something one parent does...

amazon.co.uk has lots of well known books in different languags

teamcullen - thanks. I have ordered a few from there, although the quality is variable. Some translations into Spanish have been appalling. Also, there is a lot of Latin ASmerican Spanish.

Pinkkatie - I will let you know. I've found Eric Carle translations available on Amazon to be ok. It's a good idea to try and find some other Spanish speakers. We did know one family, but they've gone to Spain now.

I wonder if schoolastic do books in spanish, or other educational sites.

I dont know, but my DCs have been learning spanish in school since nursery and I know they have some books in spanish. Things like Dear Zoo and Spot.

Might be worth having a look.

Teamcullen - thanks. I'll have a look.

Instituto Cervantes didn't have anything online, BTW.

Grant & Cutler generally poor, I find - but I'm more used to sourcing French books than Spanish and happened to know they stock the latter as well as former, so worth a mention.

For French, Amazon is definitely the way to go.

You can get stuff like Bob the Builder DVD's in Spanish which my kids used to watch when they were little. My MIL is spanish but lives here and she gets stuff for the kids, Spanish books are on our shelves with the rest and they take great delight in asking me to read them (my Spanish is appalling!)

babyboomboom CD of nursery rhymes is nice

my DDs also watch baby einstein DVDs in Spanish, a lot of DVDs you can select different languages as an option at the beginning. (they also like listening to them in Dutch but i have no idea why!!!)

Thanks for the DVD tip, amidawish.

geogteach - I'll check ou tthe DVDs that we have. Thanks.

LaT - can I help at all? would be happy to send some stuff over to you my DS has a few books of household objects and of animals.

By the way Mothercare in this part of Spain only sells British stuff at double the price

That's very kind of you MrsMc. Perhaps you could let me know if you find any posters with themes like colours or numbers? But don't go out of your way. Do you still have my email?

Hope life with two is good!

I will look out for some for you yes, I have your email still. All good here, hope things are better for you

You can also check the European Bookshop.
They have a shop in London, but you can also buy things online.
www.europeanbookshop.com/

Thanks Elle, I'll have a look.

Thanks MrsMc. Please don't go to any trouble!

Hello! I am a Spanish mum of 2, we live in Kettering (Northants). If anybody wants to practice Spanish with us that would be great. My oldest kid (3) speaks "Spanglish" at the moment, he needs to practice his English too (my DH is also Spanish, we don't talk to him in English, he laughs at our strong Spanish accent)
very impressive to see how interested you all are in getting your kids Spanish stuff! I buy most of my DVD's in Spain, don't understand why your DVDs nearly always only have English language, what a waste of space!! Or download them for free.

Oh, and don't buy anything in Mothercare in Spain if you can avoid it, it's so much more expensive that UK prices! (same with Disney stores)