My daughter was excited to learn that it’s time for Hispanic Heritage Month again! She enjoyed “officially” celebrating our Latino culture during the nationally recognized month last year and wondered if I’d be coming in to her class to share with her classmates, something I did last year. We celebrate our culture at home every day, whether she realizes it or not, but National Hispanic Heritage Month gives us an extra opportunity to learn.

To celebrate the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, which goes from September 15 until October 15, let me share some of our past Hispanic Heritage Month activities, resources, and articles.

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month and Latino Culture

• 29 Hispanic Heritage Month Articles with Activities, Recipes, and More!
• Hispanic Heritage Month Kid Activities
• Resources to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with Your Kids

Will you be talking about Latino culture in your home this next month? How do you teach your children about your own culture or others’ cultures?

Image copyright ModernMami.com

Hispanic (Latino) Heritage Month comes to an end in about a week, on October 15. This past week, we celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month and shared several posts on the topic, including a bilingual children’s show DVD giveaway. In case you missed any of our posts, here they all are:

Kid Activities for Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

My daughter and I learned more about Latino history and heritage through a Hispanic Heritage Month kid-friendly project.

Sharing Heritage By Keeping Memories Alive and Creating New Ones

I shared how my father’s memories of growing up in Puerto Rico are kept alive despite him having dementia and reflected on how this helps in sharing Latino heritage with a younger generation.

Bilingual Learning with El Perro y El Gato {Giveaway}

We enjoy the bilingual children’s cartoon, El Perro y El Gato, in our home and now you can enjoy this fun show with your family as well. Enter this giveaway for a 4-DVD set of El Perro y El Gato! (P.S. There are a low number of entries on this one, so your chances are good!)

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

Find out how this whole week of Latino heritage began and why I feel it’s important to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.

In addition to the articles I’ve shared this week, plenty of other sites celebrate Latino heritage and share their own stories, tips, and ideas for celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. Through the links below, you can find lots of great information for more Hispanic Heritage Month fun!

Hispanic Heritage Month For Kids

Resources to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with Your Kids

Kids TV Programming for Hispanic Heritage Month

Latino-Themed Children’s Books

Craft Activities for Hispanic Heritage Month

10 Ways to Educate Kids About Hispanic Heritage Month

Tradiciones latinas divertidas para tus hijos (Fun Latino Traditions for Kids) – Spanish Article

Cómo incentivar la cultura en nuestros niños (How to Encourage Culture with Kids) – Spanish Article

Latino-Inspired Recipes for Hispanic Heritage Month

Puerto Rican Carne Guisada Meal

Puerto Rican Arroz con Gandules

Tortilla Española – Egg and Potato Omelette

Mexican Chicken Pasilla Tamales

Mexican Rice and Bean Salad

Chicken and Vegan Cheese Enchiladas

Barbacoa Using Cachete de Res

Prickly Pear Margarita

General Information on Hispanic Heritage Month

Resources for Learning More About Hispanic Heritage Month

¿Celebras nuestra Herencia Hispana? (Do You Celebrate Your Hispanic Heritage?) – Spanish Article

Hispanic Heritage Month Facts

Photo: Jose Oquendo

Latino Arts, Culture, and Inspiration

What Does Being Latina Mean to Me?

Latino Quinceañero (Quinceañera) Tradition

Aprender la cultura Latina a través de la música (Learning About Latino Culture Through Music) – Spanish Article

Remembering a Revolutionary Writer: Gloria Anzaldúa

Interview with Guatemalan Artist Jessica Lagunas

Latino Heritage in the City

Campaign to Help Open A Book Store In El Barrio (East Harlem, NY)

Latinos Across the U.S.: City Guides with Best Latino Spots

I hope you enjoy some of these articles and take the time to learn a bit more about Latino culture and history, in order to celebrate Latino heritage. Do you have a Hispanic (Latino) Heritage story to share?

All photos © ModernMami.com, except where noted

This year, in order to expose my daughter to Latino heritage more in-depth, I decided to do a small Hispanic Heritage Month project with her. My idea was that it would be fun, informative, and would allow her to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and learn about different aspects of her Latino heritage. She has heard of Hispanic Heritage Month in past years, but it’s been a more casual approach of general awareness. With her being in Kindergarten now, I thought this would take it up a level and go beyond just knowing she is half Latina.

There are many ways you can expose your children to Latino history, música Latina (Latin music), Latino food, and of course, the Spanish language. I decided to explore famous Latinos in history, the various Latin American countries, and reinforce Spanish skills. With that in mind, I knew I could find a few supplies at Walmart, since our local store carries a lot of Hispanic food products, Spanish movies, música Latina, and even Spanish books. They used to carry a lot more children’s products in Spanish, as well, but seem to have cut back.

Below I share some ideas for you based on what my daughter and I did for our Latino heritage project.

Kid Activities for Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

Making Up Stories with Spanish Flashcards

You can find Spanish flashcards in many places; I bought these at Walmart. They include basic Spanish vocabulary, colors, numbers, and popular phrases. Using these flashcards, my daughter and I like to randomly pick out a couple of cards and make up stories using the words/phrases on the cards. For example, using the cards in the photo above, we can say, “Ella se puso la camisa, los pantalones y los zapatos antes de ir a la escuela.” (She put on her shirt, pants, and shoes before going to school.) Since making up stories is something many children love to do anyway, this is a fun game that helps with practicing Spanish words.

Exploring Latinos in History

Many Latinos have contributed to society in many areas, such as the arts, science, sports, politics, and entertainment. Since baby girl is only five years old and just starting Kindergarten, I didn’t want to overwhelm her with information. I found some great printables on the Nick Jr. website with information on famous Latinos in the arts, science, and sports. They had a coloring page packet and “Hispanic Hero” cards highlighting notable Latinos such as Tito Puente, Dara Torres, Ellen Ochoa, Celia Cruz, Rita Moreno, and Roberto Clemente, among others.

We took these printables, read the information on each person, and discussed their roles a bit. Baby girl wanted to know what each person looked like in “real life” as opposed to the drawings on the coloring pages so she could color them accurately. So, we looked each one up as well. The next day, she told her daddy and abuela all about Ellen Ochoa being the first Latina in space and said, “She’s my favorite. I liked her astronaut suit.”

Learning About Latin American Countries

In order to learn a bit more about the different countries that make up Latin America (actually, we sneaked Spain in, but I thought it was only fitting), baby girl and I decided to print out some flag coloring pages for her to color, cut out, and use to make posters. We picked a few countries, since doing them all would have been too much for her. As we did with the Latino historical figures, we looked up images of the flags for her to reference as she did her coloring. She was quite proud of her finished product!

I hope these ideas get you thinking of how you can talk about Latino history with your children, this Hispanic Heritage Month, or at any point.

What other kid activities help you to bring Latino heritage and history alive in your home?

Disclosure: Though this Hispanic Heritage project was an original idea, as a member of the Walmart Moms program, I was compensated for this post.

All photos © ModernMami.com

As you know, I try my best to raise my children in a bilingual environment. I speak Spanish to them as much as possible, as do my parents, we sing songs in Spanish, read Spanish or bilingual books, and sometimes, we also watch cartoons in Spanish. My husband is very supportive in this effort and will point out new Spanish shows to us when he finds out about them and tries his best to repeat the Spanish spoken. It was actually him, who first introduced our daughter to El Perro y El Gato.

If I remember correctly, we were staying at a hotel and as he was browsing the channels, he stumbled upon HBO Latino, which was showing cartoons that morning. As I walk out of the shower, my baby girl screams out to me, “Mami, look! Perro y Gato! In Spanish!” She loves to point out when music, shows, books, etc., use Spanish. We watched the rest of the show wishing that we were HBO subscribers at home, since we had just found a new, funny, cute, bilingual show. Check out this behind-the-scenes look to hear from the show’s creators, animators, and even the voices of El Perro y El Gato.

El Perro y El Gato premiered a new episode titled, “Sigue Soñando / Keep On Dreaming,” on Thursday, September 15, the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month. We were sent a sneak peek DVD of the new episode, which of course, was enjoyed by all. The main characters of El Perro y El Gato are an overexcited orange dog (El Perro) and his laid-back, always hungry friend, a purple cat (El Gato). To keep our celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month going, today we have a 4-DVD set of El Perro y El Gato to give away to you!

ModernMami™.com Reader Giveaway

We want you to enjoy El Perro y El Gato with your children, so we’re giving away a 4-DVD set of the show, as pictured above!

How to Enter

Required entry: If you’d like to enter this contest for a 4-DVD set of El Perro y El Gato, simply leave a comment below sharing why watching bilingual shows is important to you and your family.

Extra entries (optional):
Each of the following will count as 1 extra entry. You’ll need to leave a separate comment for each entry.

1. Follow @modernmami on Twitter.
2. Tweet the following: Encourage #bilingual learning at home. Enter to win El Perro y El Gato DVDs from @modernmami! http://bit.ly/mPSylQ #giveaway #contest
3. Receive post updates by subscribing to our RSS feed. You can do so either via email or through a RSS reader. Leave a comment saying you did so or are already a subscriber.
4. Subscribe on friendfeed and leave a comment with your friendfeed ID.
5. Write a blog post on your own blog sharing the details of this contest. Be sure to include a link back to this post. Leave a comment with your post link.

All entries must be in by Friday, October 14, 2011 at 11:59 pm EST. You must be 18 or older and a U.S. resident. No purchase necessary. Remember to leave a separate comment for each entry. The winner will be chosen using Random.org and will be notified via email. (Please be sure to provide a valid email address with your entry.) Winner will have 48 hours to respond and claim prize, otherwise a new winner will be chosen.

El Perro y El Gato Photos and Video Provided and Used with Permission

Custom Hispanic Heritage Banner by Justin Edwards
and © ModernMami.com

Photo: Jose Oquendo

Having been born in Puerto Rico and growing up in a Latino household with parents that maintained our culture alive, celebrating our culture wasn’t something that was on our minds. We sort of lived it and “celebrated” every day. Now that my culture has blended with that of my husband’s and we have children with three cultures to celebrate, I do point out their Latino heritage. Of course, they are also seeing many aspects of Latino culture on a daily basis – the food we eat, the music we listen to, the language I speak to them – so, they are not without their culture.

Still, with our lives being a blend of cultures, the exposure my children have to their Latino culture is still a minor aspect of their lives. So, it’s important to me to incorporate Puerto Rican customs into my parenting and teach them about their heritage. Any opportunity is a good one, of course, which is why I take advantage of Hispanic Heritage Month as another chance to talk about our Latino heritage.

Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 to October 15 and has been celebrated nationally each year since 1988. It starts mid-month because September 15 is a significant day to many Latin American countries who celebrate their independence on that date. This week, we’ll be celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month at ModernMami.com, in addition to regular content, and a couple of giveaways. Look for posts on celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with your kids, a bilingual DVD giveaway, keeping memories alive and creating new ones, plus a round-up of Hispanic Heritage Month posts from other bloggers.

Have you ever celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month?

Custom Hispanic Heritage banner by Justin Edwards