Bilingual Programming for Kids in NYC: Hablemos at NY Historical Society

Every month The New York Historical Society hosts a program called Hablemos designed to engage children ages 4-10 years old in an exhibit at the New York Historical Society — here’s the best part — Hablemos at NY Historical Society is in Spanish!

My son and I have attended twice and plan to continue checking out their programming.

The program has two parts: during the first part, the children visit an exhibit and chat about it (in Spanish). Paulina, who runs the program, presents the exhibit and asks the children questions to incite discussion. During the second part, the kids go to an art room where they make an art project based on the exhibit.

The holiday express toy and train exhibit at @nyhistory was great! #Jerni collection #nyckids #nykids #museums #kidsactivities

A photo posted by Diana Limongi (@ladydeelg) on Dec 5, 2015 at 5:34pm PST

For example, the first time we attended we visited the Jerni Toy Collection (a beautiful toy collection of boats, trains, airplanes, etc). During the presentation of the exhibit parents helped children draw a picture of one of their favorite toys, and in the art room the children copied and colored what the parents had sketched. Check out my little one’s design:

Getting our artsy side on at @nyhistory after learning about trains and other toys at the #Jerni Collection. #nyckids #artsykids #enzolg

A photo posted by Diana Limongi (@ladydeelg) on Dec 5, 2015 at 3:46pm PST

Paulina said it’s important for parents to participate and collaborate with the children during the art making process. Another thing I love about how she approaches the program is that she says in art there are no mistakes, just happy accidents.

Paulina hopes that as the program gains popularity, there will be more Spanish-language programming to NYHS’ activities.

Here are some pictures of our second time at Hablemos, checking out the Superheroes in Gotham exhibit:

After a pic with Catwoman and Batman, we got to check out the exhibit and then headed over to make superheroes of our own!

I’m thrilled that NYHS has programming for bilingual families and hope you will check it out! The program is meant for ages 4-10 years old. You will have fun, meet other bilingual families, work those creative muscles and spend quality time with your kiddo!

Save the date for Hablemos in March! 

(to RSVP please email: hablemos @ nyhistory.org)

Make sure to check out our adventures in language learning, travel, NYC and more on IG!

President Enzo Gabriele Washington! Hahahaha @nyhistory’s children’s museum is awesome! #Nyckids #mkbkids #history #bilingualkids

A photo posted by Diana Limongi (@ladydeelg) on Jan 9, 2016 at 7:25pm PST