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Hispanic Heritage Month takes place between September 15 and October 15 every year. It’s a day intended to celebrate the histories, cultures and contributions of U.S. citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. It only makes sense to honor the contributions of Hispanic people in the U.S. There are nearly 64 million American citizens who identify as Hispanic or Latino, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s 19.1% of the population! (Continue for Hispanic Heritage Month Activities & Lessons).

Interested in studying Spanish in college? Check out our list of the 50 Best Colleges for Foreign Languages.

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

President Lyndon B. Johnson was the first president to oversee the observation of Hispanic Heritage Week, which is how the tradition began in 1968. The Reagan administration expanded the week to be a full 30-day period that started on September 15 and ran until October 15, the current period. Hispanic Heritage Month became law on August 17, 1988. 

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

September 15 is a particularly important day for the month to begin. On that day in 1821, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua all gained their independence from Spain. Mexico and Chile also celebrate their independence from Spanish rule on September 16 and September 18, respectively, so things kick off with the sense of the renewed identities of those countries. 

What can teachers and parents do to promote their students’ awareness of the cultures, contributions, and struggles of Hispanic and Latino people? We’ve got 25 different activities that you can use in your classroom next September 15. They can also be used as jumping off points to come up with your own ideas on how to teach about these important histories and traditions. Many of the curriculum ideas are adapted from the official National Hispanic Heritage Month site hosted by the Library of Congress.

The ideas are listed in the following categories:

• Preschool
• Elementary/Middle School
• High School
• Any Age

Preschool – Hispanic Heritage Month Activities

1) Read Children’s Books by Hispanic Authors

For younger students, reading children’s books aloud to the class can help them to see themselves represented in books and/or relate to the experiences of students from different cultures.

2) Turn up the volume

Listen to music from different Central and South American countries and try to name the differences between each country’s specific styles. What similarities do your students notice? What sets them apart?

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

3) Decorate with papel picado

Get festive for Hispanic Heritage Month by decorating your classroom with your students’ version of !

4) Make Muñecas Quitapenas

Muñecas Quitapenas, or worry dolls, are a Guatemalan tradition. Bring in some simple crafting supplies like felt, yarn, buttons, thread, and hot glue. Have students make themselves little muñecas quitapenas. They can take them home, then whisper their worries to them and put them under their pillow before bed. That’s how the worries disappear!

Elementary/Middle School Hispanic Heritage Month Activities

5) El Mapa

Around 7.5% of the world’s population—more than 600 million people—speak Spanish all over the world. The prominence of the language means that young kids often know easy words in Spanish: tortilla, queso, macho. Many kids also know how to count or know different colors in Spanish, too.

This activity looks to teach young students more about the Spanish language and the list of countries where Spanish is predominantly spoken.

Looking at a map of the world, ask students to point out where they live and where their families live or come from. What language or languages do they speak? Do they know about other languages and what they are?

Tell students that you’re going to learn about the Spanish language. Ask them if they know any words in Spanish (numbers, food, etc.) or if any of the students speak Spanish or are bilingual. Spend time putting those words on the board.

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

Show them Spain and Central and South America on the map, explaining that these are places where people speak Spanish, and that 43 million people—nearly 14% of the population—of the U.S. also speak Spanish.

Give kids blank map coloring book style pages and have them write into the map the names of the countries in Central and South America. Show them images of the flag of each country and encourage them to color the map with the colors of each country’s flag.

Tell them that Spanish isn’t the only language spoken in these countries. In Brazil, the main language is Portuguese. In Suriname, people speak Dutch. Also in Guyana, people speak English. In French Guiana they speak French.

Invite students to share their colored maps with the class or in small groups. Which country do they want to learn more about? Why?

6) Indigenous Language Heritage

You can build off of that first activity by helping students to understand a little bit about how colonization shaped the languages we speak.

Show students the world map again. Ask them: if Spanish, the language, comes from Spain, this country, how did all of these countries end up speaking Spanish? Let them think and come up with answers. Write ideas on the board. You can further complicate things by telling them that Spanish comes from Latin, which was spoken by the ancient Romans 2,000 years ago.

Explain that Spanish was brought by colonizers who were sent by Spain to explore and conquer new lands, which the Spanish royalty thought was Asia.

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

can help explain a quick summary of Spanish colonization in the Americas. You can also adapt this information to reach students at their specific grade level.

Explain to students that, besides Spanish, there were and are many languages spoken in Central and South America that originate on those lands long before the Spanish arrived. on the continent can help students see a different version of the map.

Though isn’t exhaustive, this and others like it can help explain a bit about indigenous cultures to students.

Have them draw their own new map of South America without the same country borders on the first map, but with the indigenous languages shown on the language map. Compare the two maps side by side. What do students think about the differences? What conclusions can they draw? Lastly, what questions do they have?

7) Hispanic and Latinx Cultures and Traditions

The goal of this activity is to have students examine different cultures and traditions over the Hispanic and Latinx world.

Start by having students write lists of the important holidays and traditions they have in their lives. Ask them:
–What holidays do you and your family celebrate?
–Also, what special traditions do you have on these holidays?
–What foods do you eat?
–What do these holidays mean to you?

Explain that in other countries, people embrace many different holidays, traditions, types of food, dress, and dance.

The following videos, , can help to explain different cultural traditions across Hispanic/Latinx countries: 

Mexico

(National Geographic): Read about this holiday, most often associated with Mexico but celebrated throughout Latin America and the United States, and view photographs of traditional celebrations. The site also offers discussion questions and a list of vocabulary words.

(Mis Cositas): Read an interactive picture book (in Spanish) about the Day of the Dead.

(National Geographic): Read a brief history of Cinco de Mayo and learn about how it is celebrated in Mexico. The site offers a list of helpful vocabulary words, as well.

(Mis Cositas): Observe art, including some of Mexico’s famous murals, and Indigenous, colonial, and modern architecture in this video.

: A thorough Spanish-language resource covering traditional Mexican foods, drinks, music, art, and holidays. There are a limited number of images on the site.

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

Puerto Rico

(Mis Cositas): A video exploring some of the architecture, art, and geography of Puerto Rico.

(WelcomeToPuertoRico.org): A list of public holidays in Puerto Rico, along with brief descriptions of their significance.

(Boricua Kids): A written description of the celebration of los Reyes in Puerto Rico, accompanied by some images.

: A bilingual digital encyclopedia covering many aspects of Puerto Rican popular culture, including sports, music, art, education, and more. The site contains rich media content, including videos, images, and audio recordings.

Spain

(National Geographic): Images and descriptions (in Spanish) of traditional Spanish foods.

: A website produced by Spain’s Ministry of Culture and Sport, with information, images, and videos about food, holidays, and the arts.

(Kids World Travel Guide): An extensive collection of information about Spanish geography, culture, and society, including many photographs and images.

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

As students watch these videos, have them take notes about what they learn on three different pages for each country. What do they notice about what people do, eat, and celebrate in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Spain? When you’ve moved them through all the videos you want them to see, ask students:

How are the lives of families in Spain, Mexico, and Puerto Rico similar to one another?

How are they different?

Do students notice some things about life in Spain, Mexico, and Puerto Rico that are like life in the U.S.?

What is different about life in Spain, Mexico, and Puerto Rico as compared to students’ own lives?

Have any students visited one or more of these nations? If so, what other observations can they contribute about life there?

Which nation would students most like to visit? Why?

8) Colorful Cultures

Follow up on the previous activity by turning what the students learned into an art project. You can break them into three groups based on the countries, or allow students to self-select which traditions and objects they’d like to draw about.

Using large sheets of butcher paper, create three distinct areas for Spain, Mexico, and Puerto Rico in the classroom. Provide students with construction paper, scissors, markers, crayons, glue, glitter, and perhaps other art supplies like feathers and jewels, and have them recreate images of the celebrations, food, and traditional clothing they saw from those countries. Glue or tape their creations up onto the butcher paper sections for each country and let them hang in the classroom for all of Hispanic Heritage Month.

9) Introduction to Spanish: La Familia

This lesson is meant to give young students an introduction to the Spanish language by talking about family.

This can help you to give your students some context for the values traditionally found in a Hispanic household.

Then, teach your students the names for the basic members of the family:

Family: la familia
Parents: los padres
Mother: la madre
Mom/Mommy: la mamá
Father: el padre
Dad/Daddy: el papá
Sister: la hermana
Brother: el hermano

Grandparents: los abuelos

Grandmother: la abuela

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

Grandfather: el abuelo

Aunt: la tía

Uncle: el tío

Cousin: el primo or la prima

Stepmother: la madrastra

Stepfather: el padrastro

Stepsister: la hermanastra

Stepbrother: el hermanastro

Dog: Perro/perra

Cat: Gato/gata

Give your students as many family member names as you think are appropriate for their level. Then, have each student write the names on flashcards, using colorful markers and crayons. Have them practice by themselves with the flashcards, or in small groups, until you think they’re ready to practice the words out loud with the class. How many can they remember without checking the flashcards? 

10) Arte y La Familia

After students have had plenty of practice with learning the Spanish words for different family members, give them time to draw a picture of their own family members. Then, have them write the Spanish words for who each person is above or below that person in the picture.

Of course, if they can’t remember, they can always check their flashcards or ask for help. Practice makes perfect!

Have students explain their family structure using the Spanish words to the class.

11) Learning Spanish with food! ¡Aprender español con comida!

Another really fun way to learn some words in Spanish is by talking about Hispanic and Latinx food culture.

Use to help you curate a list of Hispanic and Latinx traditional dishes. An easy way to teach students simple words in Spanish is to take the basic ingredients from a recipe and have them learn those words.

For example, arepas are corn cakes stuffed with meat, cheese, or beans. They can learn the word arepa (ah-reh-pa), which just means corn cake, and then the ingredients:
Meat: carne
Cheese: questo
Beans: frijoles

Collect these elemental words for the ingredients and have students create another set of food-related flashcards that they can study to learn the traditional names of dishes and the ingredients themselves. 

12) The origins of Teotihuacan

Give students the chance to draw the Hispanic/Latinx meal they would most like to try—or their own favorite meal from home or a restaurant they’ve tried.

Then, have them write the words for the ingredients they know all around their drawing of that dish. ¡Delicioso!

High School Hispanic Heritage Month Activities

13) The origins of Teotihuacan

When it comes to thinking about the indigenous history of this part of the world, it’s necessary to mention Teotihuacan. “One of the most famous archaeological sites in the Americas, Teotihuacan, was home to a complex and wealthy society that collapsed nearly a millennium before Christopher Columbus set out from the Spanish port of Palos in 1492,” according to the Library of Congress.

Use to take your students on a digital tour of the most recent archeological finds in this important ancient city.

It’s important to note that, while North Americans commonly refer to the people who inhabited Teotihuacan as “Aztecs,” that isn’t the name they used for themselves. Historians use the words Nahuas or Nahua-speaking people to refer to the inhabitants of the ancient city.

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

The Library of Congress suggests inviting students to consider the following:

As students interact with the site, ask them to create a chart with headings such as:
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–“Agriculture,” and
–-“Social Structure,” adapting these categories as you see fit.

Older students should record what claims the site makes about these different aspects of Teotihuacano society and what evidence is used to support these claims (for example, under “Trade,” a student might write: “Teotihuacan had extensive trading partnerships, evidenced by the prevalence of green quetzal feathers depicted in carvings of elites. These feathers needed to be imported from as far as 600 miles away, indicating that the city was able to command resources from such distances through trade and diplomacy”).

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

Younger students can make notes about the different elements of those categories that they notice. For example:
–What objects do they see that might belong to those different categories?
–How might the Nahua people have used those objects?
–How do those objects relate to things we use and practices we do today?

14) The timeline of Teotihuacan

This shows the development of Mesoamerica from 7000 BCE to the fall of Teotihuacan in 1521.

Break students into groups and break the timeline into chunks. Have each group use the timeline and the links available within to do research about what happened during their “era.” Have each group use a piece of butcher paper to illustrate what happened over time in their era, however they see fit—but always based on their research. 

Rebuild the timeline in the classroom by having each group present their segment that takes us from the deep to the not-so-distant past.

15) Primary Source Exploration

Older students can dive into the complicated history of Central and South America and their colonization by exploring available primary sources. It’s important to note, however, that exploring these sources comes with the complication of how we tell stories. The records of the era of colonization come from the point-of-view of the colonizers. If they come from indigenous people, the points-of-view are often mediated by Catholic religious institutions or Spanish colonizing forces that were creating the records. It is rare to read an unfiltered, Indigenous voice on the violence of the process the people were undergoing.

But these are problems worth interrogating. And the nature of exploring primary and secondary source material teaches students to understand the concept of “recording history” firsthand.

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

The Library of Congress recommends the following sites for just this kind of exploration:
–, which documents the journey of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca.
–, which includes primary source documents and multimedia resources covering Juan Bautista de Anza’s two overland expeditions resulting in the colonization of San Francisco in 1776.
– includes texts produced by indigenous people (which, again, may have been mediated by the Spanish)
– includes hundreds of primary sources that “explore the many narratives people have used to make sense of this region.”

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

Ask students to analyze these stories and put them together in different ways. Some guiding questions might include:
–Can they make sense of what it means to write a “history” of a place when they see the differing accounts from people on the ground?
–What does it mean to understand the past?
–What do we do about the filtration and silencing of indigenous voices undergoing the violence of colonization?
–How would they tell themselves the history of the Spanish colonization of these lands?
–If the story did not start with the colonization of the land, where might it begin instead?

16) Image analysis

Use the following sites to have students examine and analyze the architecture of the Mission Concepción in present-day San Antonio, Texas.

Start with context at the site on EDSITEment, run by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The contains a photo gallery and history and context of the site.

The contains helpful information about the architecture of the missions in general.

This can also be helpful for understanding the architecture.

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

EDSITEment encourages teachers to ask the following questions to shape the activity:

Describe and Analyze

• Have students point out the parts of the building that identify it as a church. Is the building symmetrical? Why or why not?
• Ask students what purpose the two towers on the front of the church served.
• Encourage students to compare Mission Concepción’s 1755 façade to the way it looks today.
• How has the appearance of the church changed? Ask students what they think has caused this change.
• Ask students why the Spanish were interested in building such complex missions.

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

Interpret

• In addition to religion, what other important functions did the missions serve?
• What buildings were often parts of a Spanish mission?
• Which American Indians lived at the missions?
• Why did they live there?
• Ask students why the Spanish and American Indians constructed European-style churches in America.
• Show students examples of seventeenth-century Baroque church façades. The Obradorio façade of the famous Spanish pilgrimage church of Santiago de Compostela in Spain is an excellent example. Images are available at the
• Discuss why Mission Concepción is much simpler than many of these ornate European churches.
• How do we know this church was Christian? Have students list the clues they can find by looking at the building.
• Find design elements that suggest the number three. Ask students why they think the number three might be important for the design of this type of building.
  

17) The People of the Mission

The on the Mission by examining the people of the Mission: 

“Begin by having students look at the large illustration of Mission Concepción for a few minutes. Adapt the method set forth in the link from the National Park Service site. Then divide the class into three main groups (and smaller subgroups of each, if the class is large). Have each group read about one of the three communities that came together in the mission: the , the, and the .

If desired, students can do further research on these groups by searching the EDSITEment-reviewed . Now have the three groups of students read about , as well as and at the mission.

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

For each of the selected communities, ask students to make a list of the reasons that these people came together to live in one place. Then ask them to imagine what the daily activities were for each community at the mission. Ask each of the student groups to choose a person from their researched community, such as a teenage Indian boy or girl, a Franciscan priest, or the young child of a Spanish officer. Ask students to imagine what a day was like at the mission for each of these group members. What would their tasks have been? How would they have interacted with members of the other groups?”

18) The Organization of Purposes of the Mission

The NEH suggests wrapping up the lesson on the Mission like this:

“Ask students to look at a from the National Park Service website and figure out where each of the people in the communities they are researching lived and worked. Have them find further activities by researching the .”

19) The Mexican Revolution

An important part of the context of the development of the Hispanic and Latinx world as we know it today is that countries like Mexico had to fight for their independence from Spain.

A lesson on the Mexican Revolution followed by grade-appropriate activities will help students to understand what it meant for countries like Mexico to come into existence in the first place.

The contains links to primary sources including maps, texts, and images to understand the causes of the Mexican Revolution. You can build lesson plans based on the information provided or get inspired by their ideas.

20) Unpacking the “Hispanic” identity

Teaching Tolerance writer Stef Bernal-Martinez says that, for many Hispanic communities, Hispanic Heritage Month starts with the shout of the Mexican revolution. Bernal-Martinez writes, “In the border town that raised me, crimson red and earthy green flank the image of the eagle with the serpent in its clutches. Folks donning these national colors, holding in one hand and an in the other, celebrate Mexican Independence Day each year on September 16th. This same scene unfolds throughout the United States with different foods, different colors depending on the specific Hispanic community. Each celebration is undeniably unique.”

This idea of unicity is precisely why Bernal-Martinez urges teachers to teach about the Hispanic identity in a non-homogenous way. Bernal-Martinez offers the following lessons and activities to dispel the nature of a singular Hispanic identity and to promote understanding across different groups of people:

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

• Dispel the mainstream myth of a homogenous Hispanic identity by held under the term Hispanic.
• Discuss the contention around the words Hispanic and Latino. Explain that these terms are not universally accepted.
• Ask Latinx and Hispanic students (or their families) how they identify themselves before assigning these labels to them. Ask all students (or their families) their racial or ethnic identities before assigning labels to them. 
• Highlight the work of organizations, like , that expand the traditional imagery of an immigrant. 

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

• Explain that Hispanic history is . Listen to the of Afro-Latinx communities. 
• Explore the creation of the word Hispanic as a category in the . 
• Resist highlighting exclusively Mexican history, culture, events or people. 
• Prepare your own understanding of racial and ethnic identities, including the . 
• Familiarize yourself with U.S. .”&�Բ�����;

21) Civil Rights and Hispanic Heritage Month

Using the following two sites, invite students to compare and contrast the contributions of civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi with the contributions of Chicano leaders Dolores Huerta and César Chávez.

Have students research a specific protest movement from the African American movement for civil rights and one from the UFW. Students can work in groups to complete this activity and then share their comparisons with the class. The NEH invites teachers to ask students:

Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons & Activities (Continued)

What actors were involved?

Secondly, what united them?

What were they protesting?

What strategies did they use? Describe the mechanics of the protest: its location and duration, what actions the protesters took, how they responded to any resistance or confrontations, how and why the protest ended. Depending on the protest they have chosen, a timeline and/or map may be a good way to represent this information.

Were there any divisions, controversies, or conflicts within the movement?

What responses met the protest? How was the protest represented in different media outlets from the time?

Additionally, how has the protest been commemorated or remembered since it took place? How have those commemorations changed over time?

If you were to design a monument, event, or other public commemoration of this protest, what would you create? Why?

22) Ken Burns’ The West

One way to invite students without much familiarity with the border region of the United States to further understand its complexity is by watching a film intended to teach just such an audience. Award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns’ film The West is a deep dive into the context, people, and outcomes of the turbulent history of the development of the borderlands between what is now the southwestern United States and Mexico.

 

It may be cumbersome to watch the entire thing in a classroom environment, but full chapters or sections can be viewed to meet your curricular needs.

Any Age

23) Spotlight Famous Hispanic Americans

Make a list of famous Hispanic Americans and spotlight their accomplishments for students. Ask: have students seen or heard of these influential people before? Have they heard of their inventions, music, movies, art, food, etc.?

24) Take a dance break!

Find an instructional video for one of the following dances and let your students let a little loose while celebrating these traditional dances:

• Salsa
• Cha Cha
• Fandango
• Cueca
• Pasillo
• Mexican Hat Dance
• Merengue

25) Invite in a local speaker

Invite a member (or better yet, a few members!) from a local group that represents a specific Hispanic identity, a musical association, a community organization, or an advocacy group to spend time explaining their specific identity, culture, and traditions to your students.

Hispanic Heritage Month Lesson – Additional Resources

• 50 Best Virtual Field Trips for Kids
• 131 Amazing Riddles for Kids with Answers – 2024
• 67 Most Common Teacher Interview Questions and Answers 
• 60 Team-Building Activities for Kids & Middle/High School Students
• 150 Journal Prompts for Kids, Middle & High School Students