Make Learning Spanish Fun With These Educational Games

The ability to speak Spanish can give you a big boost when it comes to applying for a job, and there’s evidence that people who speak more than one language actually improve their brain function in certain ways. Taking the time to learn another language, though, can be problematic. These games make it fun, and will keep you coming back!

Duolingo

One of the best language-learning apps out there, Duolingo is a highly polished, fun learning game that has earned a number of awards (including App of the Year for the mobile version). The gamification keeps you motivated, and the activities are short enough to make it easy to do a couple on your lunch break.

As with most of the Spanish-learning games available, there’s not much in the way of strategy, reflexes, or other attributes needed, but this is certainly one of the most fun options out there (and one of our favorites).

MindSnacks

A mobile-only game, MindSnacks has received very good reviews—including our own review—for being both fun and educational. With nine different games, 50 lessons, over 1,000 vocabulary words, and a claimed 40 hours of content, $4.99 seems like a steal (you can try the first lesson for free before paying for the rest, though).

If you’re looking to learn Spanish while you’re on the go, MindSnacks is probably your best bet. And if you like this style of learning, there are plenty of other languages available. Even math is coming soon!

Memrise

Memorizing things is hard, but good apps make it easier. Another popular mobile learning app, Memrise, can be used on your phone or from your browser to help you remember Spanish words. The coolest thing about Memrise is that you can create “mems” to help you remember the meaning of a word or phrase.

You’ll get points for answering questions correctly, and you choose the number of points you try to get each day; 1,500 points should take about 5 minutes, 6,000 about 15, and 20,000 somewhere around 45.

Busuu

Another mobile / desktop option, Busuu offers vocabulary, grammar, and listening lessons, and will help you learn 150 topics and over 3,000 words to improve your Spanish skills. Although the app itself is free, you’ll need a $10/month subscription to access the premium content.

If you’re willing to pay for a subscription service, Busuu is a good one, as it will help you develop well-rounded Spanish skills instead of just vocabulary or spelling, as some other apps do.

Online Free Spanish

While the website isn’t highly polished, Online Free Spanish includes a lot of games at different levels that will challenge any Spanish learner to think in new ways. For example, in the Intermediate section, there are 19 different topic areas, from sea life to family members, and clothing to pizza.

Each topic has a number of different games; and while none of the games will challenge your strategic skills or reflexes, they will present you with a lot of different Spanish words that you’ll be familiar with by the end of the section.

Quia

This is a collection of resources intended for teachers, and actually includes quite a lot of functionality if you’re in the education profession. However, if you’re just looking to practice some Spanish, you can take advantage of the games and activities for free.

There’s a wide variety of activities, from quizzes to verb-tense Battleship. There are thousands of activities, so browsing through might not be the best way to find what you’re looking for. Instead, use the search features to look for the type of game you want or the specific facet of language that you’re interested in.

Hello World

The games at Hello World will appeal more to younger learners, but if you’re just looking for something to break up the monotony of looking through word lists and practicing spelling, you might be interested in these activities.

The games are split up into different categories, and each category contains a number of different types of activities. The site advertises that they have over 700 different activities, so you won’t run short on things to learn!

Get Learning!

Just like with any other topic, Spanish is most easily learned when you have fun doing it. Fortunately, there are plenty of great options when it comes to fun Spanish games! Don’t forget that you can also incorporate Spanish into your other games, too—change the default language on your console, or even the language in Words with Friends, to get a bit more practice while you’re gaming.

Have you use any of these language-learning games? Are there any good ones that we missed? Share your experiences and recommendations below!

Image Credits: arcade game via Shutterstock