For teachers

Lesson plan: «La pájara pinta»

Children play the «La pájara pinta» circle game, wait for their turn in the middle, choose who goes next and talk about how it feels to choose and to wait.

Ages: Ages 3–6
Time: 30 minutes
Areas: Getting along and feelings · Movement and the body · Music and creative expression

Opening

Show a colorful scarf and ask: «¿Cómo sería un pájaro de todos estos colores?» (“What would a bird with all these colors look like?”). Welcome every answer, then explain that a «pájara pinta» (“painted bird”) has colorful spots.
Put the hoop or the green cloth in the middle of the space: it’s the green lemon tree where the painted bird sits. Scatter the paper leaves and flowers close by.
Watch the video once, together, and listen closely to the tune, because you’ll sing it without the screen. Then turn the screen off.

Main activity

Make the circle around the green lemon tree: hold hands and step back until your arms are straight, no pulling. A child who’d rather watch first can look after the flowers from outside and join when ready.
For the first round, just walk around and sing the way you heard it in the video: you lead the words, and the group joins in with the ones they remember or hums along.
Now one child is the painted bird: they drape a scarf over their shoulders like wings and sit in the middle. While the circle walks slowly around, the bird gathers the leaves and flowers from the floor.
When the song ends, the circle stops and the bird gives a flower to someone who hasn’t had a turn yet: that child is the new painted bird. Scatter the leaves and flowers again.
With a big group, put two or three birds in the middle at once so everyone gets a turn. Change how you walk each round: on tiptoe, flapping your arms or very slowly.

Closing

In the last round, the whole group is the painted bird: let go of hands and fly slowly around the room until everyone is sitting in their spot.
Talk about it: “How did you feel when it was your turn to be the bird? And while you were waiting for your turn?”
Draw your own painted bird with all the colors you like. Ask each child to tell what their bird gathered.

Materials

A hoop or a green cloth to mark the middle
Large leaves and flowers cut out of colored paper
Two or three large colorful scarves
Paper and crayons

Free on this site:

The song, with its video and Spanish lyrics

What to observe

Waits for a turn and stays in the circle while someone else is the bird.
Chooses someone who hasn’t been in the middle yet.
Sings or hums with the group and stops when the song ends.
Plays the bird in their own way: gathering, flapping or making up a movement.

Adaptations

With 2-year-olds, play sitting in a circle: the bird walks around the inside, holding an adult’s hand, and gives the flower to whoever goes next.
For children who don’t speak yet or who use AAC, the flower is their way to choose. Drawings of the bird, a leaf and a flower help show what comes next in the game.
For children who need to move less, they can be the bird from their chair: bring the leaves and flowers within reach, and the circle walks around them.
If the group speaks other languages, ask how to say “bird” and “flower” at home, and let the bird say the word in their language as they hand over the flower.

For families

Ask families to play «La pájara pinta» at home, with stuffed animals to fill out the circle, and to let their child choose the next bird.

If you teach Spanish as a new language

Teach the key words with gestures (TPR): «pájara» (bird), «pinta» (painted, spotted), «verde» (green), «hoja» (leaf), «flor» (flower).
Model one short phrase at a time and let students echo it. Hum the tune first: the game works before anyone knows every word.
Ask either/or questions in Spanish as you play: «¿Una hoja o una flor?», «¿Verde o rojo?» — students can answer with one word or by pointing.

ACTFL World-Readiness Standards: Communication (interpretive and interpersonal), Cultures (a traditional game is a cultural practice; the song, a cultural product) and Comparisons (Spanish sounds and words next to your students’ languages).

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