5 Fun Activities to Practice Hindi with Kids

I let my daughter watch HOURS of YouTube Kids on our TV.

I see your raised eyebrows, and I raise you this: remember a time you were amazed at how much your child absorbed just from watching something on TV. But I will also concede that even the best educational content has its limits in really teaching them. It’s equally important — if not more — to make real conversations happen at home.
Here are five ways we encourage conversations in Hindi in our household.

Dedicated Language Time for Tasks

My daughter is quite fond of making an omelette by herself for dinner, and we try to dedicate Hindi words just for that activity. So…

“Crack the egg” becomes “अंडा (egg) crack करो (do)”.

“Now whisk it” becomes “अब (now) इसे (it) फेंट दो(whisk)”.

Regularly peppering Hindi words in daily chores.

I’ve often found that a repeated phrase, followed by its translation seems to stick much easier in children’s vocab.

Not exactly a ground-breaking discovery, I know. But kids often very easily pick up and even correctly reuse one-word phrases like

“चलो” (Let’s go) or “देखो” (Look at this!)

OPOL

One technical term that every bilingual parenting website tells me is “One Parent, One Language”.

If yours is a multilingual home like ours, the OPOL strategy can be a great ally. Take turns switching between Hindi and English daily, one parent at a time.

I tend to look at it as a Level Two strategy. Our home has a Marathi Dad and a Malayalee Mom, using Hindi as the common language at home, whilst living in an English-speaking country.

OPOL might help us work on Marathi and Malayalam one day soon!

Bed Time Stories

Stories are — hands down — the best way to pass down ideas, emotions, and as importantly — vocabulary!

Since last week, I have been running a story marathon about a little bear who discovers a strange treasure chest! But more about her soon! 🙂

Write your own or whip out stories that you fell asleep to as a kid!
Get Hindi story books or translate good English books your child likes.
Or all of the above!

Playtime, Games and Playdates

Hindi Kids’ videos on YouTube often stick to decades-old songs, obsolete lyrics and usually leave much to desire.
But we like to whip out even some child-friendly Bollywood hits like “Chhoti si Asha” from the movie Roja, or “Bum Bum Bole” from Taare Zameen Par.

Friendly tip: Some songs have videos we wouldn’t want our kids to watch, it’s easier to play those as Audio during car rides. Or just add “kids choreography” on YouTube when searching for that song.
GAME.CHANGER.

I hope you find this list helpful. Remember, getting your kids to speak a new language well takes time — it’s a marathon, not a race.

Don’t rush, just keep your pace up! They’ll get there.