In this post: A round-up of the best TV shows and cartoons that help your kids learn Spanish. Post contains affiliate links.
Watching age-appropriate Spanish shows can support language learning when paired with a structured curriculum, and real-life interaction.
In this guide, we’re sharing the best Spanish shows for kids, organized by age—from toddlers to elementary—and where to watch them safely.
Table of Contents
Can Kids Really Learn Spanish by Watching TV?
Leveraging screen time for language learning is a great option if the screen is already going to be on at home.
That said, switching your child’s favorite TV show to Spanish won’t necessarily help them if it’s too difficult in the target language. Choosing level and age-appropriate shows is important, so that your child can access the content, stay engaged, and make good progress.
There is far more to learning a language than the language input of a show—languages require interaction and real life context. In other words, we can’t rely on a screen to teach our children the richness of a language and its culture. Languages are meant to be spoken!
A great first step is to decide on a family language plan and then find a variety of resources and real-life immersive experiences to support that plan.
Related post: Comprehensible Input: Unlocking Language Learning for Children
Where can Kids Watch Spanish Shows?
In this day and age, there are so many options for Spanish-language content it can almost be overwhelming. Here are our go-to choices for Spanish children’s shows:
Lingopie
With access to hundreds of shows from Latin America and Spain, both for kids and adults, the whole family can learn Spanish in a more comprehensible way on Lingopie.
Tappable subtitles allow the viewer to check translations or pronunciation while reviewing the vocabulary. This reduces the overwhelm of just pressing play on a Spanish TV show and hoping you can follow along.
Lingopie makes watching TV in Spanish more engaging, interactive and comprehensible. It even tracks your progress and sends you notifications according to your personal language goals.
We also love that the Lingopie Kids platform has 100% safe content.
You can try Lingopie FREE for 7 days.
PBS Kids
PBS Kids in Spanish is another network where all the content is safe and child-friendly, meaning I can let my guard down a little! They’ve joined forces with Amazon Prime to allow subscribers to access all the PBS Kids channels for a $4.99 monthly add on. There are no commercials and the content is all child-friendly.
YouTube Kids
YouTube Kids is another great source for watching Spanish TV shows. You can set parental limits and controls so you don’t have to worry as much about what random content will show up, though it’s not as reliable as PBS Kids.
Netflix, Disney+ & Hulu
Netflix, Disney+ and Hulu are other great channels that have the option to change language settings to Spanish for many shows, although they are not always as authentic.
Related Post: 10 Authentic Spanish Movies for Kids
Spanish Shows for Toddlers (Ages 1–3)
The recommendations here are mostly all music focused, because music is sticky and captivating for our littlest learners. If you have a toddler or preschooler, definitely check out our related post on Canciones infantiles for more options!
Aprende Peque con Isa
We love Aprende Peque on Youtube! Think Ms Rachel- but in Spanish!
The series is hosted by Isa, a preschool teacher with training in special education and speech-language development.
Isa uses songs, interactive activities, stories, and playful segments to support Spanish language learning, social-emotional growth, and cultural familiarity in toddlers and preschoolers.`
Little Baby Bum en Español
Children love the simple but catchy tunes of Little Baby Bum, which continues to update their collection of Spanish-language content.
Although it’s not exactly a TV show in the traditional sense, you can find music-based episodes and collections, often based around a theme or topic.
These gentle songs are perfect for toddlers and preschoolers, teaching them lots of basic Spanish vocabulary such as shapes, animals, and colors.
CoComelon en Español
CoComelon has become the USA’s most viewed YouTube channel and even broke a record by remaining in Netflix’s top 10 most-watched shows for 62 consecutive days.
Children learn letters, numbers, colors, shapes and good values through the character of J.J and his community. It is a feel good, sing-along show full of popular nursery rhymes and bright and friendly animations.
Canticos
Founded by Susie Jaramillo, Canticos is leading the way in bilingual nursery rhymes. Canticos has an incredible (paid) learning app as well as FREE bilingual songs on YouTube.
The series of classic Spanish nursery rhymes, featuring characters like Ricky, Nicky and Kiki from Los Pollitos Dicen and Pin Pon etc, has a similar feel to CoComelon. You get to know and love each character in the show!
We love that every song is bilingual, sung first in Spanish followed by the English.
Cleo & Cuquin
Another music-based cartoon show with catchy, sing-along songs. Many are traditional and well known, while others are unique to the company and fun to learn.
It’s a great show for families with siblings as it focuses on the adventures of six brothers and sisters, including Cleo (the oldest sibling) and Cuquin (the baby). It promotes camaraderie and cooperation, as the siblings work through day to day issues that cause frustration or sadness.
Spanish Shows for Preschool and Elementary (Ages 4+)
For older kids who have the attention span for longer stories with more complex characters, there are some great Spanish cartoons and TV shows available. Whether beginners, intermediate, or advanced learners, here are some favorites that kids love:
Alma’s Way
Follow along as Alma Rivera, a 6-year-old Puerto Rican girl, explores her Latino neighborhood in New York with her bilingual family. PBS Kids does a wonderful job incorporating Spanish words and phrases naturally in the English-language version of this show, making it great for beginners.
Plus, for intermediate and advanced learners, there’s also a Spanish-language version available!
This kids’ show is praised for its diverse representation of Latin culture through the characters, food, music, and traditions. As with other PBS Kids programs, you can also expect plenty of moments that promote social-emotional learning and critical thinking.
Pororo en Español
The popular kids’ show from Korea is also available in Spanish! You can find episodes for free on the Pororo Spanish YouTube channel, organized by fun categories like Dinosaurs and Rescue Team.
Because these episodes are entirely in Spanish with faster speech, they are better suited for intermediate learners and bilingual kids.
Oh, Noah!
This PBS Kids show is a great option for beginners. Noah is a native English speaker who is living in a Spanish speaking country. He goes about his day trying to communicate with the locals, learning lots of new vocabulary along the way.
The show includes some fun, unique songs that are repetitive in nature, like ‘puedo nadar’.
Dora la Exploradora
Another very popular show in the USA. Dora la Exploradora is an excellent option for complete Spanish beginners! The show has created a genius framework for teaching the viewers Spanish: Dora goes on an adventure with her friends and throughout her journey shares new vocabulary using the following pattern:
In English we say ‘up’
In Spanish we say ‘arriba’
Can you say ‘arriba’?
This is highly effective and engaging! It has the perfect balance of English and Spanish, to keep beginners engaged and able to access the content, while helping them make progress with new words.
PocoyÓ
Pocoyó is an animation produced in Spain, with vibrant characters against a white background. This is a more gentle approach to cartoons for younger kids, with plenty of age appropriate themes and cute characters.
Pocoyo is a typical preschooler that struggles with feelings of selfishness and frustration, but discovers how to overcome them, with help from his friends.
Daniel Tigre
Inspired by “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”, this is another great PBS show starring Daniel Tigre as the main character. This show is great for teaching good morals and social and emotional skills for kids through catchy songs.
Your kids will learn about empathy, kindness and being responsible. We love that there is a really strong focus on music in this show because it helps new vocabulary stick!
Plaza Sésamo
Sesame Street has been around since 1969! It is a classic children’s show that spans generations.
We love that Plaza Sésamo is NOT dubbed, but is the original Latin American co-production version with new cultural characters like Abelardo, Lola, and Pancho.
We would recommend it for intermediate learners, as it may be a little too fast for complete beginners.
Screen-Free Spanish Learning at Home
There are endless ways to incorporate Spanish into your children’s daily lives, and leveraging their screen time with Spanish language TV shows is just one of those options. For busy families, these can be a convenient source of language input to use to your advantage.
At Llamitas Spanish, we believe that a solid, structured curriculum is essential to learning a language at home. Our screen-free homeschool Spanish curriculum is the perfect solution for families on the go.
Using an open-and-go format, we provide you with all of the tools you need to teach Spanish to your kids, including songs, stories, music, and more. Your kids will have so much fun learning Spanish—no screens necessary!
Related Posts:
Authentic Spanish Movies for Kids
Spanish Nursery Rhymes on YouTube
Canciones ilustradas: FREE Llamitas Spanish songs for kids
Founder of the Llamitas Spanish® Curriculum and former Spanish teacher. Corrie holds two Master Degrees in Spanish and Education. She lives in San Diego, California with her husband and two bilingual children.