Italian For Kids: How To Teach Your Little Ones At Home

Looking for Italian for kids guidance? You’re in the right place.

So you love Italy and want to start teaching your young children Italian—so they can grow up with the language and become confident speakers early in life. Whether it’s because you want them to develop that skill, you’re thinking of moving to Italy, or you’re planning to spend summer holidays there, it’s a beautiful decision.

I still remember my mum teaching me both Italian and English. I treasure those memories with so much love and gratitude, because I know how special it felt to grow up multilingual—able to switch between three languages whenever I needed to.

But how do you actually make it fun and engaging for your kids? That’s exactly what we’re going to explore in this post, so stick around if you’re looking for tips and resources.

How To Teach Your Child Italian?

If I had kids this is how I would teach them Italian. I will give you a scenario that works for a child that’s brought up in a non Italian speaking household and outside of Italy.

Italian for Age 0-2 Years

If you want to start early, use a slow immersion process. Make Italian part of his/her routine. Here are a few ways to do so:

Listen to Italian children’s songs a little daily and sing along, even if it’s just you singing to begin with.
Spend some time daily watching an Italian cartoon that’s age appropriate. Highlight a few words by repeating them yourself. Even if your kid it’s not at the age where he is asking questions or repeating words, it’s still beneficial.
Read him Italian story books. For very small kids, there’s no need to translate what you read. It’s just about adding another exposure to the language.
If you are Italian, or can speak Italian with your partner, do a little bit of that around your kid every day. That’s going to normalize listening to Italian, and it’s going to make it a very familiar thing, and that’s how we learn when we are little – by listening and repeating regularly.
If you can, try to visit Italy with your kid early on, make him notice little things like the food, the places, the people and address those things in Italian. Also, let him listen to locals speaking in Italian. If that can become a yearly thing, its impact will be even stronger.

Italian for Toddlers

If you are starting now, at the age of 2 or above, start with the methods above. They will work for this age too, but you will need to do a little more explaining and translating.

I would also explain to the child why you are learning Italian. You could say things like we are learning Italian because..:

We love Italy
We are going to Italy this year
We want to understand that cartoon we love
We love Italian food
It’s fun
A certain kid (or cartoon character) speaks Italian

If you keep repeating the reason, your kid will slowly understand, and if he doesn’t he will likely ask you more questions.

Italian for Pre-Schoolers

As soon as your child reaches the age where more formal lessons and worksheets make sense, introduce those as part of his Italian learning journey.

Depending on how serious and flexible your schedule is, introduce proper Italian lessons twice or three times a week. This works especially, if you are homeschooling him/her before kindergarten or even beyond that. If that’s so, consider adding more lessons, even daily if teaching him languages is your current priority.

You can start with short 30 minute lessons, but make them fun. Think coloring, tracing, watching cartoons and perhaps drawing about them, or repeating what you listen. You could also introduce cooking lessons where you learn Italian food words.

You are practically taking the things you were doing early on but adding that more structured class element.

Italian for School-Age Children

Now that your child has learnt to read, assign him an Italian book to read with his other ones. If you started reading Italian stories early on, and then reading with him, you just need to help him read them on his own, and keep it going for as long as it’s enough time for him to become comfortable reading Italian books for his age. Patience, repetition and routine are key here.

You can limit yourself to teaching him Italian through reading, watching movies, and speaking the language together. Or you can also supplement that with more structured Italian lessons. If you do, it’s probably wise to start learning some beginner Italian grammar – alphabet, numbers, colors, days of the week, the time, articles, simple words, easy verbs, forming sentences, saying simple phrases.

PS: I will suggest reading books and other resources further down in this post.

Writing Italian for Kids

Once reading and speaking Italian become easier for your child, it’s time to start the Italian writing lessons. By now, you might have already introduced simple word worksheets. Instead, I am referring to teaching to write full sentences and paragraphs.

The best way to go about it is to help him practice to think in Italian. You could play a game where you say the same sentences in both English and Italian throughout the day. That will normalize not only speaking but also thinking in Italian.

Start with these well known Italian learning methods:

Dictations in Italian.
Translation – give him 5 sentences in English and a space to translate them in Italian. You might need to help him at the beginning, but if you keep practicing it and doing all the other things we’ve mentioned so far, he will soon be able to translate English to Italian on his own.
Reverse Translations – if you notice him struggling with translating English to Italian, try the other way round, and see which comes easier. You can practice the other way later on.
Writing exercises – like writing 5 sentences in Italian about Christmas, or any other theme of your choice.
Writing short stories – when he is ready, encourage him to write small stories in Italian. Give him a theme, or ask him what he wants to write about that day. It can be as short as a paragraph, and as long as he/she wants.

Useful Tips for the Teaching Parent

In order for your kid to learn Italian you really have to want him to, because he is at an age where he likely couldn’t care less, so it’s you who has to stay focused and motivated, disciplined and accountable.

I suggest you make a plan for the next 6 months on how you intend to your child Italian, which methods you are going to use, how much time you are going to dedicate each week, and then make a list of the resources and tools you will be using, so you can research them and get them in time to keep the learning journey going.

Have a look at the Italian for kids timeline I have created below. You can use that to create your six months (or even yearly) and monthly plans.

As for resources, I have included a few useful ones below. Have a look.

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Italian For Kids Timeline

To make it easier for you to plan your lessons from day 1, I have summarized my tips and methods above into a list format, and grouped it by age.

0-2 years – do these with them

Listen to Italian children songs & sing along
Watch Italian cartoons & repeat words
Read him/her Italian children books
Visit Italy

Toddlers

Listen to Italian children songs & sing together
Watch Italian cartoons & repeat together
Read him/her Italian children books
Visit Italy
Explain why you are learning Italian

Pre-schoolers

Listen to Italian children songs & sing together
Watch Italian cartoons & repeat together
Read him/her Italian children books
Visit Italy
Explain why you are learning Italian
Italian coloring worksheets
Italian tracing worksheets
Italian cooking lessons

School-Age Children – help him with these

Teach him/her to read Italian books on his own
Learn the Italian alphabet
Learn the numbers in Italian
Learn the colors in Italian
Learn the days of the week in Italian
Learn the time in Italian
Memorize simple Italian words (list included below)
Learn the articles
Learn easy verbs
Learn to form sentences
Learn to say simple phrases, like presenting themselves or describing something.

Pre-teens

Start Italian dictations
Start Italian translations
Start Italian writing exercises
Start short story writing in Italian

Italian Shows for Kids

My suggestion is to find a show that blends both English and Italian because it normalizes bilingual life, and also makes it easier for the kid to learn. However, I can’t find an ongoing cartoon that does that.

There’s a wonderful movie, but I would recommend it for kids who are at least 5 years or older. It’s called Luca, and you can find it on Amazon Prime. It won several awards, was nominated for the Oscars, and voted Best Family Movie of 2021

The other option is to introduce your little one to Italian cartoons, the same ones Italian kids grow up with, and alternate them with English cartoons.

These are my favorite ones:

Peppa Pig in Italian – 0 and up

Ben and Holly in Italian – 3 and above

La Melevisione – for kids 5 and above

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Kids Books for Learning Italian

Italian Facts For Kids (and adults too) – 6 to 12 years, or once your kid learns to read independently in Italian.

My First Italian Book – covers many important concepts from numbers to colors in a fun way.

As your child advances, I suggest you read my other Italian learning guide – How To Learn Italian On Your Own. That one provides more resources for learning Italian Grammar and becoming proficient.

In that guide, I also suggest a few courses that could work for your child, as they cater for different levels.

Italian Games for Kids

Italian Flash Cards – perfect for small kids too, as you can pick and choose which words you show them first.

Italian Word Puzzle – for kids who have started learning Italian words.

Italy Quiz Game – fun for the entire family, and you can choose which cards you show them; age 5 and older.

Italian Lessons for Kids

If you want a helping hand with teaching your kids Italian, consider this app: Dinolingo Italian App for Kids

If you want to go the free route, try typing the various lessons I listed on the timeline above on youtube, and add “for kids”.

Rock ‘N Learn has a few good videos to begin with.

You can also use part of my Italian language lessons, but strip them to the basics, since those are aimed at adults who are starting to learn Italian.

Italian Worksheets for Kids

Check out these free printables by the Montessori Academy.

The other best place to find free worksheets for all your lessons is Pinterest. Just type Italian worksheets for kids, or specify the age group. You can also be specific and type Italian numbers worksheet, Italian alphabet, etc.

And if you are willing to pay, you can also look for worksheets on Etsy.

Italian Words for Kids

You can use the simple words below to start introducing your kids to Italian, whether it’s saying and repeating them, tracing them, dictating, or translating them.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 People & Family
Ciao – Hello
Mamma – Mom
Papà – Dad
Bimbo – Baby boy
Bimba – Baby girl

🏠 Home & Rooms
Casa – House
Stanza – Room
Cucina – Kitchen
Letto – Bed
Tavolo – Table
Sedia – Chair
Finestra – Window
Porta – Door

🌳 Outdoors & Nature
Giardino – Garden
Parco – Park
Mare – Sea
Montagna – Mountain
Sole – Sun
Luna – Moon
Fiore – Flower
Albero – Tree

🍽️ Food & Drink
Acqua – Water
Latte – Milk
Pasta – Pasta
Pizza – Pizza
Gelato – Ice cream
Torta – Cake
Pane – Bread
Bicchiere – Glass
Bottiglia – Bottle
Piatto – Plate
Forchetta – Fork

🧸 Toys & Play
Palla – Ball
Bambola – Doll
Macchina – Toy car
Giocare – To play

🐶 Animals
Cane – Dog
Gatto – Cat
Uccello – Bird
Pesce – Fish

🧍 Body Parts
Mano – Hand
Piede – Foot
Testa – Head

🏫 Daily Life & Verbs
Scuola – School
Mangiare – To eat
Bere – To drink
Dormire – To sleep
Cucinare – To cook

🌟 Descriptive
Bello/Bella – Beautiful (masculine/feminine)

More Italian Learning Resources

If you happen to be reading this for your younger child, but have an older child, a friend, or a sister who also wants to learn Italian, I have an article just for them.

How To Learn Italian On Your Own, For Free & Fun

It includes two learning methods with a plan for each, as well as useful resources to help them along the journey.

Feel free to explore my Italian language lessons too.

If you are the mum who is reading this, and love Italian fashion, save the article below for when you choose to dedicate your next coffee break to you:

Italian Women Style Guide

I truly hope you found this article helpful and encouraging. Please, don’t forget to give it a heart, pin it on Pinterest, and share it with a friend. Thank you.

Ciao,
Alessia

Italian for Kids: How to Teach Your Little Ones at Home

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