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For me history is an aspect that shape my and goal of education. History is part of who we are and where we come from our roots. I am from Puerto Rico and my culture is very proud of who we are and our history. Puerto Rican are a proud of their culture of being an Island that is part of U.S.A but our language is Spanish. I grew up learning the history of Puerto Rico in school and teaching in a creative, imaginative and fun way in the classroom. I believe teaching history in early years is important to the development of growth in a child. My experience teaching history is a fantastic and beautiful strategies to learn about our language and culture. Like an educator these thought influence in my ideas because is important to teach from early year who we are and where we come from. The school and curriculum need to be prepare  with a class full of material of different culture and diversity to encourage the play and learning in the classroom. I expect of my parent and children learn and respect our diversity and the power of the culture of the class .

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Puerto Rico is 100 miles long and 35 miles wide, making its area about 3,500 square miles, the third largest island in the United States. Did you know that unlike the rest of the United States, Puerto Rico has two official languages? English and Spanish! Or that it has an island inhabited by monkeys? Keep reading for more interesting Puerto Rico facts for kids and resources for learning about the island.

Frances is a Latina Mamá on a multicultural and bilingual journey. Shortly before her son turned 4 years old, she started blogging about discovering the world through his eyes, hence the name of her blog. Frances became passionate about teaching him to be bilingual and biliterate. She writes about heritage, bilingualism, multiculturalism, children's books and global culture education with lots of hands-on activities and language learning ideas for kids. She can be found musing at her blog Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes or on Instagram, her new favorite social media platform.

Download a printable version of these Puerto Rico facts for kids in English or Spanish below. There is also a great collection of Puerto Rico resources, with more printables and lesson plans.

Puerto Rico Facts for Kids in English

Interesting Facts about Puerto Rico

1. Puerto Rico is an archipelago with over 143 islands, cays, and islets.

2. Puerto Rico's most recognizable smaller islands are Mona, Vieques, and Culebra.

3. Monkey Island, also known as Santiago Island, is inhabited by 1,000 rhesus macaque monkeys.

4. Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States.

5. People born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens.

6. You do not need a passport to travel to Puerto Rico.

7. 3.4 million U.S. citizens live in Puerto Rico.

8. Puerto Ricans have Spanish, African, and Taíno ancestry.

9. Official languages are Spanish and English.

10. Baseball is a very popular sport in Puerto Rico.

11. Roberto Clemente is the island's most famous baseball player.

12. The coquí is a tiny tree frog named after the loud sound that it makes.

13. Tibes is the most important archaeological site of Taíno indigenous heritage in the Caribbean.

14. Castillo San Felipe del Morro also known as Fuerte San Felipe del Morro was built in the 16th-century to protect the island from seaborne enemies .

15. Puerto Rico has the world's largest radio telescope.

Puerto Rico Facts for Kids in Spanish

Datos Interesantes de Puerto Rico

1. Puerto Rico es un archipiélago con más de 143 islas, cayos e isletas.

2. Las islas pequeñas más reconocidas en Puerto Rico son Isla de Mona, Vieques y Culebra.

3. Isla de los monos, también conocida como Cayo Santiago, está habitada por 1,000 mon os macaca mulatta.

4. Puerto Rico es territorio de los Estados Unidos.

5. Personas nacidas en Puerto Rico son ciudadanos estadounidenses.

6. No necesitas un pasaporte para viajar a Puerto Rico.

7. 3.4 millones de ciudadanos estadounidenses viven en Puerto Rico.

8. Puertorriqueños tienen descendencia española, africana y taína.

9. Los idiomas oficiales son español e inglés.

10. El béisbol es un deporte muy popular en la isla.

11. Roberto Clemente es el pelotero más famoso de la isla.

12. El coquí es una pequeña ranita , llamada así por el característico sonido que produce.

13. Tibes es el yacimiento arqueológico de vida indígena Taína más importante en todo el Caribe.

14. Castillo San Felipe del Morro también conocido como Fuerte San Felipe del Morro fue construido en el siglo 16 para proteger a la isla de ataques enemigos.

15. Puerto Rico tiene el radiotelescopio más grande del mundo.

Puerto Rico Facts for Kids Photos

Carlos Beltrán Baseball Academy

El Morro Fort

Taíno, Spaniard and African Sculpture

Old San Juan

Taíno rock sculpture of Cacique Mabodamaca

After learning all these facts about Puerto Rico, I bet you want to hop on a plane and travel to the island. If you're ever considering a Spanish immersion trip for yourself or your children Puerto Rico is the ideal country to visit, because you don't need a passport! Even if you know "un poquito de español" or "mucho" you'll return feeling like a native speaker!

Nevertheless, if a trip isn't in the works you can still learn more about Puerto Rico facts with these resources:

Puerto Rico Resources for Kids
Exploring Puerto Rico Landmarks Free Printable Children's Book About Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico, La Isla del Encanto - Cuaderno de Ejercicios: Puerto Rico, The Island of Enchantment - Workbook (affiliate link) If you purchase this book you'll be helping Puerto Rico. 100% of profits during the first year (April 2018-April 2019) will be donated to the recovery efforts in Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria.

You may also love this series on two beloved siblings that happen to be coquís! Spanish Early Reader Books: Rafi y Rosi and Spanish Books for Beginning Readers: Rafi y Rosi

Printable Puerto Rico Facts for Kids
Interesting Facts about Puerto Rico in English Interesting Facts about Puerto Rico in Spanish
Many thanks to Frances for sharing these Puerto Rico facts for kids on Spanish Playground.
In addition to her blog and Instagram, you can find her on Facebook and Twitter.

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Puerto Rico Facts for Kids in Spanish and English - Spanish Playground

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Puerto Rico is 100 miles long and 35 miles wide, making its area about 3,500 square miles, the third largest island in the United States. Did you know that unlike the rest of the United States, Puerto Rico has two official languages? English and Spanish! Or that it has an island inhabited by monkeys?

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For me is important the lieracy because is another aspect that shape my identity.First of all is mindful for me like an educator because children can identify with character's and situation based in experiences in a fun way in a book or reading and related to the real world. The literacy help children to see books like window and mirros to the world outside that is around them. The enrich environment with books develop language skills is very important for school and curriculum, those classrooms with literacy-rich play environments tended to demonstrate a higher integration of readings and writings during activity. While these consciously created environments promoted literacy skills integration, the embedded nature of Play and literacy in these classrooms meant that students also took the initiative to transition reading and writing material into other centers to extend their Play from the literacy-rich environments. Is important because is important have an environment full of books with different topics like race ,gender ,culture ,sexual orientation and more. I believe in diversity that part of my philosophy ,expectation and ideas like an educator .I want my family expect that and feel welcome to my class.

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Importance of Early Literacy | Penfield Children's Center

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I will talk about the importance of Play inside a classroom in preschool and kindergarten and how to promote the language scaffolding language and literacy development. Play is a space where language and literacy convey and interact. The experience  teach me the truth about how Play is an essential activity in young children's lives. The play is part of my identity because shape my idea like an educator. My expectation of children and family is teach them skills to make healthy ,physical and social-emotional choices. Play is something innovator and sometime is prove that a school and a curriculum with play based learning student develop better behavior and best test scores in older grades. I believe in encourage student to move indoor ,out door and alternative play choices because when educators promote the physical activity they develop the habit of doing exercise and enjoy play outside in the nature. Contributing to children's learning, self-regulation, and motivation, adults' participation in children's Play is critical in their development, especially their language development .

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If there is something that says a lot about the culture and traditions of a certain place, are definitely the games we use to play when we were younger. It might seem that technology is killing most of these games, not only in Puerto Rico, but in the entire world.

At Local Guest, we decided to rescue some of the mst traditional Puerto Rican games and explain a little bit of their history and how they are supposed to be played. We apologize in advance for all the nostalgia these childhood games might bring you. Get ready to go down memory lane remembering all those games you played during your school recess.

Gallito consisted on a war among two "little roosters". Those "roosters" were made out of carob seeds and with a screwdriver, a hole was made right in the middle to insert a cord tied with a knot. This "gallito" was taken into a fight circle made in the ground where by pulling with the cord your carob rooster, you should break the opponents one. The gallito who remains less damaged, is the one who wins. Watch the video to have an idea on how it was played.

Trompo or "spin top" is definitely one of the most typical childhood games in Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico, they are made out of wood, cone-shaped and with a spike on its tip that makes possible for it to spin. To play with it, you need to roll the top around a cord, and then drop it and let it loose from the cord to make it spin. The top that keeps on spinning for longer is the one who wins. Watch the video for a better idea on how the game goes.

Chequi Morena or "Shake it Morena" is a typical game that consisted on forming a circle and one person goes right in the middle of that circle. Everyone sings the song and dances. On the 3rd verse, the person in the middle needs to follow the instructions given by the song. The person in the middle closes its eyes and turns around in circles. Once the song is finished and this person opens the eyes, whoever is pointed by them goes to the center of the circle next and the game starts all over again.

In 1, 2, 3 Pescao, there is a person designed to become "the fisher" whose job is to step on the finish line and to shout "1, 2, 3 pescao". Meanwhile, the other players on the starting line have to try to take steps forwards but, once the fisher has stopped shouting "1, 2, 3 pescao" they must have taken all the steps and remain still. If someone moves once the fisher had opened the eyes, they must need to start all over from the starting line. The first person who reaches the finish line wins the game.

Pase Misin is pretty similar to the "London Bridge is Falling Down" game and its original from Spain. Two persons serve as bridge by holding their hands and everyone else in the game will pass by under the bridge formed. Each of the persons forming the bridge has secretly chosen a fruit. While the bridge is falling and they are singing, the person trapped in the bridge is supposed to say the name of a fruit and if he mentions one of the fruits chosen by the persons forming the bridge, the trapped person takes the place forming the bridge.

Ambos a Dos, as many other traditional games in Puerto Rico, is original from Spain. The game consist on two lines of people one facing each other. Supposedly, there is a girl looking for a husband and after choosing the "husband" from the other line who should also assign a job for him, which is the person that starts singing "Ambos a Dos, Matarile, Rile, Rile". The game can go on if the "husband" says that "ese oficio no le gusta" (he doesn't like the job). Once the person has said that there is a job that "si le gusta" (he likes it), this person goes to the middle, all the other chants the "celebremos todos juntos" and the game start over with this person being part of the line that chooses him or her.

Do you remember any other typical game of your childhood? Let us know in the comments!

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Back to our Childhood: 5 Classic Puerto Rican Games

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If there is something that says a lot about the culture and traditions of a certain place, are definitely the games we use to play when we were younger. It might seem that technology is killing most of these games, not only in Puerto Rico, but in the entire world.

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Music is part of the curriculum inside the daily routine.For example ,in my classroom I plan an activity like this video .Is very important incorporate music in transition and the routine with dance and rhyme activity to develop positive identity in early years.

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For me the music is very important in my way I think in my philosophy ,curriculum and school. This aspect shape my identity because children need to have a high quality education in early years. For these reason I believe in excellence education is part what i want tat my parents and families receive when they drop off their child in my classroom .For me music shape my idea because develop a mindful part of integrate of the human being. In my opinion my philosophy and expectation is encourage the creativity and fun curriculum that stimuli the development of skills and concept with learning based music for rescue the tradition of singing at home and school. In Puerto Rico I learn that music is very essential for early years .For these reason music shape my identity like an educator.