October Culture Corner: Hispanic Heritage Month
National Hispanic Heritage Month takes place from September 15 through October 15 every year, offering families an opportunity to celebrate the histories, cultures, traditions, and contributions of Hispanic and Latino communities.
These communities are wonderfully diverse. Families may have roots in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, Spain, or other places, each with distinct histories and traditions. Children can begin exploring that diversity through the stories they read, the programs they watch, the songs they sing, and the cultural experiences they share.
This month’s Healthi Kids Culture Corner features a picture book, an animated series, and bilingual nursery rhymes that families can enjoy together.
Read: Please Pass the Tamales!
Written by Silvia López and illustrated by Mirelle Ortega, Please Pass the Tamales! introduces children to tamale-making traditions across the Americas.
The story follows children as they help their families prepare tamales using recipes connected to Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Colombia. Each family has its own recipe and traditions, but the families share ingredients and eventually gather for a tamalada, a tamale-making celebration. Created in collaboration with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino, the book also includes additional information and a coloring activity for children.
The story offers a fun and age-appropriate way to show children that Hispanic and Latino cultures are not all the same. Even a shared tradition can look, taste, and feel different from one country, community, or family to another.
Talk about it together:
Does your family have a food, recipe, or tradition that is shared across generations? How does your family make it your own?
Watch: Maya & Miguel
Maya & Miguel is an animated children’s series from about 10-year-old twins Maya and Miguel Santos, their family, and their diverse group of friends. Their mother’s family is from Mexico, and their father’s family is from Puerto Rico. English and Spanish are woven throughout the series as Maya and Miguel navigate friendships, family life, school, and their community. The series originally aired on PBS Kids, is now available for free on YouTube from Scholastic Classic, and includes 65 episodes.
At the heart of the series is the idea that happiness grows when it is shared with family and community. Its stories offer families a chance to talk about bilingual households, cultural traditions, friendship, problem-solving, and the many experiences that shape a person’s identity.
Talk about it together:
What languages, traditions, or special ways of doing things does your family share?
Keep Learning: Sing Along with Canticos
Music can be one of the easiest and most joyful ways for young children to experience another language. Canticos offers bilingual nursery rhymes and children’s songs in Spanish and English, with animated videos designed for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.
Its collection includes nursery rhymes from across the Spanish-speaking world, allowing families to sing, dance, practice new words, and hear songs that generations of children have enjoyed. Families can find songs such as “Los Pollitos Dicen,” “Un Elefante,” and “Pin Pon,” along with playlists focused on counting, vocabulary, routines, movement, and early learning. You can watch on the Canticos website, which also offers a learning corner, associated products, and other resources, or on YouTube.
Choose one song to learn together, or more. Remember, children don’t need to understand every word right away. Listening, repeating words, clapping to the rhythm, and adding movements all help make language learning playful.
Try it together:
- Listen to a song once in Spanish.
- Play it again and join the movements.
- Listen for a word that repeats.
- Find out what that word means.
- Ask relatives or friends whether they know another version of the song.
Celebrate in the Community
Rochester families also have two opportunities to celebrate at the International Plaza, located at 828 N. Clinton Ave.:
- Latin American Festival: Tribute to Selena, Sunday, October 4, from 1 to 5 p.m. at International Plaza. This free event will feature music, dance, food, and art representing cultures from across Latin America, including a performance by Alma de Mexico.
- Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration and Plaza Closing, Sunday, October 11, from 1 to 5 p.m. at International Plaza. Families can enjoy performances and celebrate the people and organizations that contribute to Rochester’s Hispanic and Latino communities.
Learn more about these events.
Hispanic Heritage Month ends on October 15, but learning does not have to. Families can continue reading books by Hispanic and Latino authors, listening to music from different countries, learning Spanish words, and exploring the many cultures represented throughout the Rochester community.
Whether your family attends a community celebration, shares a favorite recipe, reads a new story, or learns a nursery rhyme, every experience can help children appreciate the people, languages, and traditions that enrich our community.