Have you been looking for a fun way to teach your children Italian?  Our exciting range of books for children learning Italian include activity books, stories, colouring books and word search puzzles, and books with games.

With 6 great topics in each book, Cool Kids Speak Italian is a range of activity books which is ideal for children aged 7 to 11 learning Italian.  Each topic starts with a picture page showing all the words for that topic.  These words are then practised and sentences are built.  Each topic ends with a fun word search.  

Cool kids speak italian - book 1

Cool kids speak italian - book 2

Cool kids speak italian - book 3

It’s fun learning your first words in Italian through stories, colouring pages and activity sheets. It’s amazing how learning just a few words at a time soon mounts up.

Young Cool kids learn italian

Have fun learning your first words in Italian with this great book. The Italian words are introduced a few words at a time, then practised in a fun way so as to help embed these words in your child's memory. 

The 8 fantastic topics in this great book include: numbers, the toy shop, greetings, a trip to the beach, zoo animals, the countryside, colours, the birthday party.

The fun activities for practising Italian include matching Italian words to pictures by drawing a line, circling the correct word, copying words or writing just a few words per page. The book is full of Italian words and lovely images for these words that the children can colour as they look at the Italian words.  At the back of the book is an Italian word game, a useful Italian - English word list and the answers.

This book is available from Amazon and from bookstores worldwide.

First 100 words in italian coloring book

The 100 Italian words in this brilliant book include a marvellous mix of favourite children’s characters (for example a fairy, a dragon, a mermaid, a dinosaur or a unicorn) and useful Italian words like some food, types of transport, animals, toys and clothes. The 30 delightful pages all have borders and are single sided. On each page there are 3 or 4 Italian words, making a total of 100 Italian words throughout the whole book.  Once completed, remember to look back over the words to help you remember them.

This lovely book is available from Amazon and bookstores worldwide.

Italian colouring book for kids ages 5-7

Interested in this book?  This book is available from Amazon and globally from local bookstores.

40 Italian word searches cool kids speak italian

With 40 exciting topics, this book is ideal to help learn or revise useful Italian vocabulary. Throughout the book the word searches appear in fun shapes and pictures accompany the Italian words so that each word search can be a meaningful learning activity. At the back of the book there are Italian - English vocabulary lists for the 40 topics that are covered in this book, and an answer section.

You can order this great book on Amazon or from bookstores in many different countries all over the world.

On Holiday in italy cool kids speak italian

Speaking Italian on holiday in Italy is fun! This book has been especially written for those either going on holiday soon, or at some point in the future. The first part of the book teaches useful Italian words and phrases, and is ideal for completing before you go on holiday. The second part of the book gives 15 challenges to use Italian whilst on holiday, for example ordering a drink or buying an ice cream. The second part of the book could also be used for practising role play situations before you go on holiday.

Topics include: Greetings, Essential words, Numbers, Drinks, Typical Italian food, Ice creams, Hotels, Campsites & around town.

Interested in this book?  This book is available to order on Amazon.  Alternatively you can ask for it at your local bookstore - just tell them the title of the book, the ISBN and the author name Joanne Leyland.

Photocopiable games for teaching italian

The 8 great topics in this fantastic book include drinks, numbers, fruit, pet animals, colours, sports, transport, pizzas and pizza topping.

The differentiated games in this book include: Snakes and ladders, dominoes, board game style games, coordinates and 3 or 4 in a row.

To differentiate the learning activities for classes of different abilities, the games have been colour coded according to the amount of Italian words that appear in the games. Verde is for the lower ability group, giallo is for the middle ability group, and rosso is for the higher ability group. At the front of the book you will find a detailed plan of which Italian words each ability group has for each topic.  

All games can be played by using either just the specific words for the topics, or by making sentences.  Ideas for making sentences using the various topics are outlined for each topic.  An excellent resource book to photocopy and use time and time again with your class or at home.

This fantastic book can be ordered from Amazon or worldwide from good bookstores.

italian word games - cool kids speak italian

Have fun learning Italian with this lovely collection of games.  Topics include the house, the town / city, summer, family, the farm, fruit, ice creams, the garden, winter, the sea, school subjects, the restaurant, the supermarket, weather, the universe.

At the front of the book is a dice with the numbers in Italian on it and this can be photocopied and made to use with the games. The fun games are printed in colour and include snakes & ladders and other games in the style of board games, dice games, guess the word game, pairs card game and 3 in a row.

Amazon and bookstores worldwide sell this book.

hai un animale domestico?

Learning Italian is fun with this delightful story about pets. In the story, a boy called Marco asks his friends if they have a pet. Marco discovers that all his friends have a pet. Marco though doesn’t have a pet, but one day he finds a coin and he makes a wish. Will his wish for a pet come true?  Read to the end of the story to find out! On each of the pages where Marco asks his friend if they have a pet, the pet can be seen hiding behind a bush.  Parents/teachers could ask their little ones what the animal is in Italian before turning over the page to see the animal in full and the name in Italian.  For each pet, there is a page giving details of the type of pet, the pet’s name, the size of the pet and the colour of the pet - If you like singing then sing each of these 4 lines twice to a made up tune - or you could try saying the words as rap.

You can purchase a copy of this story from Amazon or local bookstores all over the globe.

la scimmia che cambia colore

Learning Italian is fun with this delightful story about a monkey that changes colour each time he eats something of a different colour. But what colours will he turn? Will he ever return to his usual colour?

Read to the end of the book to see what happens!

This lovely story incorporates useful Italian words and phrases from the topics of general conversation, days of the week, colours, food and opinions about the things you like to eat.

Availability:  This book may be purchased worldwide from your local bookstores and Amazon.

un alieno sulla terra

In the story, an alien visits Earth and he meets a girl called Anna Maria. The alien is curious why on the planet Earth there are so many things that they do not have on his planet, so Anna Maria explains why we have various things. The storyline incorporates useful Italian words and phrases from the topics of general conversation, clothes, weather and activities. 

All our books are available worldwide from Amazon and local bookstores.  Learn more

Sophie and the italian magician

With two great stories in each book, learning Italian is fun with the Italian magician! In the first story, the Italian magician asks everyone to clap and say three times various Italian words as he makes a coin vanish and some animals appear. In the second story, it’s Sophie’s birthday party and the Italian magician makes teddies of various colours appear, as everyone claps and says three times some colours in Italian.

The Italian vocabulary in this book includes:
Essential words: ciao / mi chiamo / Come stai? / molto bene / grazie
Numbers: uno / due / tre
Animals: un coniglio / un uccello / un cane
Colours: rosso / arancione / giallo / verde / blu / viola / rosa
Food: caramelle

At the back of the book there are two pages that may be photocopied for class or home use:

• Useful Italian words and phrases - To help learn some Italian words you could create a poster by copying some of the words and pictures.
• A short song that could be sung or made into a rap - how many different versions can you create?

Interested in a book by Joanne Leyland?  The books by Joanne Leyland are sold worldwide and below you will find a selection of links to some of the stores where her books are sold:

Joanne Leyland is a qualified teacher with over 20 years experience in teaching foreign languages to children.   Joanne has also written a wide range of books for children learning Italian, French, Spanish, German or English as a foreign language.   The first book she wrote was the first book in the series Cool Kids Speak Italian.  Since then she has gone on to write all kinds of books, from activity books and colouring books to games and stories.   The principal behind her books in the Italian range is "Let's make learning Italian fun".   She enjoys using her creativity to help children learn Italian and believes that children learn more when they are having fun as they learn.

Joanne has travelled a lot around Italy, and her favourite Italian city is Rome.   The thing she likes most about Rome is that there are so many historic places to visit and it's easy to get about the city either on foot or on public transport.  Another holiday destination Joanne likes is Lake Garda, and one day she would like to visit Lake Como because she has heard that Lake Como is very beautiful too.  Whenever Joanne is in Italy she particularly enjoys eating pizza and pasta as Joanne, like many other people, finds that these often taste so much better in Italy.   Some people say the pizzas and pasta dishes taste better in Italy because they use fresh ingredients.  Joanne also wonders if the pizzas and pastas taste better in Italy because of the flour that is used to make them.   There is a section on pizzas and pizza toppings in Cool Kids Speak Italian - Book 1, and in her book On Holiday In Italy Cool Kids Speak Italian there is a section on typical Italian food.   Another thing Joanne enjoys eating on a nice sunny day when she is in Italy is un gelato - that's an ice cream in Italian!  The topic of ice creams and ice cream flavours is covered in her books Cool Kids Speak Italian - Book 2 and On Holiday In Italy Cool Kids Speak Italian.   

What is the best way of teaching  kids Italian?

1. Collect some resources and make a plan

Gather some age appropriate resources and make a note of the topics they cover.  Next, make a plan of what topics you will teach your child.  It will be easier for your child to learn Italian vocabulary if you teach them using topics.

Inspire little minds to love learning Italian by using their toys to teach them new words and phrases.   Amongst your child's toys you may find useful things to teach them colours, various animals, types of transport, food and drink.  And to teach the clothes topic, the clothes your child has in their wardrobe would be ideal to use as visual clues!  

Some parents choose to buy a new puppet or toy and say to their child that this puppet / toy only speaks Italian.  You could of course use puppets or toys you already have at home when you want to have a little Italian dialogue, either with your child or with yourself.  The choice is yours!

To teach Italian well, it is important to help develop your child's ability to listen, speak, read and write in Italian.

It is therefore advisable to plan for learning activities which help build solid foundations in all four skills.  You can plan to develop their listening and speaking skills by talking and listening to you or by playing an Italian vocabulary building game together.  With activity books your child has the opportunity to both read and write Italian words.  And an Italian story can help develop various skills depending on how it is used.  

2. Start by Keeping it simple

Now you have decided you want your child to learn Italian and you have collected some resources,  you may be wondering how to start.  You could start by using a puppet or a soft toy to teach Italian greeting words and how to introduce yourself in Italian. You could either buy a new puppet or toy and tell your child that this puppet / toy only speaks Italian, or you could use something you already have at home.

One fun way of teaching children the numbers 1 to 10 is to pretend to do gymn exercises or to pretend to swim as you count. Initially teach the numbers uno, due, treand once children are confident with those numbers move on to teach quattro, cinque, seiand then finally sette, otto, nove, dieci.

When your child knows some greeting words and the numbers 1 to 10 it's nice to then teach some nouns. Nouns are words for people, animals, places or things.  Begin with the topics that will be the most useful and the topics that will interest your child the most.  For each topic you teach, remember to provide opportunities which help your child develop reading, writing, listening and speaking skills.

When your child is familiar with the Italian vocabulary for a particular topic you can start to model how to build simple sentences or questions, and encourage them to have a go at saying the odd short sentence in Italian.

Slow and steady wins the race.  It takes time to develop proficiency.

3. Play games

An effective way of teaching your child Italian is to combine learning and games.   After all, play is a favourite pastime for many children!   Two books which are packed full of games like snakes and ladders and other games in the style of a board game are Italian Word Gamesand Photocopiable Games For Teaching Italian.

Guess the word game  - to play this game with your child make a list of Italian words or find an Italian vocabulary page in a book.  Next, choose a word each.  If you want to, you can both secretly write your word down.   After that, take turns to guess each other's words.  Whoever guesses the word first gets a point, and you both then choose another word.  To win, be the first to get 5 points.

Games create a fun and meaningful environment and will ensure that it doesn't feel like homework or a chore when you teach your child Italian.

4. Incorporate Italian into your daily routine

Some parents find that if they speak Italian regularly with their child this helps to develop the child’s listening ability and at first they may be able to understand more than they can say. However if you continue to teach your child Italian they will learn how to respond in full sentences as their knowledge deepens. If you think for a moment about a very young child who is starting to speak their native language - they naturally pick up vocabulary by listening to others speak.  So incorporate Italian into mealtimes, when you go shopping and other daily activities too.

Cook with your kids in Italian - Get creative to spark your child’s interest in Italian!  You could make your own pizzas, either by using plain pizza bases or pitta bread.  Most children really enjoy putting their own toppings on pizzas, and you could teach them the Italian words for different pizza toppings.  You could also make your own pasta sauces.  Kitchen knives can be sharp and dangerous for children to use, so remember to help your child in the kitchen by cutting anything that needs cutting.  Or how about a baking session to make some cakes or cookies!  

If you grow vegetables with your child, you can teach them the Italian words for the things you decide to plant and it is fun watching them grow! The outside space you have doesn’t need to be big - you can even grow vegetables on your balcony! In addition to the name of the fruit or vegetable you are growing, you can revise colours, sizes, numbers etc. Gardening can also encourage healthy eating, because learning to grow vegetables can encourage children to eat what they grow!

Do a scavenger hunt around your home or garden - just write a list in Italian of things for them to find.

5. Read stories together

Another great way to teach your child Italian is by reading some short stories together. It's useful to read a story in a foreign language several times. First of all, when you read a story just look for your child to have a general idea about what the story is about. Then move on to look for useful words or phrases that they may want to learn. At the end of each of the stories by Joanne Leyland there is a vocabulary list of some of the useful everyday words that appear in the story. After learning some of these words it is then nice to read the story for a third time. At the end of the stories in Italian by Joanne Leyland you will find an Italian - English translation, to refer to if you want to.

As a follow on activity why don't you try singing a song or creating a rap using some of the words from the story you have just read. The stories by Joanne Leyland all have lyrics at the back of the book that can be sung or made into a rap.  Many children enjoy songs and raps.  Melodies and rhythms with repetitive words can help children memorise new Italian vocabulary and phrases.  Songs and raps can also help develop good pronunciation. You can invent your own tunes, or tap a table to create a beat as you say the words. This type of activity gives you a great opportunity to spend some time together, be creative and have fun! Before you know it, your child will know the songs or raps by heart and you may hear them singing / saying them as they play.

6. Introduce word gender

In Italian some words are feminine, and some words are masculine.   Gender of words can seem a difficult concept to grasp as people get older, but there is a very simple way of explaining it to children.

There's a simple way of remembering which gender most nouns or adjectives are when they end in the letter o or a:

Here are three useful nouns you could give as an example to your child:

una pizza = a pizza

un panino = a sandwich

un gelato = an ice cream

You could point out that una pizza is a feminine word (a girl word) and that un panino and un gelato are masculine words (boy words).  You may also have to explain that it doesn't mean that the masculine things are only for boys, and vice versa.  It is only the gender of the word and has nothing to do with who the thing is for.

At an early age you could introduce the gender of words through an activity of separating flashcards into two piles: masculine words which end in o and feminine words which end in a.

7. Introduce your child to Italian culture

Children are more motivated to learn Italian if they are having fun and feel like they are making progress.  It may also help if you instil in them the love of the culture by introducing them to typical music (both traditional and modern pop music), typical food, football teams / players etc. 

Italian restaurants are a popular choice for a meal out with the family. Children may find it fascinating that Italians often eat pasta as a starter and that both pasta and pizza are eaten very often in Italy.  If you go to an Italian restaurant with your child you could see if there are any Italian waiters or waitresses that you could speak a little Italian with.  Italian ice cream has a reputation for being delicious, so if you have somewhere nearby that sells Italian ice cream you could treat yourselves to an Italian ice cream! 

A lovely Italian holiday may also encourage your child to learn Italian.  Motivation can be encouraged and improved. It helps to have real reasons for using Italian, rather than just studying words or grammar.  And there are so many lovely places to visit in Italy from the Italian lakes, to an Italian seaside town to the beautiful cities of Rome or Florence.... the choice is yours!

8.  Lay the foundations for success

Encouraging your child with Italian can help prepare them well for school and for life.  Build your child’s confidence by being optimistic yourself and showing interest in what your child is learning.  Many parents find it incredible to see how far their child has come in a short period of time, so praise them often for both effort and little triumphs.  

When children learn a language they are less afraid of making mistakes, so it is advantageous to start young. Whether it’s a little Italian you do with your kids or a lot, any Italian you do is a fantastic gift. 

It’s worth bearing in mind that people (both adults and children) find it difficult to concentrate if they are either hungry or thirsty.  If it has been a while since your child has eaten or drank something you could use Italian to check if they are hungry or thirsty either before or whilst you teach them.

Don't worry if you don't know much Italian yourself as it is possible to learn a part of a language first and then teach it to your child.  Or you could both learn Italian together. 

It’s much easier to get started teaching your kids Italian than you think! The best Italian lessons often include a mixture of activities: For example, you could start with a recap on previous learning, and then move on to introduce something new and practise it with a game.  Finally there could be individual / quiet activities such as an activity book / worksheets, word searches or a poster/menu design.  You could also build a lesson around an Italian story you are reading with your child.

Just remember to make it fun by using a variety of materials, such as activity books, games, colouring pages, word searches and read stories.