Latin Fun for Littles

By Amy Olsen

The study of Latin offers many wonderful benefits, including higher test scores, an increase
in English vocabulary, and a better understanding of English grammar. You may think that
Latin study should be reserved for older students, but with the right approach, students of
all ages can benefit. Ive been teaching Latin to homeschoolers for more than eleven years,
and by far some of my favorite classes have been the ones filled with 5- to 7-year-olds.
Younger students love learning Latin! They feel like they are learning a secret code. With a
little creativity, Latin lessons can be the highlight of your day together.

Elementary Latin by Nancy Sattler* is a wonderful place to start with younger ones. Add in
some creativity to appeal to different learning styles, and your children will be begging for
Latin lessons each day.

1. Learn the Latin colors, listed below. I have also included memory hints. Some
(or most!) of these hints are admittedly silly, but they do help students remember
the correct Latin word!

ENGLISH LATIN PRONUNCIATION HINT

blue caeruleus (kie-ROO-leh-uss) The blue KITE flies.
Caeruleus
starts with the sound ki...
green viridis (WIH-rih-dis) Picture a green WIG.
yellow croceus (CROW-key-uss) The
CROCUS is yellow.
orange aureus (OW-reh-uss) OW! That
Orange squirted my
eye!
red rfus (ROO-fus) Red ROOF Inn
purple purpura (PURR-purr-ah)
Sounds like its English counterpart.
black ter (AH-tair) The OTTER is
black.
white albus (AHL-buss) ALL BUSES are
white. (Of course
all buses are not white! This is just a
memory trick sentence.)
pink pniceus (poo-NICK-eh-uss)
Winnie the POOH is not pink!

Use coloring pages to help students remember these words. Ask your child to color
the sky caeruleus and the grass viridis.
Play a board game such as Candyland

together, using only Latin words for the

colors.
Write each Latin color word on the same color construction paper. Spread them out
on the floor. Call out the different colors in Latin (rfus! ter!) and see how quickly
your child can run to retrieve the correct color paper.

2. Use the following chant to learn common household items. Start by saying the
first line in English in a loud dramatic voice, and then follow with the English
words and their Latin translations while pointing out each object in your house.

In MY room, I have a:

bed, lectus (LECK-tuss) and a
chair, sella (SELL-ah) and a
table, mensa (MEN-sah) and a
lamp, lucerna (loo-KARE-nah) and a
window, fenestra (feh-NEST-rah) and a
door, inua (YAHN-oo-ah) and a
floor, solum (SO-loom) and a
wall, paris (PA-rih-ace) and a
ceiling, tctum (TAKE-toom) and a
clock, horologium (hor-oh-LOW-gih-oom) and a
picture, pictra (pic-TOO-rah) and a
carpet, tapte (tah-PAY-teh)!

If you are knowledgeable about musical notation, you can chant the items in the list
in the following four-beat pattern: half-note, four eighth-notes. Say it like this while
beating the four beats: /one - three & four & /one - three & four &/
Do this chant together two or three times a week, learning one or two more lines
each time. Have your child run around the house pointing out each item as you say it
together in Latin.
An older child can make flashcards and tape them on each item in your house.
Ask your child to draw a picture of a room with a sella, a lectus, and a lucerna (or
whatever you choose) and label them.
I found or made each of these items for a felt board display. As we went through the
chant, I would put up each item (or point it out, in the case of the wall or ceiling) on
the felt board. Later on, the students chose the correct items and put them up on the
board when we said them together. Be creative with what you have around the
house; you might use Playmobil

objects, dollhouse furniture, or whatever you can

find.

If your child gets stuck on any of the words, come up with your own memory tricks just like
the ones suggested above for the colors. For example, if it is hard to remember that wall is
paris, invent a silly sentence to help yourself, such as PA is painting the WALL, which
should help you remember that the word for wall starts with pa.

Once colors and household items have been learned, put them together! Do you have a
caeruleus tapte? Or perhaps an ter mensa? A formal Latin curriculum will make sure that
each Latin word has the correct ending, depending on what its function is (subject, direct
object, etc.), but for the purpose of memorizing vocabulary with little ones, this detail can
be temporarily disregarded.

3. Next, learn how to play Simon Says or Simon Dicit (DEE-chit) in Latin. Use the
following chart:

LATIN ENGLISH IMPERATIVE (Command)
sede (SEH-deh-oh) I sit sedte (seh-DAY-teh)
st (STOH) I stand stte (STAH-teh)
plaud (PLOW-doh) I clap plaudite (PLOW-dih-teh)
vert (WAIR-toh) I turn vertite (WAIR-tih-teh)
dmonstr (day-MOHN-stroh) I point out dmonstrte (day-
mohn-STRAH-teh)
tang (TAHN-go) I touch tangite (TAHN-gih-teh)
veni (WEH-ni-oh) I come vente (weh-NEE-teh)
recd (re-KAY-doh) I return recdite (reh-KAY-dih-
teh)
suppld (sup-PLOH-doh) I stamp suppldite (sup-
PLOH-dih-teh)
sali (SAH-li-oh) I jump salte (sah-LEE-teh)

As Simon, instruct the children using the imperative form, starting with Simon dicit . . . .
Simon dicit vertite. As students do the requested action (as long as you said Simon dicit
first!), they repeat, vert, I turn. And of course once in a while give a command without
saying Simon dicit, to see if they are paying attention!

Once you have played Simon Dicit enough to memorize these verbs, add in household items
(again, disregarding the grammatical endings until students are older): Simon dicit tangite
mensa. Tang mensa, I touch the table. For an added level of difficulty, add in colors!
Simon dicit sedete caeruleus sella. Sedeo caeruleus sella, I sit in the blue chair.

4. Learn Old MacDonald in Latin:

MacDonald senex habbat fundum, E-I-E-I-O! Old Macdonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-
O!
(Macdonald SEH-nex ha-BAY-baht FUHN-duhm)

Et in fund habbat vaccam, E-I-E-I-O! And on that farm he had a cow, E-
I-E-I-O!
(et in FUHN-doe ha-BAY-baht VAHC-cahm)

Moo moo hc, moo moo illc, With a moo moo here, and a moo moo
there,
(moo moo HEEK, moo moo ILL-leek)

Hc-moo, illc-moo, ubque moo moo, Here a moo, there a moo,
everywhere a moo,
(heek moo, ILL-leek moo, oo-BEE-queh moo moo,) moo,

MacDonald senex habbat fundum, E-I-E-I-O! Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-
I-O!
(Macdonald SEH-nex ha-BAY-baht FUHN-duhm!)

Once you have this verse memorized, replace vaccam in the second line with porcum (POR-
kuhm, pig), equum (EH-kwuhm, horse), and ovem (OH-wehm, sheep).

More than fifty percent of all English words are derived, or descended, directly from Latin
words. Spend a little time with your older students brainstorming about what English words
might have come from the Latin that you have learned. Consider a few of these derivatives
to get you started:

Our word for the color purple comes directly from the Latin word purpura.
Demonstrate comes directly from the verb demonstr, which means to point out.
Applaud comes from plaud, which means to clap.

Start these lessons in small steps, learning just two or three new words each time. Learning
together, you and your children will be surprised to discover you are actually having fun
discovering this ancient language!

*Latin elements taken from Elementary Latin by Nancy Sattler. Used with permission.

Amy Hastings Olsen lives in Midland, Texas, with her husband Glen, their three grown-or-
mostly-grown children, and a never-growing-up dog. Besides working as a Senior
Advertising Representative for TOS, Amy teaches Latin, music, and writing to homeschool
and private school students. She has published her own classical writing curriculum for
homeschoolers: Writing Tales.

Copyright 2014, used with permission. All rights reserved by author. Originally appeared in
the Annual Print 2014 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, the family education
magazine. Read the magazine free at www.TOSMagazine.com or read it on the go and
download the free apps at www.TOSApps.com to read the magazine on your mobile devices.