This activity feels like a game because students are engaged and they get to play with magnets. Little do they know, they are also following instructions in Spanish, and responding to verbal or written cues to accomplish a task. Using magnetic “Create-a-scene” playsets and similar products, I have used this activity in conjunction with Location of Prepositions.
There are many scenes, but I mainly use the “Doll House” playset with our Casa unit. If you do stations, you can lead a station where the teacher physically verbalizes the cues while the students put the appropriate magnets in their appropriate locations. Or you could have the cues written out and the students must read the cues. Or if your school has the technology, you could have a recording on an mp3 player or iPod and the students have to listen to the track to find out where to put the pieces.
You can have a picture of the “correct” placement of the pieces ready for the students to self-check when they have finished. This is a great listening and processing activity for students. This type of lesson could be adapted for various levels and units, since they are different types of Magnet Boards available besides the “Doll House”.
Places to buy these magnetic boards, which are about $12 each.
1. Beyondplay.com –
2. Amazon.com –
3. JanellePublications.com
I happened to find one at a garage sale and negotiated down to 50 cents!
Board and Magnet Pieces
For additional lessons on Location:
5 page Prepositions activity integrated with Body Vocab
9 Page Lesson Unit
SpanishPlans.org 
Thank you for offering your worksheet for free. However, it doesn’t download.
Thanks for letting me know. There was a glitch while uploading it. It is now fixed and can be downloaded. (It is a large file though; 48 MB).
Thank you so much! Download was successful. 🙂
This is such a wonderful idea! I’m going to purchase a set to use with my children. Too bad we’re learning Mandarin and not Spanish, but the idea is a great one!
Works well for any language! Great task-based assignment. Unfortunately, I can’t help you with a Mandarin script. 🙂 Thanks for your comment!
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I have a couple of these, and have used them for conversation/storytelling, but I have never thought of using it with a listening activity. However, I couldn’t get the download to work, either.