we will be in Madrid mid June, 1/2 Español 1/2 American family. We wnat to know where our mostly english-speaking children can socialize, study or play with other kids around their age (6 and 70 and needs (learning some spanish).
Any ideas suggestions?

toroloco, most of the 70-year-old "kids" play chess in the park or drink a caña at the bar when their mamas let them out of the house!



Good luck finding a play date for your children!

Perhaps in public parks? Or in swimming-pools...

Fernando

well of course i meant 6 and 7 years old but forgive my slippery fingers thread crappers hahaha

Find the local house of worship of your religion and connect there. You should be able to find families with a kid or two...remember that large families are not common in Spain...and maybe the same ages as your children. This would allow you to connect with the parents, too.

There are a few places called Ludotecas sponsored by the city government. They have organized activities with trained teachers. Each one has a different list of activities and they also have age ranges. Not all of them take all ages. You can leave your child for a few hours to particpate in the scheduled activities. Go to WebMadrid: Guia Digital de Madrid . They have a listing of these in Madrid. They also have a list of places like indoor playgrounds that also do parties, games activities, etc. Doing a google search will also get you more information on Ludotecas.

Kay

Regarding "Ludotecas" in Madrid as stated by WebMadrid :
Have fun! Saludos, MadridMan

MadridMan, Kay Freire, and CaliBasco thank you....these ideas seem great. my kids are both half-spaniard but living in USA there castellano is well, americanized. so these semi-annual trips we make help a lot. problem is like someone pointed out (i think CaliBasco) families are no longer numerous. in fact all of our mid thirties friends in Spain have no children (not even married).
i will research these leads and report back either before or after my vacation.
cheers.

Families may not be as numerous as before, but there is always someone around who will have a kid the same or similiar age as your kids! Depending on where you go to vacation, I wouldn't think you'd have any trouble for your kids to find some playmates. Something you should take into consideration, at least for your summer trips, is maybe visiting close to somewhere where the kids have cousins, or one of your friends is bound to have a reative with kids close to the age of your own children. I'm a half and half too and my parents started by sending me to my aunts house, and there were kids close to my age in the neighbourhood, and as I got older, I went to summer with a cousin and her family, again, she had a group of friends and finally for the past 9 years, I went to the beach with a friend of my family with their kids (both my age) and we always had a group of friends to hang out with and practicing was no problem! Good luck and have a good trip!