Bilingual Kids Archives - All Around Italia

Movies and TV Shows in Italian on Disney Plus

S P — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 19:18:43 +0000

Check out our list of movies and TV shows to watch on Disney Plus USA in Italian language.

For kids’ movies and TV shows in Italian, we highly recommend the Disney Plus streaming app. Although not everything on the app is available in Italian, there are dozens of great options – which we list out in this post. Because you can’t filter by language on Disney Plus (we’ve tried – it doesn’t work accurately), use our list of favorites to navigate directly to content with an Italian audio option.

Before we jump into the list, let us explain why we like Disney Plus so much.

In our family, most days, allowing our children a few minutes of screen time is inevitable. We have found that watching Disney Plus encourages our kids to develop language skills and practice their Italian. It’s made a bigger impact than we expected. Here’s why:

Most Disney movies have songs that kids love to sing.

Music is an effective, fun way to learn new words and practice a language. And, really, who doesn’t love Disney songs? At our daughter’s request, my family often sings and listens to Disney music throughout the day. Interest in this music is an awesome “side effect” of screen time with Disney Plus and keeps Italian present in our lives. For our favorite Disney songs, check out our Spotify playlist Disney Songs in Italian.

Parents are familiar with most Disney movies and can talk about them with their kids.

For language learning (and in general), it’s always best if you can watch TV with your children so you can discuss and interact together with the content. The reality with little kids is, though, that TV time is usually the only time mom and dad have for doing other things around the house. What’s great about Disney movies is that almost all of us adults have seen and remember them from our own childhood – Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, etc. Even when we can’t watch with our kids, my husband and I can still chat about what they watched afterwards and answer their questions about the stories. We’ve had surprisingly complex conversations with our 2-year old about Disney stories that never would have happened had we put on Peppa Pig or Cocomelon.

Disney movies inspire children to invent games.

For over a year, our daughter walked around with a Disney princess costume over whatever clothes she was wearing. Using the characters from Disney movies, she invented endless games, play scenarios, and performances. I love the memory of overhearing her while playing with her dolls the day after we watched Cinderella saying, “Principe, perche’ you steal my scarpa? Stop taking my scarpa.” Especially if you are able to get involved and guide your children in Italian, this type of play is not only fun but will help your kids use and remember vocabulary they heard in the movies.

Dubbing works well for animated movies.

As committed as I am to learning Italian, I often do not enjoy watching movies that are dubbed. Hearing an Italian voiceover for Patrick Dempsey and Amy Adams when we tried to watch Enchanted in Italian just made me cringe. When actors are on screen, as skilled as the dubbers in Italy are, it’s impossible for the voice tracks to perfectly match what we see. For animated movies, however, dubbing works! Not only are many Disney cartoon movies interesting for kids and adults alike, it also seems like Italian could have been their original language.

So, now that you know why we like Disney Plus, here are the movies and shows available on the app in Italian. These lists are for Disney Plus USA.

Animated Movies in Italian on Disney Plus USA

Listed in alphabetical order, these animated kids’ movies are available on Disney Plus USA with audio in Italian. This list is not exhaustive – it just includes our favorites.

For these movies, you can also turn on captions in Italian. We have noticed, however, that the captions frequently do not match what you hear in the audio.

A Bug’s Life
Aladdin
Alice in Wonderland
Bambi
Beauty and the Beast
CINDERELLA #3
Dumbo
Encanto
Ferdinand
GNOMEO & JULIET
Hercules
Ice Age
Lady and the Tramp
Lightyear
Lilo and Stitch
Luca
Mulan #1 and #2
Peter Pan
Pocahontas
Robin Hood
Sleeping Beauty
Snow White
The Aristocats
The Emperor’s New Groove
The Jungle Book #2 (not #1)
The Lion King #1 and #2
The Little Mermaid
The Sword and the Stone
TURNING RED
Winnie the Pooh

Non-Animated Movies in Italian on Disney Plus USA

For older children, here is our list of favorite non-animated movies available in Italian on Disney Plus USA. As mentioned before, I don’t love watching dubbed movies when they are not animated. Nevertheless, these are nice options for exposure to Italian during screen time.

Freaky Friday
Holes
Home Alone #1 and #2
Homeward Bound
Honey I Shrunk the Kids
The Lizzie McGuire Movie
The Princess Diaries #1 and #2

TV Shows in Italian on Disney Plus USA

You can find these shows with an Italian audio option on Disney Plus USA. Bluey and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse don’t offer captions while The Simpsons does have them.

Bluey (for little kids)
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (for little kids)
The Simpsons (for older kids and adults)

Currently Unavailable in Italian on Disney Plus USA

There are, unfortunately, many popular Disney movies still NOT available on Disney Plus in Italian. These films do exist in Italian – just not currently on Disney Plus USA. Here they are listed in alphabetical order.

101 Dalmations
Brave
Cars
Cinderella
Coco
Finding Nemo
Frozen #1 and #2
Inside Out
Moana
Monsters Inc
Planes
Tangled
Tarzan
The Incredibles
The Princess and the Frog
Toy Story #1, #2, #3, #4
Up
Zootopia

The good news is that even if you watch these films in English, you can listen to the music in Italian afterwards (check out our Disney Songs in Italian Spotify playlist). Our daughter absolutely loves the Frozen and Moana soundtracks. We are always so impressed by her commentary on the Italian vs. English lyrics. A toddler talking about song translations? If that’s not promoting language skills, I don’t know what is.

Hope this information is helpful. If we’ve left out any of your favorites, comment below!

Do you want to meet other Italian/English bilingual families?

We are building a community! Leave us your name and location, and we will update you when next steps are possible.

The post Movies and TV Shows in Italian on Disney Plus appeared first on All Around Italia.

The Best Italian Songs for Kids

S P — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 14:46:06 +0000

Learn our favorite Italian songs for kids, and share language through music.

My family loves Italian children’s songs! Music is a wonderful way to learn a language, and there are so many fun Italian songs for kids. In this post, we share our favorites. These songs are perfect for singing and dancing together. If you’re looking for lullabies, you won’t find many options in this post (but you will here!).

All the songs featured are uniquely Italian. They don’t have English versions that you already know. To make it easy for you to follow along and learn the words, every song is linked to a Youtube video with lyrics or closed captions. You can also find all these songs – and many more! – on the All Around Italia Spotify playlists.

Papaveri e papere

Papaveri e papere seems to be one of those songs that every Italian knows. When my husband held our newborn daughter, he began singing “e tu sei piccolina, e tu sei piccolina”. And that’s how I discovered the song!

This lively tune is about a duck and a poppy flower who show an interest in each other and then get married. Soon after, the poppy blows away in the wind. Upon doing research, I learned this is symbolism: things don’t work out when a commoner (little duck) mixes with a powerful politician (tall poppy). When we sing with my daughter though, it’s really just about a duck and a poppy.

Papaveri e papere was composed by Mario Panzeri, Nino Rastelli, and Vittorio Mascheroni. It was originally sung by Nilla Pizzi, the artist who won Italy’s first Festival of San Remo in 1951.

If you want to put your Italian pronunciation to the test, sing this song! It is fast-paced and full of clever variations of words with a root of “pap”. The bouncy and measured rhythm make Papaveri e papere the perfect song for marching around with your little one (my daughter loved doing this!).

Chorus:

Lo sai che i papaveri son alti, alti, alti,

e tu sei piccolina, e tu sei piccolina.

Lo sai che i papaveri son alti, alti, alti,

sei nata paperina, che cosa ci vuoi far …

La zia di Forlì

A traditional Italian kids’ song, La zia di Forlì is about an auntie from Forlì (a town in Emilia-Romagna) who goes dancing! The auntie moves her feet … her knees … then her arms … then her head. She moves them in a specific way, “così, così”. With every addition of a body part, the music speeds up. It ultimately becomes a crazy fast dance!

When singing La zia di Forlì with your kids, add more body parts to the sequence. It’s a great way to teach your child the names of body parts in Italian.

In particular for younger kids, La zia di Forlì is bound to be a hit. I was introduced to this song during my time assistant teaching Italian at a public school in Boston. The first time I walked into the pre-K class with the teacher, one child stood up, started pumping his arms and chanting “così, così”. In no time, the whole class was demanding we sing the song … hilarious. Clearly, it’s a winner with the little ones!

Chorus:

Io ho una zia, una zia che sta a Forlì

E quando va a ballare con “il piede” fa così

Così, così, con “il piede” fa così

Il coccodrillo come fa

Il coccodrillo come fa? What sound does a crocodile make? In this silly song by Oscar Avogadro and Pino Massara, the bambina singing is very perplexed by this question. She knows dogs bark, cats meow, cows moo, etc … but what does a crocodile do? No one seems to have the answer!

As the chorus goes – the crocodile eats too much, never wears his winter jacket, bites with his teeth, cries often, gets mad but doesn’t yell, drinks chamomile, and walks around half-asleep. A very busy (and interesting!) creature. But it remains a mystery what sound he makes!

A popular children’s song in Italy, Il coccodrillo come fa is catchy and upbeat. Sing, dance, and ponder the mystery of the crocodile’s noise together as a family.

Chorus:

ll coccodrillo come fa?

non c’è nessuno che lo sa.

Si dice mangi troppo,

non metta mai il cappotto,

che con i denti punga,

che molto spesso pianga,

Però quand’è tranquillo

Come fa ‘sto coccodrillo?

Il coccodrillo come fa?

Non c’è nessuno che lo sa

Si arrabbia ma non strilla

Sorseggia camomilla

E mezzo addormentato se ne va

Un cocomero tondo tondo

Since I learned this song, I can never look at a watermelon again without starting to sing …

Un cocomero tondo tondo is about a round, round watermelon that wants to be the best in the world.

Each time the song’s chorus repeats, the watermelon adds a new action to its repertoire: singing (la la), eating (gnam gnam), swimming (splash splash), skiing (Tomba Tomba – Tomba is an Italian skier as a FYI), sleeping (ronf ronf), drinking (drink drink).

As the watermelon does all these things, you must – of course – act out its actions as well! If you’re singing the song, get creative and have the watermelon do other things too. Un cocomero tondo tondo is a fun way to teach your child action verbs in Italian.

For dance parties, the best version of the song is the Piccole Ore version on YouTube or Spotify. To learn the lyrics (although they are simple), the Music for Happy Kids Youtube version with closed captions is good.

Chorus:

Un cocomero tondo, tondo

Che voleva essere il più forte del mondo

Che voleva tutti quanti superare

Un bel giorno si mise a …

La canzone della felicità

For when your child needs some cheering up, you’ll want to know the traditional Italian happy song – La canzone della felicità. Written especially for those moments when they’re feeling a little blue, the song has a soothing, easy melody.

La canzone della felicità redirects your child from their boo boo or trouble. It asks them to pretend to be a little animal or maybe a butterfly: beat your wings, move your antennas, give me your paws, and fly around.

A nice song to have in your repertoire for the moments you will need it!

Chorus:

Se sei triste

Ti manca l’allegria

Vuoi scacciare la malinconia

Vieni con me

Ti insegnerò

La canzone della felicità dù dù dà dà

Batti le ali

Muovi le antenne

Dammi le tue zampine

Vola di qua e vola di là

È la canzone della felicità dù dù dà dà

La casa (via dei Matti)

La casa by Sergio Endrigo (lyrics by Bardotti and de Moraes) is about an imaginary house – a beautiful one though! The address? Number Zero on Crazy Street. This house has no ceiling. It doesn’t have a kitchen. You can’t go in because there is no floor. There’s no roof, so you can’t sleep there. It doesn’t have a bathroom. But … it’s a beautiful house!

How could you not be charmed by this song?

Depending on how fast and enthusiastically you sing, La casa could be a dancing song or a lullaby. The Youtube version sung by Papà di Viola leans toward being a lullaby but is perfect for learning the song’s lyrics. The version we love by Franco Tuffano is more upbeat – find it here on Youtube and Spotify. Overall, a great song for any time of the day!

Chorus:

Era una casa molto carina

Senza soffitto, senza cucina

Non si poteva entrarci dentro

Perché non c’era il pavimento

Non si poteva andare a letto

In quella casa non c’era il tetto

Non si poteva fare pipì

Perché non c’era il vasino lì

Ma era bella, bella davvero

In Via dei Matti numero zero

Ma era bella, bella davvero

In Via dei Matti numero zero

Viva la pappa col pomodoro

Viva la pappa col pomodoro – long live Tuscan tomato soup! This catchy tune by Lina Wertmüller and Nino Rota was introduced to the world through a 1965 television mini-series – Il Giornalino di Gian Burrasca.

Based on the book Il Giornalino di Gian Burrasca by Florentine author Vamba, the series recounts the adventures of Gian Burrasca – a mischievous little boy who is played by the singer Rita Pavone. Gian Burrasca is sent to boarding school. There, in the cafeteria, they serve an inedible soup made with dirty water. Outraged, Gian Burrasca leads a revolution to replace the nasty soup with pappa col pomodoro.

Viva la pappa col pomodoro was an immediate success and is now a popular children’s song in Italy. When my toddler was learning to talk, she loved repeating the “pappappappa” part of the chorus.

If this song becomes a family favorite (which I bet it will), there are lovely opportunities to do activities around it when your kids are a little older – such as making pappa col pomodoro together or watching the mini-series.

Chorus:

Viva la pappappappa

col popopopopopopomodoro

Viva la pappappappa

che è un capopopopopopolavoro

Viva la pa papappappa

col popopomodor

Stendi i panni

Stendi i panni – a traditional Italian kid’s song that gives us an entertaining way to teach the vowels in Italian.

The chorus is simple: hang the laundry; the sun dries it; who wants some nice vegetables; the dog Fido barks.

The first time, you sing the chorus normally. Then, you sing the chorus again but substitute all the vowels for a single vowel. You do this until you’ve sung the chorus once with each vowel exclusively: A, E, I, O, U (in no particular order). It’s a bit hard to explain in writing, but if you listen to the song, you’ll catch on immediately!

For learning the song, the Happy Kids version with closed captions on Youtube is good. For listening and dancing with your kids, we much prefer Fabio Cobelli and Giada Monteleone’s version which you can find here on Youtube and on Spotify.

Chorus:

Stendi i panni, stendi i panni

Asciuga, il sole asciuga

Chi la vuole la bella verdura?

Bau bau bau bau bau bau Fido

Il caffè della Peppina

Only in Italy would a children’s song about coffee become a huge hit! Il caffè della Peppina, a song about Peppina’s peculiar coffee, is by Alberto Anelli, Tony Martucci, Nicola Pinnetti, and Walter Valdi.

The basis of Il caffè della Peppina is a lady named Peppina making coffee. Her coffee, however, is no normal coffee. It’s undrinkable coffee! Peppina makes her coffee with chocolate, jam, onions, candy, and butterfly wings. Her coffee has rosemary, cheese, a turkey foot, a feather, and flour. Finally, she adds salt, pepper, water, salad, oil and vinegar, and even an explosive … which makes her jump into the air with her crazy coffee. Che caffè! What a coffee!

Ma perché, perché, perché? Why does she do it? We will never know, but we will have lots of fun singing about it over and over.

Chorus:

Il caffè della Peppina

Non si beve alla mattina

Né col latte, né col tè

Ma perché, perché, perché?

Le tagliatelle di Nonna Pina

Le tagliatelle di Nonna Pina – what better subject could there be for an Italian children’s song? When I first heard it, I thought it must have been written by a Bolognese. In fact, it was – Gian Marco Gualandi.

A bit more complex than the other songs in this post, Le tagliatelle di Nonna Pina is sung from the perspective of a child who is overwhelmed by school and her extracurricular activities. Fortunately, though, she has a secret and infallible cure for her stress …

What is the cure? Nonna Pina’s tagliatelle, of course! Eaten with ragù, they are full of vitamins and better than any medicine. They give you energy for the entire week. What could be better?

When I listen to this song, I hear the voice of the middle-school girl that I used to tutor in Bologna. Oftentimes, she endearingly expressed feeling stressed by her commitments. The song also obviously makes me think of tagliatelle al ragù, a typical and delicious Bolognese plate, taking me back even more vividly to my time living in Bologna.

Even if you haven’t lived in Bologna, how could this song not bring a smile to your and your child’s face? Don’t we all wish we could have the magic tagliatelle di Nonna Pina?

Chorus:

Mi serve una ricarica per tirarmi su

Ma un sistema rapido, infallibile e geniale

Fortunatamente io ce l’ho

Se me lo chiedete per favore

Il segreto io vi svelerò

Ma sì, ma dai! E diccelo anche a noi

Sono le tagliatelle di nonna Pina

Un pieno di energia, effetto vitamina

Mangiate calde col ragù, col ragù!

Ti fanno il pieno per sei giorni ed anche più

Perché le tagliatelle di nonna Pina

Son molto più efficaci di ogni medicina

Sensazionali a pranzo, a cena e credi a me

Son buone anche al mattino al posto del caffè

These Italian kids' songs are sure to become family favorites.

All these songs and many more are included on our Italian Music for Kids Spotify Playlist. For Disney music in Italian, check out this playlist. Also, make sure to see our post about Italian lullabies.

Are we forgetting any of your favorite Italian songs for kids? Comment below!

Buon ascolto e buon divertimento!

Do you want to meet other Italian/English bilingual families?

We are building a community! Leave us your name and location, and we will update you when next steps are possible.

The post The Best Italian Songs for Kids appeared first on All Around Italia.

Bilingual Kids Archives - All Around Italia

Movies and TV Shows in Italian on Disney Plus

Check out our list of movies and TV shows to watch on Disney Plus USA in Italian language.

Most Disney movies have songs that kids love to sing.

Parents are familiar with most Disney movies and can talk about them with their kids.

Disney movies inspire children to invent games.

Dubbing works well for animated movies.

So, now that you know why we like Disney Plus, here are the movies and shows available on the app in Italian. These lists are for Disney Plus USA.

Animated Movies in Italian on Disney Plus USA

Non-Animated Movies in Italian on Disney Plus USA

TV Shows in Italian on Disney Plus USA

Currently Unavailable in Italian on Disney Plus USA

Hope this information is helpful. If we’ve left out any of your favorites, comment below!

Do you want to meet other Italian/English bilingual families?

The Best Italian Songs for Kids

Learn our favorite Italian songs for kids, and share language through music.

Table of Contents

These Italian kids' songs are sure to become family favorites.

Do you want to meet other Italian/English bilingual families?