Fridays Are for Churros by Jenny Alvarado: Book-Based Activities & Printables

 

There are books that tell us about moving to a new place, and then there are books that help children understand what it feels like to leave something familiar behind and slowly create a new sense of home.

Fridays Are for Churros by Jenny Alvarado is one of those books.

Emi and her Papi have a special Friday tradition. Every Friday, they make churros together and share them with their familia. It is something familiar, something joyful, and something that makes their home feel like home.

But then Emi and her Papi move to a new city.

Everything is different. They are living in a new apartment, Papi is busy with work, and their Friday churro tradition seems to have disappeared along with the family and familiar routines they left behind.

Until Emi smells something sweet coming from a neighbor's apartment.

That smell gives her an idea.

Maybe the tradition doesn't have to disappear.

With a little help from her new neighbors, Emi begins gathering the ingredients and tools she needs to make churros. Along the way, something unexpected happens. The people who were strangers slowly become friends, and Emi begins creating something new from the traditions she brought with her.

It's a warm story about family, food, culture, community, and new beginnings.

And perhaps what makes it especially meaningful for young children is the idea that home isn't only a place we leave behind. Sometimes, home is something we create again.

What Is Fridays Are for Churros About?

The story begins with Emi and her Papi enjoying their Friday tradition. Making churros is something they do together, and the tradition is connected to family, celebration, and the feeling of being surrounded by people they love.

When they move to a big city, that familiar routine changes. Papi is busy working, there is no familia gathered around them, and Fridays don't feel the same anymore.

For Emi, the missing churros are really about much more than food.

They represent something she misses.

She misses the feeling of home.

She misses the people who used to gather together.

She misses the tradition that made Fridays special.

Then she meets her new neighbors and discovers that one small connection can lead to another. Señora Luisa has flour. Tomas has sugar. Marisol has the piping tip Emi needs. Each neighbor contributes something, and before long, Emi has everything she needs to bring her Friday tradition back to life.

But the result is even more meaningful than Emi expects.

The tradition stays, but it changes.

The people around the table are different.

And that is what makes the story so beautiful.

When a Tradition Changes

One of the most important ideas in Fridays Are for Churros is that traditions don't always have to stay exactly the same.

Children often think of traditions as things that happen in a particular place, with particular people, at a particular time.

But families move.

People grow.

Circumstances change.

Sometimes a tradition has to change too.

Emi's story gives children a gentle way to think about what happens when something familiar is no longer possible in exactly the same way.

What traditions does your family have?

What makes them special?

What would happen if you moved somewhere new?

Would you be able to keep the tradition?

Could you change it?

Could you create a new tradition?

These questions can lead to meaningful conversations because children begin to understand that traditions are not only about repeating an activity. They are about the people, memories, feelings, and connections attached to that activity.

Food Can Carry Memories

Food plays such an important role in this story because food is often connected to memory.

For Emi, churros remind her of Fridays with Papi and her familia. The smell, the preparation, and the act of sharing them all connect her to the life she had before the move.

This is something children can understand from their own experiences.

A particular food can remind us of a grandparent.

A birthday cake can remind us of a celebration.

A recipe can remind us of a holiday.

A smell coming from the kitchen can immediately make us think of home.

Fridays Are for Churros creates a wonderful opportunity to talk about those connections with children.

What food reminds you of home?

Is there something your family makes together?

Who usually makes it?

When do you eat it?

How does it make you feel?

Children can discover that food isn't only something we eat.

Sometimes food tells a story.

Sometimes a recipe carries a memory.

And sometimes sharing food is a way of sharing a little piece of ourselves with someone else.

Finding Home in a New Place

Moving can be a big experience for a child.

Even when a move is positive, it can mean leaving behind a familiar home, friends, routines, places, and people.

Emi's experience gives children a character they can connect with as she tries to make sense of her new surroundings.

At first, the new apartment and the new city don't feel like home.

But little by little, Emi begins to connect with the people around her.

A neighbor helps with flour.

Another neighbor has sugar.

Someone else has the tool she needs.

Each small interaction creates another connection.

This is one of the most lovely ideas in the book: community can begin with something very small.

A borrowed ingredient.

A conversation.

A shared recipe.

An invitation.

A plate of food.

Children can explore what makes a place feel welcoming and what people can do to help someone new feel that they belong.

From Strangers to Neighbors

The neighbors in the story are important because Emi's tradition becomes the reason people begin connecting with one another.

At first, they are simply people living in the same building.

But as Emi asks for help, she begins learning about them.

And as they help her, they become part of the celebration.

The story shows children that community isn't necessarily something that already exists.

Sometimes we build community through small interactions.

This can be especially meaningful at the beginning of a new school year or whenever a new child joins a group.

What does it mean to be a good neighbor?

How can we welcome someone we don't know?

What could we share?

How can we help someone who is new?

What makes you feel welcome when you enter a new place?

These are questions that can naturally grow from the story without turning the book into a lesson about "being nice."

Instead, children can explore what community actually looks and feels like.

Looking Closely at the Illustrations

Jenny Alvarado's illustrations add another layer to Emi's story. The bright colors, expressive characters, and busy apartment-building setting help create the sense of a new community coming together. The book's visual world also gives children plenty of details to notice as Emi moves through her new surroundings.

This makes the book a wonderful opportunity for children to slow down and become picture detectives.

What do you notice about Emi?

How can you tell when she is happy?

What details show that she misses her old home?

What do you notice about the neighbors?

How does the building begin to feel different as the story progresses?

Children can also look for the ways food and cooking appear throughout the illustrations. The ingredients, tools, kitchen scenes, and final gathering all help communicate the importance of the tradition even before children can explain it in words.

Taking the Story Beyond the Book

One of the reasons I love using Fridays Are for Churros as a book-based experience is that it gives children so many opportunities to connect the story with their own lives.

The idea of a weekly tradition is a wonderful place to begin.

Children can think about what their families do on particular days. Maybe Sundays are for pancakes. Maybe Saturdays are for visiting grandparents. Maybe Friday is movie night. Maybe there is a special meal that only happens on birthdays.

The tradition doesn't have to involve food.

It could be reading together, going for a walk, playing a particular game, visiting someone, or doing something special before bedtime.

The important question is what makes that experience meaningful.

Children can also explore what it would feel like to move somewhere new and what they might bring with them to make their new home feel familiar.

Would they bring a favorite book?

A special toy?

A recipe?

A family tradition?

A song?

A photograph?

This kind of conversation helps children think about the invisible things we carry with us when we move from one place to another.

Making Room for Conversation

Fridays Are for Churros is a book that benefits from taking your time with it.

There is no need to turn every page into a comprehension exercise.

Instead, allow children to notice Emi's feelings and think about what she is experiencing.

Why do you think Fridays are so important to Emi?

How do you think she feels when everything changes?

Why does she decide to make churros?

How do the neighbors help her?

How do you think Emi feels when everyone comes together?

What makes the new Friday feel special?

These questions invite children to think about the story beyond the events themselves.

They can begin to understand that Emi isn't simply trying to make a dessert.

She is trying to recreate a feeling of connection.

And in the process, she discovers a new kind of family around her.

Try These Book-Based Activities

Create Your Own Friday Tradition.

Invite children to imagine that they are creating a special weekly tradition for their family. What would they do together? They might choose a special food, a game, a story, a craft, or a family activity. Children can draw their tradition and explain why they chose it.

A Food With a Story.

Ask children to think of a food that is special in their family. They can draw it and talk about when they eat it, who makes it, and what memory it brings to mind. Younger children can dictate their ideas while an adult records their words.

Build an Apartment Community.

Use blocks, cardboard boxes, or loose parts to create an apartment building inspired by Emi's new home. Children can design different apartments and invent the people who live there. Who is Emi's neighbor? Who lives upstairs? Who has a bakery? Who might need some help?

The Churro Bakery.

Create a pretend bakery using playdough, paper, or other loose parts. Children can make pretend churros, create menus, take orders, package their treats, and deliver them to their neighbors. This activity naturally encourages dramatic play, conversation, counting, and storytelling.

What Would You Bring From Home?

Invite children to imagine that they are moving to a completely new place. What one thing would they bring from their old home to help the new place feel familiar? They can draw their choice and explain why it matters to them.

Make a Community Recipe Book.

Invite children and families to contribute a favorite family food or recipe. Children can draw the food, add the name, and share who makes it or when their family enjoys it. Put the pages together to create a simple community recipe book that celebrates the different foods and traditions represented in the group.

Ingredients From Our Community.

Inspired by Emi asking her neighbors for what she needs, create a collaborative pretend cooking experience. Give different children different ingredients or tools and invite them to figure out how they can work together to make something. The emphasis isn't on actually preparing the food but on sharing, cooperating, and discovering that everyone can contribute something important.

Extending the Learning with a Book Companion

Some picture books give children a story to enjoy, while others open the door to conversations about experiences that are much bigger than the story itself.

Fridays Are for Churros is one of those books.

Its themes of family, traditions, moving, culture, community, friendship, food, and belonging create many opportunities for children to revisit the story through literacy, storytelling, dramatic play, creative activities, and meaningful conversations.

My Fridays Are for Churros Book Companion is designed to extend that experience without taking away from what makes the story so special. It gives children opportunities to explore comprehension, sequencing, vocabulary, characters, feelings, story elements, traditions, and other book-based activities connected to Emi's experience.

Because sometimes the best learning happens when a story gives children a chance to connect what they have read with something they already know.

And this is a story that gives them plenty of connections to make.

When a New Place Begins to Feel Like Home

Fridays Are for Churros is ultimately a story about more than churros.

It is about what we carry with us when life changes.

It is about the comfort of familiar traditions and the courage it takes to create new ones.

It is about the way food can connect us to our families and our memories.

And it is about how a group of strangers can slowly become a community.

Emi doesn't get her old Friday back exactly as it was.

Instead, something new happens.

Her tradition travels with her.

It changes.

It grows.

And it brings new people into the story.

By the end, the churros are still there, but now they are surrounded by new friends, new neighbors, and a new sense of belonging.

And perhaps that is the sweetest part of all.

Sometimes finding home doesn't mean going back to the place we left.

Sometimes it means taking the things that matter with us and discovering new people with whom we can share them.