Cinco De Mayo Crafts & Activities
Celebrate and Decorate for a Mexican Fiesta with Kids
Mar 24, 2008
Cinco De Mayo is a great time for children to learn about Mexico. First celebrated in 1967 by Mexican college students, Cinco De Mayo marks the date the Mexican Army defeated the French in the battle of Puebla in 1862.
Mexican Fiesta
Mexicans celebrate many holidays, often getting together with family and friends to enjoy music, dancing and delicious foods. A Mexican fiesta is a time of relaxation and visiting. Live music is popular, and so are sweet treats.
Pinatas
A piñata is a large paper mache figure stuffed with candies and treats. The piñata is suspended by rope from a sturdy tree branch, the ceiling or a beam and children swing at it with a bat or club while blindfolded. When the piñata breaks, the treats fall to the floor and children race to see who can collect the most. Common piñata shapes are the sun, a sombrero, farm animals, and children’s literature or television characters.
You can make a piñata at home. Using a balloon or a cereal box as a base; cover it with a thick coating of paper mache material, leaving a hole near the top for filling. If you have used a balloon, you’ll want to pop it and let the inside dry thoroughly before filling it. Once it is full, cover the fill-hole and decorate your piñata. You can decorate it with brightly colored paints or with colored paper.
Cinco De Mayo Decorations
Traditional Mexican fiesta décor consists of brightly colored flowers and billowing streamers, just perfect for this springtime celebration.
Since Cinco de Mayo isn’t celebrated in Mexico, there aren’t traditions specific to this holiday. Using the brightly colored festive decorations and cultural icons is an appropriate substitute, and helps children learn about Mexican culture.
You can use alternating strips of colored construction paper to make woven placemats reminiscent of traditional woven fabrics still made in Mexico today. Try bold color combinations like orange, pink and green or purple yellow and brown for an accurate depiction of the bright and cheerful colors of a traditional Mexican fiesta.
You can use self-hardening clay, readily available at craft and toy stores, to make traditional red Mexican pottery bowls for serving or decoration. You can also use the paper mache technique to create decorative bowls and paint them in terra cotta or another reddish earthtone.
Cinco de Mayo Celebration
Music is an important part of a fiesta. Filling cardboard tubes with rice crispies can make festive rhythm instruments. Maracas can be made with Styrofoam cups and beads, or by using paper mache over small balloons and filling them with pinto beans. Guitars can be made by stringing rubber bands over a cereal box. Experiment with different sized holes behind your “strings” for a different sound. Use a cardboard tube as a handle. Castanettes can be made with buttons or bottlecaps and a rubber ponytail holder.
To decorate your fiesta table, you can invert an ice cream cone on a 6-inch paper plate to make a mini sombrero. Decorate with ribbons and colorful teeny puffed balls for a Mexican tassle look. You can also use tissue paper to make giant colorful flowers and let streamers stretch across the room from one corner to another.
Have Fun
Celebrating Cinco De Mayo can be fun for children and adults. Invite friends and make traditional Mexican foods like tamales and nachos. Try making Mexican drinks, like horchata or tamarindo punch. You can even brush up on your dance moves. Enjoy your fiesta.
Resources
Paper mache can be made by dipping newspaper strips in laundry starch or a runny mixture of cornstarch, water and white glue
Click here for Cinco de Mayo coloring pages, puzzles and printable activities.
