Cinco de Mayo Crafts Party for Kids
In second grade, the kids travel the globe to study Mexico, China, and Ghana. It’s a wonderful social studies unit that culminates in a Mexico Day party that can also be used for a Cinco de Mayo party for kids.
Our teacher set up six stations and had parent volunteers run each station. It took about 3 hours for the party and the unit itself lasted about a month. I was in charge of the dried bean maraca craft.
Map of Mexico
The kids learned about the geography of Mexico.
By the end of the unit, they learned a lot! I liked how they asked questions throughout and found answers. It was all tracked on this chart.
Paper Plate Maraca Craft for Kids
The maraca craft was pretty easy. The tricky part was putting in just a handful of beans and then stapling the folded paper plate without letting any escape. I did the stapling.
What you need for the Paper Plate Maraca Craft:
- Dried beans
- Paper Plates
- Stapler
- Streamers
- Markers or crayons
The streamers can be attached after the paper plate is stapled shut but a few kids wanted the streamers inside the plate. That’s a little trickier to staple.
All the kids opted to decorate their maraca with markers even though crayons were an option. A few used the Mexico flag as inspiration.
This is my son’s maraca.
Marshmallow Aztec Pyramid Craft
Would you believe that only one kid got away with eating just a single mini marshmallow for the Aztec pyramid craft?! My Mom Friend Stacey ran this craft and she runs a pretty tight ship. There were 27 kids in total, and she recommends at least 6 bags of mini marshmallows. The base is cardboard from cereal boxes and the marshmallows were simply glued on with Elmer’s Glue.
Books on Aztec pyramids were provided as inspiration.
Some kids built large pyramids going from the outside in.
I think the smaller size pyramid works better though.
Paper Bag Piñata Craft
A simple brown paper lunch bag gets turned into a festive piñata with steamers cut into a fringe. You can add candy. Our teacher gave each kid a lollipop to take home.
Learning Spanish from Frida Kahlo
We were lucky that Katya’s mother teaches Spanish at our local high school. She came in dressed as Frida Kahlo and gave the kids Spanish lessons. They had read books on Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, two of Mexico’s most prominent artists.
Here are the days of the week in Spanish.
Domingo = Sunday
Lunes = Monday
Martes = Tuesday
Miércoles = Wednesday
Jueves = Thursday
Viernes = Friday
Sábado = Saturday
And here’s a fun song to learn to pronounce it correctly.
The colors in Spanish are easy to learn too!
These are the books they read on Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.
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Foods of Mexico: Making Guacamole
The Guacamole station was very popular. You just need:
- 3 ripe Avocados
- 1/2 diced onion
- juice of 1 lime
- 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
Serve with tortilla chips!
Day of the Dead Mask Printable
My son delighted in making a Day of the Dead mask. He wore it home from school and for the better part of the day. I couldn’t find the exact printable but here is a similar one. Print the mask and then glue to a paper plate. Use yarn to tie the mask.
There you have it. Crafts for a Mexico Unit 2nd grade party or for Cinco de Mayo. Learning about Mexico is fun!
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p.s. Related posts:
10 Great Picture Books to Learn About Mexico
Latinx American Book Lists for Kids
Top 5 Latinx Poetry Picture Book List
Best Bilingual Spanish Picture Books
Top 10 Hispanic American Heritage Books for Kids
Top 10 Bilingual Spanish Books for Kids
My guest author Derek Taylor Kent comes up with his list of best bilingual Spanish picture books for kids.
Top 10: Best Latino American Children’s Books (ages 2-16)
I’m noticing some great Hispanic American KidLit lately across all children’s book genres!
Hispanic American Books for Kids: Link Round-Up
I’m doing a round-up of Hispanic books for kids of all ages, from picture books to young adult.
Fun Ways to Learn About the Day of the Dead
Follow PragmaticMom’s board Multicultural Books for Kids on Pinterest.
Follow PragmaticMom’s board Children’s Book Activities on Pinterest.
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It looks so cool! I bet the kids loved the teacher dresses as Frida.
Hi Alexandra,
It was weird because she looked EXACTLY like Frida to me. I did a double take before I realized it was someone dressing up. The kids loved her station where she taught them Spanish and about Frida Kahlo. We’re so lucky to have a parent who is also a Spanish teacher willing to take time to volunteer in the classroom! It makes the experience so rich to learn from her. Her daughter dressed up as well. She was adorable!
I like the marshmallow pyramids!
Hi Maryanne,
And only 1 kid managed to get away with eating a single mini marshmallow! I’m glad I wasn’t the mom monitoring that station. That’s tough to keep the kids from eating. I did the dried bean maracas so the entire time I kept telling the kids to stop spilling the beans!
thanks for a collection of activities. Maracas looks fun!
Hi iGameMom,
The 2nd grade teachers had such great ideas. The kids were so happy! My son said it was the best day ever. I think doing a few of the crafts would also be fun for Cinco de Mayo parties too. That’s coming up soon!
Excellent suggestions! We will go to the library and check out some of your book suggestions. Also, one of these art projects will be on our “to do” list!
Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks so much Lisa,
If you do make any of the art project, I’d love to include it in this post!
Sounds like a great event and I love your maracas! They look so easy!
Hi Ann,
We still have our maracas saved at home. It was an easy and fun craft! I think the marshmallow pyramid was the most popular though!
GREAT!!
I TEACH SPANISH. I WILL DO THE MARACAS CRAFT!!! THANKS FOR SHARING.
Hi Maria,
The maracas craft is fun and easy. I hope your students like it. What age kids do you teach?
Visiting from Tuesday Tots. My Family-Focused Monday hop is live now and I would love to see one of your awesome posts linked up @ http://www.mondaykidcorner.blogspot.com.
Have a wonderful week.
Thanks Jennifer! Will link up pronto!
Oops, too late! Next week!