So what is Cinco de Mayo?

According to Wikipedia, Cinco de Mayo (“5th of May” in English) is observed in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride. A common misconception in the United States is that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico’s Independence Day; Mexico’s Independence Day is actually September 16 (dieciséis de septiembre in Spanish), which is the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico. More information can be found at http://clnet.ucla.edu/cinco.html.

So, another opportunity to celebrate and learn about other cultures and geography! I always love to take advantage of a holiday to make learning fun.

Here are a few ideas to bring the celebration to your home or classroom.

Tissue Paper Flowers

An oldie but goodie. What you will need; 4-6 sheets tissue paper per flower and pipe cleaners.

Cut the tissue into rectangles, all the same size. The size you choose depends on the size flower you want.

Accordian fold the paper about one inch, then fold in middle and twist pipe cleaner.

Separate the tissue from one another and pull gently in one direction to make flower.

Options: Use a stick to wrap additional green pipe cleaners around and attach as a stem to hold flower, instead of pipe cleaner tie with string and tie to a hair tie to put in hair.

Maracas

To make your own shakers you will need; paper plates, markers or crayons to decorate, dried beans, stapler, streamers or ribbon.

Decorate two paper plates (the bottom parts of the plate), place beans in one plate and tape streamers or ribbons on plate. Put other plate on top, so the bottom of the plates are facing out.

Staple around the plates to compete the shaker!

Tips: For the little ones use larger beans like Lima beans or cereal and you can tape over the staples so little fingers do not get hurt. To avoid staples, you can use toilet paper rolls and tape over the ends once you have put the beans or cereal in the tube.

Put on some Mexican music and shake along.

Pinata

Make or buy a pinata and have a celebration! I have never made one of these, so I found a link if you are so ambitious, let me know how it goes. Make sure you are prepared for a mess.

http://www.domestic-church.com/CONTENT.DCC/19981101/FRIDGE/pinata.htm

Paper Bag Pinata

This version is more my style and lots of fun to make. You can also make individual pinatas out of lunch size paper bags with no treats inside that are great decorations for the home or classroom. Fantastico!

You will need:

Large paper bag (grocery size)
Approximately half a bag full of candy and/or small treats (pencils, stickers, small toys, etc.) mixed with colored paper. It should not weigh too much.

Tape
Colored tissue paper
Glue sticks
Small paper bags and old newspaper

Fill large bag with treats, fold down top, and tape closed. As a family or class, decide on a design for the pinata. Use pieces of tissue paper to cover paper bag and decorate. Small bags filled with newspaper and covered with tissue paper can be used to create features like ears, noses, legs and tails.

After pinata dries, use heavy yarn or twine to suspend from ceiling, tree or stick. Let children take turns hitting it with a stick until it breaks and treats fall out.
Make a Spanish Book

You will need: blank paper, stapler or hole punch with string, pencil and crayons.

Decide on theme and length of book. For example, a counting book with four sheets of paper. Fold the sheets of paper in half, staple or hole punch the binding of the book. If using a hole punch, use a brad or string to complete the binding.

Write the title and author on the cover. (“Child’s name” Counting book”)

You or the child will write on each page and then illustrate. The writing depends on the age of your child it may be a simple “uno” with the numeral (1) written next to it. Then have the child draw a picture of one thing, and so on.
Additional themes may be animals, body parts, colors, etc. or for older children it could be a book about Mexico.

Mom’s always love and appreciate homemade gifts.  These gifts are treasured for years and always remind them of the precious time with their children.  Here are some inexpensive Mother’s Day ideas and crafts for the children to make mom smile!  Click on “read more” to read the whole article.

read more | digg story

Want to give a gift that your mom will cherish and love to bring out year after year? Or, in my case, make yourself a mother’s day keepsake that you can bring out for mother’s day every year. To make this memorable gift you will need a plain cotton table cloth that fits the table you are designing this for, fabric paints, fabric markers and all of the little or big hands of the family.

First, wash the linen and iron if needed then lay out to prepare for hand prints. Remember for the little children to remind them to open their fingers and press down one time on cloth. You may even want to practice with them. This was much easier with another adult ready to clean painted hands right away, unless you do not mind stray marks here and there! I do have a finger print on my table cloth that I now find artistic, although I did not see it at the time. Starting in the middle and working the hands around seems to be the easiest to line up. My sample below has vines to connect the hands but just the hand prints would work just as well.

If you want to have the same color every year you may want to write the color down or buy extras for the following years. To add to this already cute and simple gift you could add linen napkins with fingerprints or another hand print as well as homemade napkin rings. Moms love this kind of thing and will appreciate the thought and love in this table cloth.

This gift continues on every year and eventually will continue with the grandchildren. I love it!

Endless amount of fun and no mess! This is so simple but the children always love it. Find a good spot like a driveway and gather up your paintbrushes (even the large ones for house painting) and a bucket of water. Let them have at it. Depending on where you live the pictures will disappear and they can keep on painting.

Sponges can be used as well and can be used in a fun lesson to identify shapes.

Why does the ocean have low and high tides? This simple and visual activity may help show children how the moon affects the tides.

What you need:

Bucket half full with water

Plastic ball or balloon

1. Place the ball in the bucket so it floats.

2. Push the ball down slowly with both hands.

3. Let the ball come up.

4. Watch and discuss the change in water level.

How to explain the ocean tides like a cool mom!

The Earth’s surface is seventy percent covered with water. Every twelve hours the tides rise and fall without the level of water changing. As the Earth and moon spin, gravity pulls them together and the moon pulls the ocean water right beneath it, causing it to rise and fall. When it is high tide on one side of the Earth, it will be low tide on the other side. This is a good time to bring out the globe to further demonstrate changing tides.

A tradition is simply an activity or way of doing something that is passed down through family or community. Make a list of traditions from your family, origin or community you would like to pass down and then think about new possibilities. Traditions do not have to be old, so if you do not have any from your family start your own!

Here are a few ideas:

Dates with Mom or Dad: Pick a day of the month to go on an outing with dad, it can be a game, movie or just ice cream. These times will lead into great communication and allow the time to keep in touch when schedules get busy.

Special outings: Take your daughter to tea or son to a game once or twice a year. This can be anytime or scheduled around a holiday like Mother’s Day or when a favorite team is in town.

Saturday Field Trip: Pick one Saturday a month and go on a family field trip. Children look forward to unusual outings as a family. Most communities have family friendly locations such as a museum, live music at the park, or the zoo.

Thanksgiving: Each year have everyone in the family write what they are thankful for on a leaf cut out of paper, write the year on it. Then each year string it on a string and make a garland to hang during Thanksgiving. Holidays are a great time to start family traditions, the possibilities are endless.

Chef Night: Plan a meal that includes everyone in the family to prepare, even the toddlers can help pour and stir. Working as a team and enjoying the meal will be a fun event and remember to include everyone for clean up.

Game Night: Dedicate one night a week to spend playing games with family. If your children are young you may start out doing puzzles or blocks and then eventually play board games. This tradition teaches children the joy of spending quality, entertaining time with one another.

One of our traditions is to visit the butterfly exhibit at our local botanical garden with grandma.  We love to look at the pictures every year, especially our first visit when my son was a baby.

There are so many ideas that can bring a family closer together and starting a family tradition is a good start! What do you and your family do? Click on “comments” to share.

It can be challenging for a parent that travels away from home for long periods of time or a grandparent leaving after a visit. Here is a little gift you can sneak in their bag as they leave and surprise them when they arrive at their destination without you!

Buy or make a mini-album or accordion card. Decorate each page with photos, drawings and personal letters or notes. Glue or tape an envelope to a page if you have a long letter to include. Just like scrapbooking, you can make this as simple or fancy as you please.

Here is a video found on You Tube with a fun song about the three R’s. After the children watch this you can discuss recycling and what you do in your household to help the earth. Also, if you have a video camera have them do their own commercial or song about recycling and saving the earth. What child does not love watching themselves on television!

One more quick idea, fold a paper into thirds and label each part (reduce, re-use, recycle) and either write or draw an example of each. Listen to Jack Johnson’s Three R’s song!

Use Nature’s Color to Paint:

To make natural earth colors, you’ll need red cabbage, beets, celery tops, carrot tops, and vinegar.
Simmer each vegetable in water, drain, saving the liquids. Mix one tablespoon of vinegar into each liquid, and let cool. When ready have the children use paint brushes to paint on a large piece of muslin or cotton fabric. Let the painting dry and then hang for everyone to enjoy.

Earth Painting:

This can also be called mud painting. Finger paint with mud outside. Let the children mix dirt with water until it reaches the desired consistency. Then, they can paint on cardboard or the sidewalk.

Nature’s Paintbrush:

On a walk collect items that may be interesting to use as stamps or brushes with paint. Let the children experiment with different items and create their own masterpieces with these unique brushes.

Nature Walk: 

Simply enjoy a walk outdoors together. You can have the child bring a journal and document animals or interesting things he or she may encounter. Bring a camera and make a photo tour of the walk.   Just enjoy the day!

Collect a variety of items found in nature: sea shells, dried wheat, grasses, flowers, sand, rocks, pebbles, bark, twigs, and small branches. Put these out with glue and foam trays, hard paper or card board and let the children create a “nature masterpiece”.

Over one week you could collect different items on a nature walk, sort the items and then make a creation.