Cinco de Mayo

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.