Cinco De Mayo Crafts

Cinco de Mayo art project/craft for 1st and 2nd graders?

I'm a middle school Spanish teacher, and for Cinco de Mayo this year, I am going to have my 8th graders work with the 1st and 2nd graders to do a little art project/craft for the holiday.

Any ideas?

When I taught Kindergarten we had the children make hats, because of course, we also did a dance. But the hats would be cute if the 8th. graders are working with small numbers of children. Cut out a donut shaped brim, then fringe both ends of a long rectangular piece of paper. Cut out a smaller circle for the top. Glue one finged end to the inside of the brim, and spread ends out along the brim. Cut a matching donut to cover the fringed ends. Then glue the top onto the other end bending the fringed ends inside the is time. Now if the hats are red you can decorate with red, white, and green ribbon and make a paper flower for the girls' hats. These are the tissue paper flowers that are fan folded, tiesd in the middle and fluffed out. These are really cute.

Want something easier. Photo copy the eagle from the middle of the Mexican flaf and then cut two strip of paper, one green and one red, glue together and make a Mexican flag.

A simple paper bag pinata is fun too. You can copy the wings and head of a bird onto construction paper and they can be glued to a small paper bag. Then just add fringed construction paper strips to make a real cute pinata bird.

You could teach them straw weaving with brightly colored yarn. The eight graders could make the straw looms. Just take two straws and cut in half. Now insert a long piece of string into each straw, bend over and tape down. Hold the four straws with the strings down and then take a piece of yarn and start in and out, in and out, go around, in and out, in and out, go around. They just keep doing this until they are finished. It is just a weaving, it doesn't become a finished project. The most you can do is push the yarn down onto the strings, cut the straws off and tie the ends.

Are you into beads? The 8th graders can die large macarroni with food coloring, and I think a little vinegar. Once the beads are dry the little ones just string them on yarn and tie them into a necklace.

Any of these work for you? I have more.

Crafty Creations #18: Cinco de Mayo