Day of the Dead Skulls

Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos) is a holiday celebrated by many in Mexico and by some Mexican Americans living in the United States. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. The Day of the Dead is a time of celebration where eating and partying are common.

Fifth graders learned about the Mexican holiday, Day of the Dead through two short videos and a classroom discussion. We drew our skulls from printed handouts. Fifth graders were encouraged to make their skull look festive by creating a hat and adding other details to their drawing.

Day of the Dead Skulls

2nd grade also learned about Day of the Dead. We drew skulls together as a class. Then I gave them some ideas for small details they could add to their skulls and the background behind them. We glued them to black paper, and made paper marigold flowers for each of the corners of the frame.

Day of Dead Shrinky Dink Skulls

4th graders looked at images of the very detailed art skulls found in Day of the Dead celebrations. They then drew a skull on Shrinky Dink plastic and colored it in with colored pencil. I really emphasized to them that they should be very detailed. After they finished coloring, they cut out the skull shape, then I shrunk them in a toaster oven. They had the choice to either turn their skull into a necklace or pin. (If you do shrinky dink necklaces, make sure you punch the hole to string the chain or thread through before they go into the oven).

Dancing Skeletons

3rd graders learned about the celebration El Dia de los Muertos or The Day of the Dead. We watched two videos on the celebration that takes place in Mexico every year on November 2. We talked about the differences between the Day of the Dead and Halloween, since they often get confused. We looked at images of skeletons and skeletons used in Day of the Dead. Students drew their skeletons with white colored pencil, added festive clothing and instruments. Lastly, we added marigold flowers because that is the flower used most often in the Day of the Dead celebrations.