Arts and Crafts
Mexican Flags
Materials needed: flag pattern; cardstock or tagboard; red, green
and white tissue paper; glue; markers; full-color picture of Mexican flag;
red or green yarn; masking tape. For printable Mexican flag pattern,
click here.
Copy flag pattern onto cardstock or tagboard. Give each child a copy of the
flag, tissue paper of each color, and glue. Direct students to tear tissue
paper into small strips, then crumble into small balls. Use paper balls to
cover flag, coloring in each section correctly. Students may use markers
to color center medallion either before or after decorating the rest of the
flag. Allow glue to dry thoroughly, then use masking tape to attach yarn
for hanging to back of each flag.
Maracas
Materials Needed: clean yogurt cups with lids, large popsicle sticks,
(available in craft stores), low-temp hot glue gun and glue sticks, small
dried beans, 1/8"-wide red and green ribbon, colored paper, masking tape,
glue, paint or markers or crayons
Before distributing cups to students, cut a 1/2-3/4" gash in the bottom center
of each cup. (Length of cut depends on width of popsicle sticks purchased.
Gash should be about 1/8" longer than stick is wide.) Insert popsicle stick
into opening of each cup until about 1/4" of stick is visible inside cup,
and hot glue stick securely in place. Be sure to use a LOW TEMP glue gun.
At higher temperatures, glue will melt the plastic cups. You may wish to
glue the stick both inside and outside cup the cup for added strength. Allow
glue to cool completely before distributing cups to students.
With students, pour about 2 Tbsp. dried beans into a yogurt cup, replace
lid, and tape shut. Cut a strip of paper about one-half inch wider than the
cup's circumference at its widest point and about six inches longer than
the cup's height. Wrap paper around cup, leaving three inches of extra paper
at both the top and bottom of cup. Tape paper in place. Use red and green
ribbon to gather paper around top and bottom of cup and tie closed.
Popsicle stick handle should protude several inches from the paper
covering around the bottom of the cup.
Encourage students to use different colors of paper, paint, markers, and/or
crayons to decorate their maracas as they choose.
Pinatas
Materials Needed: large paper bag (grocery size); approximately half
a bag full of candy and/or small treats (balloons, pencils, stickers, small
toys, etc.) mixed with colored paper (weight of contents should not exceed
three pounds); tape; various colors of tissue paper; glue sticks; small paper
bags (lunch size); old newspaper.
Fill large bag with treats, fold down top, and tape closed. As a class, decide
on a design for the pinata. (Animals work particularly well.) 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, tails, and so forth.
After pinata dries, use heavy yarn or twine to suspend from sealing. Let
students take turns hitting it with a long ruler until it breaks and treats
fall out.