Dia de los Muertos

These lessons are from last year, but I was a bit slow to share. Kindergarten created the pumpkins and 2nd grade made the papel picado. Third grade did a great job creating their skeletons with oil pastel on black paper.

Students had a skeleton to use for observation drawing, then used their imagination to create the skeleton participating in life.

My sixth graders created linoleum block prints of their skeletons. The kids really enjoyed the linoleum block cutting, but even these smallish prints took too long, I think.

My fourth graders really got into this ofrenda project.  The idea came from Mini Matisse, who linked to the Minneapolis Institute of Art project. The finished projects do not have a particularly polished look, but I was happy with what the students learned.

Students were to choose someone they loved, who had died to honor through their ofrenda. The examples I am showing are pets, but many more chose people as well. Students were given scrap paper and small buttons, baubles, and so on. I also purchased small skeletons and skulls through Oriental Trading, enough for each student to have one. Students were also given the option to bring in their own items or photos to use in their ofrenda.