What is Day of the Dead?
Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated every November 1st and 2nd. It corresponds with All Souls and All Saints Day.
People gather to remember loved ones who have passed away. They build ofrendas, or alters, displaying marigold flowers, sugar skulls, and candles.
And they add foods like pan de muerto (bread), tortillas, and fruit. The act of preparing the alter is to appease the spirits so that they will in turn provide wisdom and protection through the coming year.
In the central and southern regions, the Day of the Dead festivities include music, dance, and parties that last well into the night.
Sugar Skull History & Culture
The art of elaborately decorated Mexican sugar skulls dates back to the 18th century when Mesoamerican and European belief systems intertwined.
Mexicans began adopting sugar art into their festivities after the Europeans introduced sugar to the New World.
These sugar skulls would often have the name of the spirit beautifully designed on the forehead, adorned in brightly colored decorations.
Each skull is unique, with intricate designs that can include flowers, hearts, and other symbolic elements.
This tradition is especially prominent during DÃa de los Muertos, a time when families honor their deceased loved ones by creating altars filled with these vibrant skulls, among other offerings.
Day of the Dead Art Project
I love introducing the art of sugar skulls to my students. They get so excited to create their own version of one.
As a result, I’ve developed a roll a sugar skull game to go along with the unit because, well, what kid doesn’t love a game!
It’s just like all my other roll a dice games in that they roll to select the parts used to create the design.
The real creativity comes in the layout of the design and the chosen materials. And that’s where you come in as the teacher.
This Day of the Dead art project has so much flexibility. Try it out several different ways. Do what works for you.
Get Your Creative Juices Flowing
In talking to regular education teachers all over the country (and beyond), I’ve learned that some have difficulty straying from the plan. It absolutely never occurred to me that teachers wouldn’t think to swap out materials, if need be.
Every week, an aide or teacher comes to me for suggestions on how to make a project work with their class and specified materials.
I often hear, “Can I do this?” and “Will this work?” I imagine in their heads it sounds something like this:
Teacher [inner dialog]: (Scanning the web for ideas) “Oh wow, now there’s a cool Dia de los Muertos art project I could do with my 4th graders. Oh wait, it says you have to use markers and then wet them with a paintbrush. Well, I don’t have time for all that nor do I have small paintbrushes! And you have to print out the tracer and I’m in a 1:1 school so I can’t print anything. Let me keep looking…”
Yeah. No! It doesn’t have to be that hard. I promise.
Watch it in Action!
I start out by drawing all the designs using symmetry. Then, I outline everything in marker. And this is where the real fun begins. Using small brushes, I “paint” in the shapes with marker. And for a final touch, I outline everything in permanent marker.
3 Variations of My Day of the Dead Sugar Skull
When planning an art project, it’s OK to change things up based on your time, materials, and experience. Art teachers do this all the time.
We’ll see an idea that doesn’t exactly fit our needs and we just change it on the fly. Of course, it helps to practice in advance before handing over a project to students.
Let me show you a simple change in materials for my Day of the Dead project.
Sugar Skull Version 1: Just Markers
This sugar skull was designed using only thin washable markers (without water).
I draw everything and then outlined it in black permanent marker.
Then I colored it in using the colored markers. I knew the colored markers could go over the permanent marker and not ruin it, so I did that first to more quickly define the areas I’d drawn.
When I work with students who have perceptual problems, I find that delineating the parts of the design that will stay versus all the eraser smudges really helps them focus on their work better.
Sugar Skull Version 2: Just Crayons
I used regular crayons to color this sugar skull in.
The challenge with using crayons (and even oil pastels) is that it’s more difficult to color in smaller areas.
Just keep in mind crayons aren’t sharp for long and it could be challenging for some students to color it in neatly.
In addition, it’s important that if you’re using permanent marker and crayons together that you outline with the marker FIRST before all else. Permanent markers gets ruined by the wax from crayons.
Sugar SKull Version 3: Marker Painting
This is honestly my favorite version. I feel like it’s the best of both worlds.
Students can use thin or bold markers to outline shapes and small brushes to paint it in.
And, you can use permanent marker first, and then color. Or vice versa.
Additionally, the results are always stunning.
Plus, it’s an overall enjoyable Day of the Dead project for art class.
7th Grade Day of the Dead Projects
I was so proud of these students artworks! These kids come to me during their recess time (7th and 8th don’t go outside) and wanted to create their own sugar skull. I gave them their choice of materials and you can see it really varied from student to student.
Think Creatively
Allowing students to select their own art materials to explore their possibilities is the best way to increase critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
In addition, it gives them the opportunity to express themselves in a way they see fit. So don’t be afraid to jump out of the box!
My Day of the Dead game will make a great companion for your next unit on Mexican art and culture.
And if you teach Spanish, I also have a version translated into Spanish, too.
- No prep, fuss-free!
- More than a coloring worksheet
- Interactive and engaging
- Hands-on learning
- Low cost, minimal materials
- Easy to implement
This looks great but the link is broken. Can you please fix? Thanks!!!
Hey Stephanie! A plugin on my site broke and was causing the error. Try the link again. 🙂
Hi, I just wanted to thank you, as a Latina, for giving background about Dia De Los Muertos and educating your readers about the history and the culture that surrounds the holiday. I wish other bloggers who use the sugar skull design would do the same. It means a lot that this symbol was kept in its correct context and not used simply because it’s pretty. This is a lovely project.
Wow, what a great comment, thanks! My sister-in-law is Mexican, so I have an appreciation for multicultural arts. And when I was studying to be an art teacher many, many moons ago, my focus was on multiculturalism in the Arts. It was a great experience to learn about people and places I’d never been to just by understanding their art, culture, and traditions.