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 Art
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 spirit beautifully designed on the forehead adorned in brightly colored decorations.
Day of the Dead 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 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.
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!
Deviating From the Plan
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:
I designed this sugar skull using only washable markers (without water). First, I drew all the shapes. Then, I outlined it in black permanent marker. Lastly, I colored it in using the colored markers. I knew the colored markers could be drawn over the permanent marker and not ruin them, so I did that first. Students with issues focusing find it easier when the parts of the design are clearly defined. They have a harder time focusing with all the erasure marks on the paper.
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. In all honesty, I’d never attempt this project using crayons on a design that’s only meant to fit on a standard sheet of paper. If it was drawn much larger, students would struggle less. In addition, it’s important that if you’re using permanent marker and crayons together that you outline with the marker first, then color it. Crayons ruin permanent markers.
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.
This student chose to marker paint her Day of the Dead sugar skull. Lovely, huh?
This student wanted to use colored pencil and permanent marker.
This student used only markers.
He also just wanted to use markers.
Just markers here!
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.
- No prep, fuss-free!
- More than a coloring worksheet
- Interactive and engaging
- Hands-on learning
- Low cost, minimal materials
- Easy to implement
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.
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. 🙂