Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a spectacular event. Not to be confused with Halloween, Dia de los Muertos is Mexican holiday that honors deceased loved ones on November 2nd. Traditions include decorating alters with sugar skulls and marigolds as well as food and pictures. The art itself is vibrant, detailed and rich in history.
The sugar skulls fascinate me the most. They aren’t meant to be scary, but rather fun and celebratory. Still, relaying that message to young kids can be tough. Inevitable, someone (usually a boy!) will want to create the scariest skull possible–blood, vampire teeth and gore. Oh well. I suppose that can be fun, too. I just prefer the flowers and glitter!
So here’s what we did:
On a sheet of white 12″ x 18″ drawing paper, draw a skull and spine with a black oil pastel. Using oil pastels, add lines, patterns,flowers and any other decorative lines to the skulls.
Along the side of the skull, draw large and small flowers. Marigolds are the traditional flower but I encourage flowers of any design, even a venus-fly catcher as was the case in one class! Using oil pastel or bright colored paints (my choice), paint or color the flowers. I bought a set of florescent paints this Fall, so I used a few colors in this project. Worked well, but regular tempera paint would have been fine.
After the skull and flowers are painted and colored in, cut out skull and ll flowers. Glue onto black drawing paper. Encourage some overlap with the flowers, especially if a child has many.
As a final embellishment, set out a tray of craft jewels and allow kids to decorate. For glitter, use white school glue to draw lines around shapes then sprinkle and shake with glitter! Sparkling, messy and a whole lot of fun!
Mrs. Spence is anointed "Glitter Queen"!
Note to teachers in large classes: It’s my best advice to allow only an adult to sprinkle the glitter.Utter chaos could result if thirty 3rd graders are left in charge!
More Day of the Dead Art Projects
Day of the Dead Katrina Doll (3-D Papier Mache)
Day of the Dead Painting project for younger children
Thanks!! I am hoping to do a Day of the Dead project next week!
Thank you so much for sharing your art lessons. I truly enjoy looking at your students’ works of art, they are so vibrant!!!
Love love love this and all the other day of dead projects… can’t wait to try it.
I have been following your blog (and now beautiful new website!) for a while. Thank you for taking the time to share these great lessons with us all!!!
Love the new website. I’ve been inspired by your blog for over a year now! Thanks for the great ideas. I tried the papel picado tissue paper background for the back of my skeletons and they turned out great! Very easy too. The kids loved making them. There are pics on my blog. Thank you so much!
Oops! It’s http://elementaryartroom.blogspot.com. Just started it and really have no idea how to make a blog…but at least I figured out how to put the pictures up!
Blogging is fun and great for the parents to see what’s going on in the classroom. Have fun!
i love your new site!!!
it looks great.
very professional…..because you are professional! awesome.
my dad got me a t-shirt when i was a kid that was about the Day of the Dead.
i loved it.
i wore it to death.
the colors were really bright and it had dancing skeletons across it.
i think my kids will like this project.
the girls will add flowers and my son will add blood.
I’m going to try this project with my 5th graders tomorrow! I’m a first year art teacher and have used your site as a resource several times this year already. Thank you so much for taking the time to keep your site up.
I just did this lesson with 6-7 year olds as part of a human body project and used the book funnybones. Used flourescent pens instead, results are brill. Thanks!
Hi, I’m in the BYW class too and noticed your mention of Day of the Dead…what a great blog! Your blog looks great and like you’ve learned a lot before you took the class. Good luck to you!
Hi Anne,
Thanks for visiting. I’ve been blogging for a while but still love all the fresh ideas. You have a great blog as well!
I love these skulls. They capture the joy and crazy humor of Mexican art. Impressive and fun artworks.
Thanks, Shelley. I just checked out your blog…what a great style you have! Good luck with your studies!
Thanks for all your wonderful art ideas! My 4th graders will be doing these sugar skulls for Dia de los muertos!