10 Fun Ways to Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with Kids
With Cinco de Mayo just around the corner, many of the events around your town might be geared more towards adults which really puts a damper on families who want to celebrate with their children.
Many will say that Cinco de Mayo has become more popular in the U.S. than in Mexico itself. For those who are wanting to celebrate with the whole family there, are plenty of fun activities you can do without breaking the bank.
- Learn the History of Cinco de Mayo – Make this fun! Think scavenger hunt, fact book/scrapbook, or coloring book while learning all about the battle in which the Mexicans beat the French.
- Make Tacos –Tacos are the answer to everything. In all seriousness, not only are they really big here in the U.S., they are a big deal in Mexico. Set up a Taco bar and learn some of the ingredients in Spanish. (eg. queso [cheese], carne [meat], etc.)
- Make your Own Maracas – These really are the easiest instrument to make! Grab yourself a plastic egg (seeming as Easter just passed you should have a ton of these lying around), add beans, rice, or small beads, cradle the egg between 2 plastic spoons, tape together, and start SHAKING!
- Decorate a Mexican Flag – Mexico’s flag is made up of 3 vertical stripes. Green, White, and Red. Download a Mexican flag template that you can color, paint, or glue some fun items to.
- Plan a trip to a Mexican Market – Mexican markets have been growing in popularity in the U.S. as a place to get fun snacks, super affordable produce, and more. If you have one close, take a family field trip. Be sure to try some authentic Mexican desserts!
- Make a “Papel Picado” Banner – These are those very pretty intricate banners that you see anywhere there is traditional Mexican folk art. You cut intricate patterns out on color tissue paper and string them along a piece of string or ribbon.
- Make Paper Bag Piñata – Grab a paper lunch sack, colored tissue paper, glue sticks, candy (or fun little toy that fits in the lunch sack), stapler, hole punch, and string. Put the candy/toy inside the bag, staple closed. Decorate the outside of the lunch sack with little squares of the colored tissue paper by gluing them on. Hit gently with a paper towel roll or something similar and you’ve created your own mini piñata.
- Play the Mexican Lottery Card Game – This is a popular Mexican game that is played just like Bingo. The Bingo cards are made up of different pictures of things commonly found in everyday Mexican life.
- Make Tres Leches Cupcakes Together – Tres Leches is a popular cake flavor among Mexican desserts.
- Learn the song Los pollitos dicen – This is a classic Spanish nursery rhyme. Its popularity is similar to that of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in English.
