by Our Crafty World | Nov 5, 2019 | Home Featured, Mexico
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Of all the Mexico crafts for kids a teacher could ever offer, Mexican Nichos are hands-down the one project that brings creativity to the absolute forefront for children, especially when coupled with our clay calacas craft.
Before you start this project, be sure to consider my Day of the Dead Display Board and Unit Study as it saves you oodles of time by providing all the information you need to teach your students about this festive holiday.
When kids make a calaca (a whimsical skeleton figure), the nicho instantly becomes its home and children LOVE giving their little boney friend everything he/she needs, which leads to great creativity and care in their work.
To start, I bought wooden shadow boxes at Michaels. To save some time, I painted the inside of the boxes before class started.
I then measured and cut a tin frame using 36-gauge aluminum tooling foil, (which I am obsessed with).
The kids embossed their frames using a dull pencil.
Then they went to town decorating the inside of their nichos with various embellishments I supplied.
They turned out so colorful and festive!
If you think tin art is something your children or students might like, then be sure to check out our Day of the Dead Tin Skulls and Mexican Sacred Heart projects…and while you’re at it why not make an Easy Mexico Food Platter For Kids!
Have you ever made nichos with your class or children? What was your technique?
I invite you to leave your comments about this Mexico craft for kids below – and be sure to check out my other Mexico arts and crafts for kids!
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by Our Crafty World | Oct 23, 2019 | Home Featured, Mexico
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As an educator, I firmly believe in the power of food to enhance the learning experience for my students. With each country unit that I teach, I make sure to incorporate food as a way to bring the culture to life and engage my students on a sensory level.
Not only does this approach allow students to learn about the art, history, and customs of the country in a more meaningful way, but it also helps them to develop a deeper connection with the culture and people they are studying.
CREATE A MEXICO FOOD PLATTER TO SUPPLEMENT YOUR MEXICO UNIT!
If you are planning a Mexico unit study, a Mexican celebration, or even traveling to Mexico with your family, you too can provide your children or students the same learning experience with a little advanced prep and food items that won’t break your budget.
Follow the steps and suggestions below…
MAKE A FOOD PLATTER TO BRING THE FLAVORS OF MEXICO INTO YOUR HOME OR SCHOOLROOM
With each Mexico unit I teach, my students are always excited to see what culinary creation I will present, and even a simple bowl of exotic fruits can transport them to Mexico and set the stage for an immersive and engaging learning experience.
I always present food on a platter, flat basket, decorative plate, tray, or bowl that matches the country unit I am teaching. No need to buy new, just look around the house for whatever works best for Mexico.
First I think about the art lesson or topic we will be covering in class and then I present food that corresponds with that lesson.
For example, for our Huichol Bead and Huichol Yarn art projects, I presented a food platter with items of corn as the Huichol believe that corn is the source of all life.
At the Mexican market, I bought a tiny bag of corn nuts, one to-go cup of atole (a warm drink made from masa harina, corn dough flour), and one corn tamale. I also bought a few other simple, inexpensive items (one ear of corn, one to-go glass of tamarind juice, a few tamarindo pods, and two pieces of Mexican pan (bread).
These items together created the authentic look and feel of the Huichol tribe that I was looking for.
This next photo shows the food I chose when teaching about the invention of chocolate (cacao) by the Maya.
I offered various darknesses of chocolate that we could taste-test and also displayed the ingredients needed to make Champurrado, Mexican Hot Chocolate, in class.
For our Day of the Dead altar-making class, I created a platter centered on the traditional bread eaten during this holiday, pan de muerto. This bread on its own is a show-stopper but to make the platter complete I needed a few extra items.
I added a few of my go-to Mexican treats and a few marigold flowers to make this food platter unique. Marigolds are the flower used to decorate altars during Day of the Dead.
The chicle, gum, I added because it was colorful and I could share the story of buying this gum in Mexico when I was a child.
Little, inexpensive details go a long way!
TIPS I’VE LEARNED FROM EXPERIENCE THAT WILL SAVE YOU TIME AND MONEY
None of the food platters shown above will cost you a lot, but if you don’t have access to a Mexican market, you can research commonly eaten foods in Mexico and purchase them at your local grocery store.
For example, fresh papaya sprinkled with Tajin. The addition of Tajin to this fruit makes it authentically Mexican and students get a kick out of trying this chili pepper/lime/salt seasoning on fruit – ewww!
Also, keep in mind that the goal of presenting a Mexico food platter is not to fill the bellies of your students! Rather, it is to expose them to diverse flavors and ingredients that they might not otherwise ever get a chance to taste.
I encourage my students to at least sample each item and if they don’t like it, that is okay! We take time to talk about our anticipation of each food, what we think it might taste like, what our opinion was of that food, and whether we would eat that food again if given the opportunity.
I want to emphasize again that you do not need to break the bank when making these platters.
You can buy single items and cut them into bite-sized pieces, one for each student. This is all they need.
Below is an example of the Mexico sampler plates I prepared ahead of time for a class of 12 students.
I bought two tamales, one small papaya, two pieces of pan dulce (sweet bread), and a small serving of Nopalito salad, a salad made with Nopal cactus that always creates quite the buzz in my Mexico classes!
And lastly, here is a very simple platter with a focus on rice…I bought one to-go glass of horchata (a Mexican rice drink), a small container of prepared Mexican rice from the hot food section, and one rice pudding. We divided this up amongst our small homeschool group and each person got the perfect bite.
Don’t let introducing foreign foods to your students baffle you!
Find the perfect platter, pick a theme, visit a local foreign food market or your local grocery store, keep it simple and cost-effective, and present the best foreign food experience you can to your children or students.
KICKSTART YOUR MEXICO UNIT WITH A MEXICO COUNTRY BOARD!
Skip hours of research and get right to teaching your Mexico unit with the comprehensive, downloadable (PDF) Mexico Country Board. There is SO much information in this bundle – go see what you think! These boards are also great for cultural fairs, heritage days, and writing reports!
If you have any questions or comments about this Mexico unit activity for kids please leave a comment below.
And be sure to view my other Mexico crafts and activities for kids here!
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by Our Crafty World | Oct 22, 2019 | Home Featured, Mexico
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This Mexico craft for kids is oh-so satisfying…
In every Mexico class I teach, I try to incorporate tin art in some way, shape, or form…nicho boxes, ornaments, frames, Day of the dead crafts, you name it.
In this week’s Mexico class, we used tin to make these beautiful Mexican Sacred Hearts.
I found the perfect template online that I sized in Microsoft Word and then traced directly onto the tin.
If you’re going to do a Mexico tin craft with kids, I highly recommend 36-gauge aluminum tooling foil from Amazon. I have been buying it for years.
This type of tin is easy to cut.
Kids LOVE imprinting tin because, for most, it is a medium they have never worked with before which makes them so curious and engaged while doing their project!
For every Mexico tin project, I always encourage imprinting dots first as they add such subtle beauty and truly represent Mexican folk art techniques.
After we finished imprinting, we added color using acrylic paints. Luckily I had many bright colors on hand.
Adding color brought each heart to life.
We embellished them with sequins to keep them simple, yet beautiful, and to provide the perfect finishing touch.
To make the Mexican Sacred Hearts more functional and to enable my students to display them with pride, I added magnets to the back.
Que bonita!
For more Mexico crafts for kids that involve tin, view our Day of the Dead Tin Skulls and Mexican Nichos (Shadow Boxes).
We also recommend our Huichol Yarn Art and Huichol Bead Art projects!
I invite you to leave your thoughts or comments about this Mexico craft for kids below.
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by Our Crafty World | Oct 19, 2019 | Home Featured, Mexico
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In Thursday’s Mexico class we had so much fun with our second project related to the Huichol people of Mexico.
Last week we did Huichol bead art and today we successfully mastered Huichol yarn art, or “nierikas”. (Click here for even more Mexico arts and crafts for kids!).
How beautiful are these colors??
We learned how nierikas are made and about the deep spiritual connection the Huichol people have to their art.
Here you can see the three most important symbols in Huichol art: deer, corn, and peyote.
To make this project seem less daunting – yarn work can take a very long time without a clear plan – I drew a simple sun design on each wooden rectangle.
The kids were instructed to fill the middle of the sun first and then go outward from the middle of the sun to finish the rays.
If there are too many curvy shapes to fill, kids can become overwhelmed easily.
They were also instructed to glue only the next section that they would be laying yarn on. This avoids a big sticky mess!
We will finish these in next week’s class and put them in wood frames.
Finished or not, these Huichol nierikas provide beauty at every stage of the process!
I invite you to leave a comment about this Mexico craft for kids below, and be sure to check out my other Mexico arts and crafts for kids here.
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by Our Crafty World | Oct 17, 2019 | Mexico
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Why not take a break from hot apple cider this year and try something new for your Day of the Dead or Halloween festivities this year?
Try your hand at Champurrado, Atole, or Avena, three simple Mexican beverages that will warm the bellies of children and adults.
The ingredients are simple and you can “wow” your children or students by buying traditional ingredients at your local Mexican market.
Other ingredients can be found at your local grocery store and can easily be substitutes based on dietary needs.
Children can easily help with these recipes and of course, drink them to the last drop!
To download the recipes, click here.
I invite your to leave your thoughts or comments about this Mexico recipe below.
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