One of my favorite symbols of Day of the Dead is a calaca, a whimsical skeleton figurine usually made of clay, paper mache or wood that is generally depicted as joyous and celebratory rather than mournful and scary.

They make me smile. They lighten the sometimes dark mood that can accompany Day of the Dead, which can be very settling for children just learning about this symbolic Mexican holiday to honor the dead.

I believe they have a personality of their own. I imagine them sneaky, but with intentions that are truly good.

They’re out there to remind us of those who have passed, but instead of making us sad, lighten us up and draw us in to their whimsical portrayals of festive fun and a celebration for life.

To have a calaca in your home – whether during Day of the Dead or any other time during the year – is like having a magical little friend to look after you and remind you to smile because as some calacas certainly know, life can be short!

HOW TO MAKE A SIMPLE CLAY CALACA FOR DAY OF THE DEAD

This Day of the Dead season we’re encouraging you to make a calaca or two using our simple guide below.

If you would rather download a guide you can print, click here: How to Make a Simple Clay Calaca for Day of the Dead.

Heck, make a troupe of calacas to place throughout your home. Change up their locations every once in a while and have your kids go on a hunt to find these boney friends when they wake up in the morning. They really do provide endless fun. 

Let calaca fun last longer than one day of the year in your home! Let them become a part of your family. Dress them. Name them. Talk to them. Take care of them. Love them!

They’ll certainly unconditionally love you back.

Let’s get started!

HAVE YOU EVER MADE A CALACA? WHAT WAS YOUR TECHNIQUE? LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW! 

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A FUN WAY TO TEACH CHILDREN BASIC COUNTRY FACTS?

Our Crafty World has you covered!

In this post, we talk about the benefits of playing the game of Concentration to learn basic country facts and offer you a FREE Mexico Concentration Game to begin using with your children or students. (You can also access our FREE Thailand Concentration Game here).

This is not a boring worksheet with lists to memorize, but rather an interactive and very simple game your children can use on their own or in a group.

WHY I LOVE CREATING AND USING CONCENTRATION GAMES TO LEARN BASIC COUNTRY FACTS

When I taught world culture enrichment classes to children I would always start the first class with an introduction to basic country facts.

While truly learning about a country goes way further and deeper than knowing these basic country facts, I do consider them a necessity.

My philosophy is that the best way to learn – and remember – is by using your hands and seeing something visually.

And ya gotta make it fun too!

I used to cringe at the worksheets my kids would bring home from school full of facts that needed to be memorized for a test.

Those poor words on a page, black and white, with no heart and soul to them! Who could possibly be motivated to learn with a study tool like that?

For some kids, like my son who has super-human memorization skills, this works, but for other kids, it is time-consuming, laborious and BOR-ING!

But let’s not forget that all kids learn differently.

My daughter, on the other hand, has dyslexia and reaps the benefits of hands-on activities that show her the concept visually through pictures or drawings.

To hand her a list of countries and their capitals on paper and then ask her to memorize them would be like me being handed a recipe written in Russian and asked to cook it for a dinner party that night.

It would be really, really frustrating – and likely NOT happen!

Show my daughter a map (with its colors, shapes, and vibrancy) to accomplish the same goal and memorization takes place almost automatically.

REMEMBER THE GAME OF CONCENTRATION?

In this game, all cards are placed face down to start. The goal of the game is to flip over the cards – only two per turn – to eventually find a match.

So, to teach the basic country facts of Mexico, we have created a simple Mexico Concentration Game for children to play alone or with a group. 

Watching children play our Mexico Concentration game, you will be amazed at how quickly and easily learning occurs!

Children will quickly learn the basic country facts about Mexico which will free you up to plan and execute other Mexico projects to deepen your studies. 

Rest assured, the perfect foundation for your Mexico unit will have been laid once the Mexico Concentration Game has been played.

3 IMPORTANT BENEFITS OF PLAYING CONCENTRATION TO LEARN BASIC COUNTRY FACTS

The goal of the game is to make a match, so right off the bat, a student’s attention is honed into the max in order to make progress in the game.

Not only are students trying to remember where cards are located, but each time they turn over a new card, they are taking in the visual information with great attention so learning basic country facts happens quickly.

2) Repetition Leads to Retention

Make it a rule that students have to read each card every time they turn it over. By repeating key information in addition to seeing each visual on the card, it is likely that at the end of the game this information is forever locked into the “brain vault”. Students will be able to more easily retain and recall this information at a later date.

3) Good, Old-fashioned Fun is Motivating

The game of Concentration is fun – plain and simple. Therefore, by enabling your students to play Concentration in this way, you have just made learning basic country facts fun too. Score!

USE OUR COUNTRY FACT CARDS TO FURTHER YOUR STUDY OF MEXICO

Now that you have a deck of basic country fact cards for Mexico, ask children to pick their top three favorites (in terms of interest) then help them find creative ways to learn more about them. For example…

Find a flan recipe and make it for your family or school group.

Plan a Day of the Dead celebration in your home or classroom.

Write a report or create a country board using all or some of the country facts provided in your Mexico Concentration Game.

The ideas are endless!

MAKE YOUR OWN GAME OF CONCENTRATION

Making your own game of concentration is easy.

To make the cards: Cut paper squares using cardstock (you don’t want your cards to be see-through!) or use store-bought index cards.

To add categories and photos: Using our Mexico Concentration Game as a guide for which categories to include, write the name of each category on the cards (leaving plenty of space for a photo). Next, search the internet for images of each category, size them to fit your cards, and then glue them onto each card. Remember to print two copies of your cards.

Now you have a Concentration game to teach children the basic country facts of any country!

START PLAYING OUR MEXICO CONCENTRATION GAME!

Click here to access our FREE Mexico Concentration Game.

Have you ever used the game of Concentration as a learning tool? If so, we would love to hear about it so please leave a comment below!