If you’re planning any Mexico craft for kids it is a must that the walls of your home, homeschool, or classroom be adorned with Papel Picado!
Papel Picado is the quintessential Mexican folk art decoration that may seem intimidating to make but is actually quite easy.
Just like cutting and unfolding a paper snowflake, Papel Picado provides the same element of surprise and beauty. It is what makes this Mexico craft for kids so fulfilling – and addicting!
And honestly, you don’t have to follow any specific instructions for this project. You can simply fold tissue paper, cut along the folds to your heart’s desire, open it up, and voila, you have Papel Picado!
Kickstart this project by learning about Mexico first!
Hands down, the best way to start any Mexico project is this Mexico Country Facts Board. Kids love making these boards! This is a 24-page printable with so much information about Mexico, including games, a recipe, and more…you don’t have to look any further.
Two Ways to Make Papel Picado
For my Mexico class students, I wanted to present Papel Picado in two ways.
The first way involved using a pattern for precise cutting. I found the perfect pattern online by doing a simple search for “FREE papel picado templates”.
This was a great lesson in symmetry.
I asked my students if they could guess how we would cut out each of the small shapes on the inside of the pattern. Many guessed we would use a utility knife to cut out the shape. They were surprised to learn that all you have to do is make a fold in the middle of each small shape within the pattern and then cut out that shape.
The end result was uniform, professional, and oh-so pretty!
The second way to make Papel Picado (without a pattern) definitely led to more creativity, guesswork, and wonder in this project.
We used extra large pieces of tissue paper which was certainly a game changer as the amount of folding and cutting quadrupled!
Unfolding these gigantic Papel Picados was so fun!
We hung both styles of our Papel Picado on our homeschool classroom wall so we could enjoy the colors and traditions of Mexico over the course of our 5-week Mexico class.
Our Mexico classroom was transformed and is now complete for this festive Mexican holiday season!
What techniques have you used to teach your children or students about Papel Picado?
Be sure to check our other Mexico Crafts for Kids which would all be a great addition to your Mexico unit study or Mexico curriculum.
I invite you to comment on this Mexico craft for kids below.
