Celebrate El Dia de los Muertos and how Halloween came to be!

Supplies:

Rocks (3-5") painted white with gesso / or buy white rocks

Sharpies

Paper

Pencil

Puffy paint (optional)

Halloween may be on Oct. 31, but there’s a historical reason to celebrate Called Day of the Dead: “El Dia de los Muertos.”

Dia de los Muertos, or “Day of the Dead,” is a holiday lasting two days, originating in Mexico. A holiday to celebrate loved ones that have passed. It's a The largest celebration in Mexico, but Dia de los Muertos extends well beyond to Guatemala, Brazil, Spain and here in America too! We celebrate this holiday in our own family as a way to talk while creating about our loved ones that we miss, how much they meant to us, and what we learned from them that we carry with us.

The popular caricature associated with Dia de los Muertos that we see a lot today, is based off of La Calavera Catrina, a painting by artist Jose Guadalupe Posada created between 1910 and 1913.

We begin this lesson in our classes by discussing its historical significance. Followed by exploring our facial features. Talk about eye sockets and have the students feel the sockets of their eyes. Continue with the cavity of the nose and why the skeleton (drawn) looks different than the nose we look at each day. Have them feel the cartilage of their nose that covers the cavity. Talk about our cheek bones too and how that shapes the face.

Sketch together the shapes of each. Circles for eyes indicating the eye sockets. The nose, fun enough, is the shape of an upside down heart. The mouth is an oval that is divided in half, with lines to create teeth.

When the sketch is complete it is time to hand out the rocks. Have them use pencil first and duplicate their sketch. After, trace with black sharpie. Have them fill in with other colored sharpie where they would like to add color. Lastly, if you feel that your class is able to handle another step, use the puffy paints to accentuate shape and color. Another option that was used in this photo, is using acrylic paint and the bottom side of paint brushes and pencil erasers. They create the best dots and circles!