7 Fun and Easy Ideas to Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with your Class!

Hola!  Me llamo Señora Simpson.



Cuando enseñé primer grado, me encantó añadir un poco de español a mi reunión de la mañana! Aprendimos palabras de color, contando y frases comunes y a mis estudiantes les encantó!

So....since Spanish is the one of the world's most commonly spoken languages, you might also enjoy adding a bit of Spanish to your day!
As I said above or hope I said above:  "When I taught first grade, I enjoyed adding a bit of Spanish to my morning meeting. We would learn color words, counting and common phrases...my students loved it!  In fact when some of my former students came back to visit, they always remembered learning Spanish!

Now I am not claiming to know the language perfectly and there may be a few errors above, but I did minor in FLES or Foreign Languages in the Elementary School. At that time (45 years ago) it was simply something I wanted to do and I am glad I did it as it added a bit of fun to my classroom and teaching ideas.  We played Simón dice, with easy commands like; Pon tu mano sobre tu cabeza, which was a huge hit. 

I also read the Spanish versions of favorite books and the class LOVED listening to familiar books in a different language


So, where am I going with this you ask?
Cinco De Mayo is celebrated on May 5th and I thought why not share a few ideas that are easy and fun...ideas that are right at your finger tips or will be! So let's get started and celebrate 
Cinco de Mayo!

But first a little history...

Cinco de Mayo or May 5th is a holiday that celebrates the date of the Mexican army's 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War (1861-1867).  i believe that the Mexican Army was not expected to win, but they did...so....time to celebrate!


🌟 How about dancing to the beat with Maracas?  


You can easily make these spoon and egg maracas and perhaps you might want to make it a STEAM activity.  Simply give each partner 4 spoons, masking tape and egg and some beads and tell them that they will be creating a musical instrument to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  




🌟  Perhaps you want to have a little fun with some STEAM Musical activities:

  • Plastic spoons
  • Beads
  • Yarn or string
  • Sturdy plastic or China Made paper plates
  • Plastic eggs 
  • Any other materials that you can think of that when combined might make noise.
  1. Set up partners.
  2. Tell the class that the challenge will be to create a musical instrument to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.
  3. Give each partnership a planning sheet to draw and decide what they might use to create the instrument.
  4. Instruct your class to choose some materials to create their musical instrument to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.
  5. As you circulate or observe children experimenting with the materials provided to create their musical instruments, use the following questions to encourage learning:

  • Why did you choose those materials to create your instrument?
  • What kind of instrument are you creating?
  • How did you decide what instrument to make?
  • Did you choose any additional materials? Why?
  • Did you put back any materials that you originally selected? Why?
  • Show me how your instrument works.
  • What changes did you make when creating your instrument?
  • How did these changes affect the sound of your instrument?
  • Did the changes work? Why or why not?
  • Do you like the sound that your instrument produces? Why or why not?
  • Was this hard or easy for you? Why?
  • What have you learned about making a musical instrument?
  • If you had the opportunity to do this again what would you change and why?


🌟  Why not try a recipe that you can make with your kids at home or in school?

Have you ever tried Walking Tacos? They are easy and fun to make!





🌟  Here are some "Fun"tastic paper tacos to make:

I think your class would love making these tacos with or without reading the book....they look so yummy...almost good enough to eat!





🌟  How about this cute paper bag poncho?
Just imagine all those kiddos walking out the door wearing their decorated sarapes?
















🌟  Your class might enjoy making their own piñatas!
Fill them up with sweets and let the party begin!











🌟  All that is left now is to share some great books about this fun holiday:


So there you have it...some fun ideas to get this holiday party started....Pick a book, add a little history, food, music and crafts and you have got yourself a great holiday celebration!


What ideas to you use to celebrate this holiday?