Cinco De Mayo Preschool Lesson

Today was my last day to teach preschool this year! I thought about doing a May Day theme, but after an Easter lesson and a Spring lesson, we're all Spring'd out. So I decided to go with a Cinco de Mayo theme, and the kids loved it!

Coloring Page
I always have the kids work on a theme-oriented coloring page with crayons and stickers until everyone arrives. Click here for the one we used today.

Books
Our little library branch has a section on "Upcoming Holidays," and I was hoping they'd have Cinco de Mayo books. Sure enough, they had tons! We read Cinco de Mayo by Mary Dodson Wade and Celebrate! It's Cinco de Mayo! by Janice Levy.

Simón dice...
The kids had a great time playing Simon Says in Spanish. I found instructions here, as well as a diagram of the body with body parts labeled in both Spanish and English. The kids and I stood up, and I told them to do what I did. I said, "Simón dice toca la cabeza," put my hands on my head, and the kids copied me. Then they guesssed what la cabeza means in English. We went through all the body parts and had lots of fun.


Maracas
We made maracas out of little bathroom cups. The kids danced around the room shaking their maracas for a full 15 minutes while I sang every Spanish song I could remember from school. They loved it!!

Materials:
4 small paper cups per child
crayons
stickers
a handful of dry beans, rice, or unpopped popcorn kernals
clear packing tape

Directions:
Have the children use the crayons and stickers (or whatever else you want) to decorate the paper cups. To assemble each maraca, tear off a piece of packing tape about 18" long. Place one paper cup bottom-side down right in the middle of the tape and press down. Place about 10 beans in the cup and place another cup bottom-side up on top of the first so that the openings match up. While holding the cups in place, pull one side of the tape up over the top. Repeat with the other side of the tape. Tear off another piece of tape about 8" long. Wrap this piece around the middle of the maraca where the two cups meet. Gently smash down all parts of the tape that are sticking out. Repeat with the other maracas until each child has a pair.


Fruit Nachos
I don't know what the other moms do for snack time, but I like mine to be in-theme. Today was no exception. We had fruit nachos! They were easy and delicious. I took 2 flour tortillas, sprayed them lightly with nonstick cooking spray, sprinkled them with cinnamon and sugar, and cut them into 8 wedges each with a pizza wheel. I put the wedges on a cookie sheet and baked them at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes. These were the "chips." For the toppings, I cut up apples, pears, oranges, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, and kiwi, and also put out a bowl of raspberry yogurt. I put the chips on their plates for them, but I put all the fruit in bowls on the kitchen table and the kids were allowed to assemble their own nachos. They were delicious!

Mexican Jumping Bean Painting
As each child finished their snack, I helped them make a Mexican Jumping Bean Painting.

Materials:
1 box with a lid, or flaps that close completely
scotch tape
dry beans
paper that fits flat against the bottom of the box
liquid paint--we used tempera paint that was thinned with a little water

Directions:
You can only do these one at a time. Tape a piece of paper to the bottom of the inside of the box. Tape it in two places; you want the paper to stay put. Let the kids dip the dry beans in the paint and then place the beans on the paper in the box. When they have as many beans/colors as they want close the box. Have the child shake the box as hard as they can for about 30 seconds. Open the box up, remove and disgard the beans, and take out the paper. Each painting will be colorful and unique!


Mexican Flag Mosaics

Our last acitivity was a torn-paper mosaic Mexican Flag. I printed blank black and white Mexican flags on 8.5x11" paper (click here for the link), and tore up red and green construction paper, magazine pages, and scraps of old scrapbooking paper. In a perfect world, I would have had a gluestick for each child, but we had to share, which was exciting! The kids spent the last 15 minutes of preschool gluing green and red mosaic pieces to their flag. Green goes on the left and red goes on the right with white in the middle.