Add paper flowers using the glue dots and self-adhesive gems to embellish your design.Don’t be scared of using different colors! Decorate the skull using the paint pens.Paint the paper mache mask white and allow to dry completely.Paper mache skull or calavera for the Day of the Dead Marigold flowers play a very important role. Dia de los Muertos is celebrated in Latin countries and wherever Latin communities are living in the world from 31st October to 2nd November. This tradition to honor and remember the dead goes back to around 3,000 years in Mexico. Here is an easy craft that will look beautiful on any altar. The Day of the Dead is one of the world’s most festive traditions. If you decide to celebrate the Día de los Muertos, you can have the children make calaveras or skulls for the Day of the Dead. Do have tissues handy, because it will tug at your heartstrings. To familiarize yourself even more with this beautiful tradition, I highly recommend you see Coco, which is one of my favorite Pixar movies. The elegant version of the skulls is called a Catrina, and you will see them everywhere in Mexico in the week leading up to the Día de los Muertos. Marigolds are also used to decorate the altars and families bake Pan de Muertos, a sweet, delicious bread shaped like bones. The ofrendas usually include the favorite foods, water, family photos, and candles for each dead relative. It should not be confused with Halloween.Ĭolorful sugar skulls or calaveritas are used in altars to honor the deceased. It’s both a celebration of life and death where families get together, on November 1 and 2. This is a great activity to find peace especially when you’re missing those who have passed away.Įvery year when Day of the Dead comes around we will take our box and light up the battery-operated candles and remember our loved ones.Making and decorating a skull for the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) is a cherished tradition in Mexico to honor loved ones who have passed away. Together with your child put together the box, and talk about your loved ones. You can also use a small rectangular box or shoebox. I purchased this diorama box on sale and used it for the shoebox altar.
We used a musical note ribbon for Grandpa (who was a pianist) and for Abuelita (my son’s great-grandmother) a tiny picture frame of Nuestra Señora de la Providencia Patron Saint of Puerto Rico. A DIY pumpkin will make a stunning centerpiece, ideal for a Day. Marigold flowers (and some more in different colors)Īny item that honors your loved ones. These Day of the Dead sugar skull candle holders are an easy Da de Los Muertos craft project.Various colors of tissue paper or streamers.
If you have a child that’s extremely sensitive and has had a loss recently in their lives skulls may not be for them.
One detail that stands out is the use of “calaveras” skulls. There are so many lovely shoebox altars that you can make. With that being said, this year we made our very first shoebox altar to remember his Grandpa and Abuelita.
#DIY DIA DE LOS MUERTOS ALTAR MOVIE#
The movie Coco from Disney Pixar, really helped him understand the beauty of remembering our deceased loved ones, and how skulls (calaveras) are “not so scary” after all. While we really don’t observe Day of the Dead, I’ve been introducing it to my son slowly as a way to memorialize Grandpa’s and Abuelita’s memories. You can even add the lanterns to the altar alongside your candles as another source of light to guide the spirits home. During that same year, we also lost my Grandmother, his beloved “Abuelita.”
#DIY DIA DE LOS MUERTOS ALTAR HOW TO#
However, we try to focus our conversations on how much he loved him and how to remember and honor his memory. Make sure to incorporate all the elements, including the elements of water, fire, earth, and wind. Build an altar: You can build your own ofrenda or altar on a table or cabinet with several shelves. How do you tell your 8-year old that his beloved Grandpa was no longer with us? Talking about death, and “what we think” may be the afterlife has been a very difficult subject to discuss with him. But we often forget the two equally festive and meaningful days after Halloween, Dia De Los Muertos. In January 2016, my father-in-law passed away.