El Dia De Los Muertos

I love the celebration of the day of the dead.  While it sounds very morbid, it is a very beautiful celebration of life.  This is actually a day that is recognized by the church and you might know it as All Saints Day.  Some people shy away from doing this cultural piece because of it's link to the church, but it is also a deeply rooted in Latino culture.  I often tell my kids, if you celebrate Halloween, you are celebrating something much scarier than el dia de los muertos.  This day is an occasion of celebrating the life of the people you have loved the most.  The alters are filled with pictures of those loved ones, as well as their favorite foods and drinks.  Marigolds and candles adorn these alters along with other items that might have been important to that person.   

Metal calavera with sharpie, 5th grade.

Kinder and first grade calavera.  We bravely used sharpie and construction paper crayons, and you can see not all art teachers hate glitter!

A must have book for doing milagros.

Paper bag calaveras, 2nd and 3rd grade.

Shrink art milagros and nichos from metal tooling scraps, 4th and 5th grade.

Styrafoam print of nichos with shrink art milagros, 4th and 5th grade.

Scratch art milagro and watercolor nichos, 4th and 5th grade.

Paper bag ofrendas, done with 2nd and 3rd grade.

Balsa foam skulls, this was done with 5th grade.

Collage offrendas, typically I do these with 2nd and 3rd graders.