crafts

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo With “Musical Maracas” Kid Craft

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I’m always looking for fun activities to do with my kidlets. Making crafts is fun because it’s a way for us to spend some one-on-one time together, talk about life/school/friends, be silly, and laugh together. There are also hidden benefits of crafting with children. It teaches children how to follow directions, nurtures their imaginations, and helps to develop their fine motor skills.

In the past few months we’ve made lots of crafts to celebrate special days on the calendar such as creating holiday ornaments to hang on our Christmas tree, leprechaun traps for St. Patrick’s Day, and an egg bunny and chick garland for Easter.

With Cinco de Mayo coming up, the kidlets and I created “Musical Maracas” to help us celebrate this festive day.

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First you may be asking, what is Cinco de Mayo? Cinco de Mayo means the fifth of May and it is a holiday that is observed in Mexico and Mexican-American communities in the United States to commemorate the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla in 1862.

Common celebrations of Cinco de Mayo include flags, parades, and fiestas including food and music−which is where our maracas come in.

Cinco de Mayo Craft

Here’s what you'll need, plus an easy step-by-step tutorial to create your own Cinco de Mayo Musical Maracas!

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Supplies:

  • Empty and clean 12 (easier for smaller children to handle) or 16 oz. plastic drink bottle with cap and exterior label removed
  • Funnel or piece of construction paper to make your own funnel
  • Dried, uncooked rice
  • Dried beans (red kidney beans or dried peas)
  • Small plastic beads in the colors of the Mexican flag - red, green, white
  • Glitter/sequins in the colors of the Mexican flag
  • Glue - either hot glue gun or white craft glue
  • Ribbon or paper streamers in the colors of the Mexican flag
  • Fabric paint in the colors of the Mexican flag

Directions:

Before you start, make sure that your bottles are both clean and dry. This is important so when you add the materials to the bottle, they don’t get moldy.

Place your funnel (if you don't have a funnel, make one by rolling a piece of sturdy construction paper into a funnel shape) into the opening of the bottle.

Pour in the rice to about 1/3 of the way full. Add in beans, beads, and the glitter/sequins until the bottle is filled to about half way up.

Either hot glue or spread craft glue along the inside of the bottle cap. Replace the cap and let the glue dry.

Use red, white, and green fabric paint to create designs and/or write names on the bottles to decorate.

Cut various lengths of ribbon or paper streamers, I used scrap pieces of Ric Rac, and glue them to the bottle cap. Let the glue dry about 5-10 minutes.

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When everything is dry it's time to grab your maracas, make some noise, and start dancing to celebrate Cinco de Mayo!

How do you like to celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

hm_badge01 Debra, AKA The Harried Mom is a married mom of two children under the age of six. Aside from her daily mommy CEO duties, she works full time in television PR. Debra is always trying to find the fun and funny in everyday life and writes about it as a mom, wife, friend, and career gal--but not always in that order. You can find her at The Harried Mom, and for more of her craft and “fun activities with kids” ideas, follow her on Pinterest.

 

 

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