Our first día de los muertos

Our first día de los muertos

Last year, my kids lost their beloved great gpa on Halloween. He was the first person in their lives to leave them, and he definitely left a huge hole in their hearts. That October, Coco also came out in and a few months later we had the DVD and watched it at home.

We are a Colombian family, so día de los muertos  is not something I grew up celebrating. In fact, there is not a lot that I know about that celebration. But watching the movie with my kids started some very interesting conversations between us. While I am not claiming that the movie is 100% accurate or truly representative of the real traditions, it made my kids think about those who have left us and gave them an idea on how to remember them. I have also read some articles that show support for the representations shown in the movie.

So, for the next year they kept looking for ideas on how to decorate their altar. My parents went on a trip to Guanajuato, Mexico and brought them traditional items. We also found some additional items while shopping around our local stores. They were determined to replicate the altars they saw in the movie. They spoke with their Titos (their Colombian grandparents) about the idea, and decided to include some extra people in their altar.

Long story short, my kid's need to connect with their beloved grandfather made me research more about the day itself. So, I have found these amazing resources that I would like to share with you as well.

I hope that you can use this in your classroom or at home. 

**Please leave a comment if you have any other resources that I could add to this blog**

Facts about the celebration. 
1. Download these cards and talk to your students about the holiday.
2.  Watch this short film that shows a young girl experiencing the celebration and understanding its meaning better.
3. Here is National Geographic's things to know about this day.

Celebrations around the world. 
1. Celebrating the day in Mexico. Read more about it here.
2. Carolina, from Fun for Spanish teachers, shares how Guatemala celebrates this day. Read more here.
3. Julie, from El Mundo de Pepita, shares Ecuador's celebration. Learn more about it here.
4. Take your students around the world. Show them these ten places. As a follow up, they could investigate further these locations, or they could find new ones to add to the list.

Crafts for the classroom.
1. Coloring calaveras and alebrijes can be an appropriate activity for your students once they understand why they are doing it. You could even build an altar in your room with their examples and ask them to color one to honor someone they miss. Check out these incredible free coloring pages.


Culture through food
1. Laura, from el Tarro de los Idiomas, shares a recipe for pan de muerto!  Great way to engage your students and perhaps add to your altar. Recipe found here.

Remembering their loved ones. 
In order to help my kids better connect to their grand father and this celebration itself, I asked them to write down things they remembered about him. We used this resource to do it and added it to our altar.

I hope that you have found this list helpful and that your students can better understand this incredible celebration of life. I know my kids and I had a great time.

Our first altar did not disappoint! Kids help me set it up and they wrote their thoughts on grandpa. They were very excited to continue to learn about this tradition and improve our altar for next year.
       
         


Thanks  Prettygrafik for the clipart