20 Festive Cinco De Mayo Crafts For Kids

Cacti are plentiful in Mexico, so this fun cactus puppet is a wonderful craft to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Made with a paper lunch sack and cardstock using our simple template, you can have a couple of cactus puppets to play with in no time.

These 3D Mexican paper stars are inspired by star piñatas. Kids can color in the black and white version or simply print, cut, and assemble the color versions. They'll make gorgeous decorations for your Cinco de Mayo party!

I hope you enjoyed this list of crafts for Cinco de Mayo. Pin it to come back to later when you're ready to start your festivities!

Use a large paper bag to make a Mexican sarape (or poncho) to wear on Cinco de Mayo. Simply cut the paper grocery bag into a poncho shape leaving the shoulders intact. Let the kids paint vivid patterns on the paper. Once it dries, they're ready for wearing.

With this cactus paper cup craft, kids will create a cheerful blooming cactus from an everyday paper cup! It's great for summer or Cinco de Mayo!

The indigenous people of Mexico are known for their beautiful art, and yarn art is just one of the many mediums they use. Create brightly-colored art on any sort of canvas you like (thick poster board, Styrofoam plates, or cardboard). For younger children, you may need to draw out a design and clip their
yarn into small pieces to place inside the template you create. Older kids, however, can freehand their designs.

Although we don't know for sure where tacos originated, they're thought to have come from Mexico. A taco craft is a fun way to celebrate the day, especially if you're having tacos for dinner! Use textured yellow paper to make it look more like an authentic taco shell, and fill it with cheese, veggies, and meat made out of paper.

Famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo inspires this flower pot craft. After painting the hair and face, create tissue paper flowers to decorate the pot like her iconic flower hair accessories. Pop in a plant or use the pot to hold your art supplies like pencils, markers, or paintbrushes.

Amate bark painting is a traditional form of Mexican folk art that involves both creating the paper from the bark as well as painting it. And while you may not have amate, you can recreate this artform on recycled paper bags. Crumple up the bag and smooth it out to give it some bark-like texture if you'd like. This is a great craft for all ages!

Grab a bunch of green pipe cleaners to make these super cute 3D pipe cleaner cactuses (or cacti). Add fluffy pom poms to make them look like flowering cacti.

Use those empty toilet rolls you've been saving for crafts to make a couple of these lively chili pepper maracas. The felt leaves and belt are fun, but you can use fabric scraps or paper for this part, too. Fill the tubes with beans to make a nice, loud noise when you shake them.

Decorate your windows with a colorful piñata-themed suncatcher! The cutout is in the shape of a donkey, which is so fun. Add contact paper, cover it in colorful tissue paper squares, and your vibrant suncatcher is complete.

Work on those fine motor skills with this Q-tip painting of the Mexican flag. Toddlers can join in the fun, too, but may prefer painting with their fingers. Either way, it's an easy and fun way to learn about this important Mexican symbol.

Here's another cute cactus craft that you can use to decorate for the big day! They're 3D, so they can stand up on their own and make excellent centerpieces. Add paper flowers to make blooming cacti for an extra punch of color.

Big, bold tissue paper flowers are a fun and budget-friendly way to decorate for Cinco de Mayo. They're easy enough for the kids to make using just tissue paper and a stapler. You can sit them on your tables as centerpieces or string them up in a banner.

Save some of your plastic eggs from Easter to make colorful maracas for your Cinco de Mayo celebrations. They come together easily using rice (to fill the eggs), two plastic spoons to hold the egg, and washi tape to wrap it all up with. Use bright washi tape colors with fun patterns to make them really
festive.

Frida Kahlo had an iconic style and expressed herself not only through her beautiful art, but through her clothing and accessories as well. Recreate her gorgeous flower headbands using faux flowers, a hot glue gun, and a headband. This is such a beautiful craft — your tweens and teens will love it just as much as your little ones.

You may have seen these bright and colorful banners at many fiestas, but have you ever tried making your own? It's a lot of fun selecting the bold colors and cutting the intricate designs into the paper. It's a bit like making paper snowflakes, and the video tutorial shows exactly how to create the cut-out designs.

According to the Museum of International Folk Art, the God's Eyes (Ojos de Dios) are ritual symbols that the indigenous people of Mexico used for prayer and protection. The crossed sticks create four points, representing North, South, East, and West, and the center of the woven yarn represents an eye. If you or your children have ever attended summer camp, you've probably made one before! It's an easy and beautiful craft for kids of all ages.

What's better than an air guitar? Why, a colorful cardboard guitar, of course! Guitars are important instruments for mariachi bands and other Mexican musicians. Listen to mariachi music while you cut the simple shapes and paint and assemble this fun craft.

Make some music this May with egg shakers made from blown-out egg shells. Once the shells are empty, add a filler that makes noise (like rice or lentils), and cover the eggs in colorful paper and paint. Shake to your heart's content while listening to traditional Mexican music.

Turn terra cotta pots into sombreros for your festivities. Draw a fun pattern on the pot, and embellish the saucer with brightly colored pom poms. Use them as is to decorate or fill the rim with candy, chips, etc. The great thing about this craft is that you can use large or small terra cot pots. The mini versions will work great for crafting with the kids.