Cinco de Mayo Celebration with Preschoolers
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Cinco de Mayo is a very important Mexican holiday that celebrates the victory of the Mexican Army over the French Army in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. This celebration should not be confused with Mexico’s Independence Day which is in September, or the Día de Los Muertos celebration that happens on November 1st.
This is a celebration of Mexican’s tenacity, strong will, and determination, to honor how General Ignacio Zaragoza and the Mexican Army had an impossible battle against Napoleon III’s French army and became victorious, with a much smaller and less equipped army. This victory became a symbol of Mexican resistance and the power of their will against foreign forces.
In the same way that it is done with other holidays like St. Patrick’s Day, and Chinese New Year, in the United States Americans of Mexican ancestry celebrate Cinco de Mayo to highlight their culture and experiences, using traditional Mexican symbols, banners, school especial events, Mexican music with the famous mariachi demonstrations and their folkloric dance (baile folklórico) using their traditional attire, their delicious food, and typical drinks.
It is celebrated in Mexico, the United States, and other countries, and it is the perfect social studies opportunity to teach your preschoolers about a different culture and country.
I’ve included a FREE Cinco de Mayo activities pack, which you can find at the end of this post.
This 35-pages long pack includes:
- Two beginning letters and word tracing sheets for the words Mexico and Cinco.
- Two “Find and mark the Letters” activities, including Mm for Mexico and Cc for Cinco.
- Two alphabet letter mazes one with uppercase letters and one with lowercase letters.
- Two “Count How Many and Write the Number” activities.
- Two “Trace or Cut the Lines” activities.
- Three coloring pages.
- Two number puzzles with beautiful photographs.
- One Mexican flag template.
- Two sets of Mexican banners.
- One Chinese Zodiac illustration.
- Mexican numbers 1 – 10 small posters.
- Six Mexican posters with real pictures.
Cinco de Mayo Celebration With Preschoolers
This festival is full of customs and traditions that celebrate Mexican culture. Some can be used in the preschool classroom or home, to give your kiddos a hands-on experience to introduce them to the Mexican culture and help them get familiar with and try some of these customs and traditions.
Decorations
Start by decorating your classroom or home with Mexican traditional colors (red, white, and green) and typical decorations, such as balloons, streamers, and flowers.
- Use Mexican flags. The flag is three sections: green, white, and red. You can also have your children make their own, using the template I provide in the free pack. They can color the green and red sections using tempera paint, crayons, markers, tissue paper, dot-to-dot markers, or any other medium that you want to use.
- Mexicans love color and combine different ones and different designs, which make their celebration super exciting and happy. Serve snacks and meals in colorful dishes, mixing and matching colors.
- Use maracas to decorate the tables. Children can make their own very easily, and children can use them while listening and dancing to Mexican music. Have children decorate two paper plates, fill them with beans, corn, or rice, staple or tape the two plates together, and have your children decorate their maracas with pieces of green, white, and red tissue paper or tempera paint in the traditional colors (red, white and green). You can also use empty toilet paper tubes or Easter plastic eggs for this craft. Let’s Play Kids music offers you a very easy and pretty maraca craft project to do with your children, as well.
- Paper banners are another type of decoration that is very traditional In Mexico. Sometimes these banners are very elaborate, and women work hard cutting designs and pictures into pieces of paper. This is another craft that you can do with your children. The free pack also comes with some that you can use.
- I cannot think about something more known than a Mexican sombrero (hat), and this type of celebration needs at least one. Just by wearing one you could cheer up your children.
- A Mexican Piñata is most important in a Cinco de Mayo celebration. They are fun, colorful, full of goodies, and loved by children and adults.
Food
There are many traditional dishes that you can serve to your children for lunch and snacks. They can also help you prepare some, which will make this activity an excellent science, math, literacy, and fine motor activity as well. Some of these dishes are:
- Tacos. Who doesn’t know tacos, right? You can present the typical ingredients to your children, and let them put their tacos together for lunch. These ingredients are ground beef, white corn tortillas, taco shells, sour cream, shredded cheese, guacamole (mashed avocado), shredded lettuce, Pico de Gallo (a mix of diced tomato, cilantro, peppers, and onions), and refried beans. You can find a nice recipe in How to Cook.
- Enchiladas. There are different types of enchiladas, but the video below claims that those are typical enchiladas.
- Tortilla Chips and Salsa. I know, I know. Chips are not “healthy”, but common, just serve them one day. Kids will love it! There are two types of authentic Mexican salsa in the video below.
Music
This cannot be absent in any celebration. Mexican music is very recognizable anywhere, and Mexican mariachis are famous all over the world. Have the children make Cinco de Mayo streamers to dance to Mexican music, using empty toilet paper rolls decorated in the traditional colors with paint or tissue paper, and then wrap red, green, and white streamers or ribbons.
Other Ideas for the Cinco de Mayo Celebration
- Teach the children how to count in Spanish. I included the numbers in English and Spanish in the free pack. If you don’t know the pronunciation, the video below can help you.
- Invite a Mexican person to come to the classroom and talk about Mexican costumes and traditions.
- Show them pictures of Mexican places, products, and people. I’ve included some in the free pack for you to use.
- Show them on a map or a globe where Mexico is located.
- Have them do crafts, patterns, or paint using red, white, and green colors.
Books About Cinco de Mayo
Reading books is a great way to help your preschoolers understand that they are from other cultures, and 5 de Mayo is a perfect opportunity to help them know and understand a little about the Mexican Culture, where things are done differently, and traditions, beliefs, and costumes might not be the same than the one they know.
As usual, I will recommend filling out your library, centers, and book baskets to support this theme and help children embrace the Mexican Culture. Below you can find a big selection of books related to the Cinco de Mayo celebration. These books can be found at your local library, used bookstores, and on Amazon. I also added my affiliate links to every book in the list below, to make it easier for you to get the ones you want.
- Celebrating Cinco de Mayo: Fiesta Time! by Sandi Hill explains the meaning behind this celebration.
- Cinco de Mayo Book for Beginning Readers by Ella May Woodman. This rhyming reader retells the historical significance of this Mexican holiday and teaches about the history behind the events celebrated in Mexico and by many people in the United States on May 5.
- Cinco de Mayo by Emma Carlson Berne. This fun book has your children sing along while exploring this holiday and includes online music access.
- Marco’s Cinco de Mayo by Lisa Bullard. Marco loves the food, parades, and fun of Cinco de Mayo. This year he’s one of the dancers. As he listens to the mariachi music, Marco thinks of the brave Mexicans at the first Cinco de Mayo. This book helps you find out the different things people do to celebrate this holiday!
- Cinco de Mouse-O by Judy Cox. This cute book talks about the adventure of a mouse that follows his nose to a Cinco the Mayo festival. Sprinkled with a few words in Spanish, this is a great read-aloud. The art is appealing kid-friendly and filled with energy.
Pin It For Later
If you are in a rush and don’t have time to read the post and download the printable but want to save it for later, pin this to one of your boards on Pinterest.
Don’t forget to grab your FREE Cinco de Mayo pack below. Just type your email for an immediate download. It will subscribe you to my weekly newsletter, where you are going to receive freebies every time.
I hope you and your preschoolers enjoy these activities and have tons of fun learning about Cinco de Mayo.
Be happy, safe, and creative. I wish you well.
Love,
P.S. Please let me know if these activities and ideas work for you, and if you would like to see an article or a printable about how to make something specific, please let me know and I will try my best to create it for you. My goal is to help you in any way I can and I don’t like anything better than to post something that you might find useful.
