Cinco de Mayo Mirror Matching Activity for Preschoolers
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Cinco de Mayo is an important Mexican holiday that celebrates the Mexican Army’s victory over the French Army in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. In the United States, Americans of Mexican ancestry celebrate Cinco de Mayo to highlight their culture and experiences, but it’s also celebrated in other countries.
Get your preschoolers engaged in a fun, educational, hands-on activity with this FREE Cinco de Mayo Mirror Matching printable. This set includes three pages with a total of eight pairs of matching cards. You can get it at the end of this post.
Cinco de Mayo Mirror Matching
Matching activities help children develop a wide range of important skills that build the foundations for later concepts. This type of activity requires learners to identify patterns, similarities, and differences, which involves visual discrimination, memory, problem-solving, one-to-one correspondence, and fine motor skills.
The mirror matching activities add a little extra challenge by requiring children to focus on shape details, since they cannot rely on colors to match the cards.
These skills will also help them develop and improve their ability to differentiate between letters and numbers, which will improve their literacy and math skills.
Getting the Cinco de Mayo Mirror Matching Activity Ready
To get this activity ready, you only need a handful of materials, which are:
- FREE printable (found below).
- Printer.
- White paper or cardstock.
- Laminator and laminating sheets.
- Scissors or a paper cutter.
Print the pages on white paper or cardstock, cut them out, and laminate them for durability. Have the children match the colorful pictures with their black-and-white mirrors. You can also use these cards to play a memory-matching game, having the children place the cards upside down and try to find the matching pair. Consider your children’s different levels of development, and use all or fewer cards accordingly.
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 Mexican Culture, where things are done differently, and traditions, beliefs, and costumes might not be the same as the ones they know.
As usual, I will recommend filling out your library, centers, and book baskets to support this theme and help children embrace Mexican Culture. Below is a large selection of books related to the Cinco de Mayo celebration. You can find these books at your local library, used bookstores, and on Amazon. I also added affiliate links to every book in the list below to make it easier 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 learn about the different ways people celebrate this holiday!
- Cinco de Mouse-O by Judy Cox. This cute book tells the story of a mouse who follows his nose to a Cinco de 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 Mirror Matching activity below. Just type your email for an immediate download. It will subscribe you to my weekly newsletter, where you’ll receive freebies every time.
I hope you and your preschoolers enjoy this activity 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 this activity works for you. If you would like to see an article or a printable on how to make something specific, please let me know, and I will do 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 posting something you might find useful.
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