Looking for a last minute craft activity to celebrate Día de los Muertos with the family? Look no further!

The stores are swarming with DIY Christmas ornaments, but I thought it would be super fun to make personalized ornaments for those who passed on in our family. They are not only great for celebration but they are good for years to come. A great keepsake or gift for those in your family!

With just a few of supplies our ornaments were super easy to make and so fun!

To make these for Día de los Muertos Ornaments you will need:

• Glass or acrylic ornament
• Photo of a loved one who has passed
• mod podge
• scissors
• jewels
• glitter glue or paint/ acrylic paint (we used a combination of both)
• paint brush
• and string or twine!

Follow these easy steps to get started!

 Prepare your photo by cutting it to your preferred shape. Circles work best! Add one layer of Mod Podge evenly and adhere your photo face down. Seal it with another layer of Modge Podge and wait for it to dry.

TIP: Add another layer of paper to the photo the same size. I notice our pictures got a little fuzzy after we added details.

 Once your sealing is dry. Decorate this decor will show thru so if you add letters or certain shapes be sure they are mirrored to the correct view through the ornament.

Wait for it to dry.

 Add decor to the front of your ornament. We used jewels to make crosses and roses.  Swirls and flowers are also common designs for Día de los Muertos, or paint what your loved ones loved best!

Once the back and front of your ornament are dry add the last layer of paint to the back of the ornament on the picture side. Wait for the paint to dry and design a sugar skull!

Glitter glue looks amazing on these little ornaments! The kids loved creating dots all over our ornaments!

Get ready to hang your ornaments or give them away as gifts for others to enjoy!

 Happy Day of the Dead!  ¡Feliz Dia de los Muertos!

Such is the case with this eBook, Ofrendas: Celebrando el Día de Muertos, that a group of Latina food and craft bloggers (and good friends and even a few SpanglishBaby Familia members!) have put together to offer for FREE! Sí, this amazing work of collaborative art is gratis!

Flip through the pages of this online magazine to find recipes and crafts that go beyond the traditional, while remaining firmly grounded in its origins.

Big congratulations to these amazing mujeres for creating this to enrichen even more the celebration of Día de Muertos:

-Nicole Presley of Presleys Pantry
-Leslie Limón of La Cocina de Leslie
-Maura Wall Hernandez of The Other Side of the Tortilla
-Ericka Sánchez of Nibbles and Feasts
-Denise Cortés of PearMama
-Kathy Cano Murillo of Crafty Chica
-Vianney Rodriguez of Sweet Life

¡Gracias, amigas!

“At first glance, the Mexican custom of El Día de los Muertos — the Day of the Dead — may sound much like the U.S. custom of Halloween. After all, the celebration traditionally starts at midnight the night of Oct. 31, and the festivities are abundant in images related to death.

But the customs have different origins, and their attitudes toward death are different: In the typical Halloween festivities, death is something to be feared. But in el día de los muertos, death — or at least the memories of those who have died — is something to be celebrated.” via SpanishAbout.com

Though we don’t celebrate this holiday in our family it intrigues me and I’m definitely a big believer in educating my children about the world around us even if we don’t necessarily hold to those traditions or beliefs.  What I really like about this holiday is how death is not something to be feared but something to be celebrated.  I definitely want to lean in the direction of celebrating over fear.

Here’s a fun Day of the Dead activity you can share with you class or children as you discover and explore the Latino culture. Note every culture celebrates it differently and in Mexico there is a big emphasis on the colorful skull art.

Supplies:

• contact paper
• masking tape
• tissue paper
• Day of the Dead skeleton (from Spanish Playground) or these boy and girl calacas.

1. I printed off this lovely printable and traced it onto the contact paper with it still in tact.  I left out some of the details as you can see but you can get as detailed as you wish. If your child is older let them trace it. My little one is two so I did the tracing.

2. Then adhere the shiny side of your contact paper to a window by slowly peeling it off and using masking tape around the edges.

3. Then let your child enjoy filling it in with tissue paper.

My two year old really enjoyed this activity.

Over the years, Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, has been making its way to the United States and being embraced by all cultures. All Latin American countries celebrate Nov. 1st and 2nd as Día de Muertos or Día de los Difuntos, but most observe it as a somber day of remembrance of those that passed before us. Mexico, on the other hand, has imbued the celebration with rich symbolism and a festive environment that conceives death as a normal part of life. They also believe that those that have passed before us should be remembered with joy.

In Mexico, Day of the Dead is full of color, symbolism and rich aromas coming from the various typical foods prepared for the occasion. The belief is our muertos (deceased) will visit us during these days to enjoy the foods, drinks and objects they enjoyed in life and are left in an altar for their annual visit.

Altars adorn houses and public spaces and can get very extravagant. Marigold flowers, sugar skulls, candles, papel picado and picture frames, along with food and drinks, can be found on every altar. Each altar is its own work of art.

Día de Muertos is such a beautiful way to teach our children about something as essential as death, a topic that is often difficult to approach, but that all kids wonder about at one point or another. Embrace this holiday to teach your kids that death is nothing to be scared about and we can even be playful about it. Crafts and art are an ideal way to celebrate Día de Muertos.

Click here are 15 festive and colorful Día de Muertos crafts your kids will love doing with you.