Photo by gusdrinks

Begin this activity by reading the children’s book El Piñatero/ The Piñata Maker by George Acona.

Piñatas are found at almost every Mexican celebration. Traditionally they were in the shape of a six-pointed star and were filled with fruit, candy, and small toys. Today you can find them in all shapes, including animals, flowers, and popular characters.

At fiestas, the piñata is hung in the air and children are blindfolded and take turns swinging at the piñatas.  Kids often sing

“ dale, dale, dale no pierdas el tino, mira la piñata que hay en el camino. No quiero oro ni quiero plata, lo que yo quiero es romper la piñata.”

Eventually, the piñata is hit hard enough and it breaks releasing the candy and toys that it contained.

Making an authentic piñata is a fun, interactive lesson you can do either at home or in a school setting.  Kids love participating in the creation of the piñata and, of course, the culminating fiesta is worth all of the hard work.

Be sure to reinforce Spanish colors and vocabulary such as el papel, las tijeras, los dulces, etc when creating la piñata.

To Create Your Own Piñata you will need:

• 3 cups water

• 2 cups flour

• 1 balloon

• Newspaper cut into long strips

• Colored tissue papaer

• String

How to Make a Piñata:

1. Blow up a large balloon and tie the end

2. Mix the flour and water together until it makes a smooth paste

3. Cut the newspaper into long 1 inch thick strips and dip into the flour/water mixture

4. Carefully place the strips on the balloon until it is covered, leaving a hole at the top

5. Set aside and let the balloon dry

6. Place another layer of newspaper dipped in the mixture over the balloon and let dry

7. Repeat with one or two more layers, making sure you leave the hole at the top

8. When dry, pop the balloon with scissors point and remove the balloon

9. Cut small pieces of colored tissue

10. Scrunch the papers into little pieces and glue all over the piñata

11. If desired, hang colored crepe paper from the sides and bottom

12. Punch 2 small holes in the top near the opening and string a large piece of string through the two holes

13. Fill your piñata (through the hole you left at the top) with candy, toys, or any other fun surprises

14. Get ready for your FIESTA!

Click here to download and print this activity!

Jennifer Manriquez is the founder of The Bilingual Fun Co. and mom of 2 bilingual children. As an educator with a Master’s Degree in Bilingual Education and successful mompreneur, she is passionate about teaching Spanish to children and raising an awareness of early language education. Bilingual Fun is a nationally recognized, award winning program that offers classes tips, advice, and resources for learning Spanish.

We could have picked the shape she wanted from the elephant, dinosaur or pig.  Each box from Curiosity Kits comes with five vibrant colors, decals, stickers and more to help us creatively and easily put together a lovely piñata.  Imagine how proud your child will feel when he finishes this project!

Maybe next year I´ll go crazy and get many kits in all three animals and make it a party game.  Then we´ll have the kids stuff the piñatas with candy and take turns at them, or, more peacefully, have them take their piñatas home as a party favor.  Or I´ll just keep one around for those long rainy days perfectly suitable for some cultural arts + crafts and an improvised indoor piñata fiesta.  Que llueva, que llueva….

Find this Fiesta Elephant Piñata at the online toy store Action Toys, Inc.

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Photo by peasap

I grew up in El Salvador going to Piñatas, not fiestas de cumpleaños, but Piñatas. If you guessed that the smacking of the hanging toy was the main attraction, you’re right. The thing is I don’t remember ever having fun when it was my turn to grab the stick and hit the swinging piñata. I never felt tall enough, strong enough, or maybe I simply was never interested enough.

I was reminded about this feeling of childhood inadequacy last week when I took my toddler to a friend’s second birthday. The fun party had a Venezuelan and a Dora theme. We ate sandwichon for the first time ever and loved it, tried to sing the Venezuelan birthday song (thanks to Marianna for posting the lyrics!), jumped in the Dora bouncer and ran to get in the circle when  it came time to hit the piñata. Camila was loving the giant, crepe-paper Dora.

But then, her nightmare began. She had no idea Dora would get beaten up with a stick by her friends! I had  no idea my daughter was so sensitive. Holding on to my leg, she remained semi-brave watching the scene in front of her, but then, something happened and Dora snapped from the string and fell with a thud to the floor. Oh no! That was it! Camila lost it right there. I had to get her as far as possible from the “crime scene.” She didn’t want to get close to it at all. She wasn’t even interested in the candy I was insisting she have. For some insane reason I wanted to see her madly dashing for candy on all fours, and having fun at it. But my daughter just isn’t into piñatas.

I know, she’s only two. She’ll probably outgrow it, or maybe not. Maybe I was just as sensitive and never outgrew it and that’s why I never enjoyed it. However, I still enjoy the idea of it and the tradition it represents.

I’m sure if it hadn’t been one of her favorite cartoon characters, she wouldn’t have freaked out. I mean, think about it-she dances and sings and talks to Dora on occasions and now she has to see her get shred to pieces. How much are children able to disconnect and disassociate? Many kids were upset, many were not. Does it have to do with their level of connection with the character or are they just able to see it as play, whereas Camila identified it with violence?

Photo by gusdrinks

I don’t mean to be a piñata-pooper. I love the tradition of a piñata and want to have one every year for every occasion. But why do we have to use the image of our children’s favorite amigos as a piñata? What happened to the original seven-pointed star symbolic of the seven sins? At least there’s a point to smashing those to pieces! Or how about a number, a donkey, or even a Star Wars Death Star (for real??)?

The host of the party was concerned that her daughter would also have a melt down at the time of the Dora destruction. She thinks that since her girl went through the whole process of buying the piñata, filling it with candy, lugging her to the park, etc she already understood what was going to happen and was able to enjoy it.

This makes me think there’s still hope for us and many piñata-filled years to come. Camila’s second birthday is coming up next month and I want to start incorporating this tradition. We’ll take baby steps. We’ll start with a more age-appropriate pull-string piñata. Ok, maybe it’s not as fun or loud or destructive but I’ll bet anything pre-schoolers will get a kick out of it. I found this blog, Thingamababy, with great instructions on how to make your own pull-string piñata.

Maybe next year we’ll take it a step further by making our own piñata in some crazy shape.  I’m not a crafty chica, but this could become a good tradition within a tradition. Here’s a good video for that:
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSvgdIOwJ4k&feature=related

Piñataboy is also a good resource for piñata-making instructions and inspirations for different shapes to experiment with.

If you want to know more about the actual tradition of the piñata and where it comes from (would you believe it’s been traced back to China?!) then this is a great read. It will give more meaning to our yearly smash-fest.

But, no matter how much Camila grows to love piñatas and I let go of my childhood fears, I shall never, ever get her a talking piñata that “speaks” every time it gets smacked. Huh?

Have any tips on how to ease a toddler into a piñata-fest?  Any funny stories to share?  Sure you do!

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