Day of the Dead Sugar Skulls Art Project (Dia de Los Muertos)
Day of the Dead (Dia de Los Muertos) is a popular holiday in Mexico at the beginning of November. Many people with Mexican heritage celebrate this holiday where they remember and pay their respects to the dead. Sugar skulls are used during these celebrations.
I was inspired by Elements of the Art Room for this project. See the original blog post here.
Time required: 40-60 minutes
Materials:
White paper (printer weight is fine)
Variety of construction paper colours
Each student will need ~1/2 sheet of black and one full sheet of a background colour
Students will be using various colours to create their designs so I cut the coloured paper into chunks so that they can take a chunk and come back for more if they need, rather than taking a full sheet of every colour they want.
Glue stick
Pencil
Scissors
Steps:
Start by cutting out the head from the white paper. In my two examples, I used two different techniques. On the left I just free handed a shape. On the right, I folded my paper lengthwise, drew and shape and then cut it out to ensure symmetry. Choose any way that works for you!
Choose a coloured background and glue the white skull onto the middle, like a portrait.
Create facial elements for your skull (eyes, mouth, nose)
tip: an upside down heart makes a great skull nose
Create the other decoration elements. Flowers are common decoration so I’ve included some different examples such as the headband, behind the eyes and large ones for the edges.
Choose a shape for the border. It could be circles, rectangles, squares, hearts, or triangles. Use 2-3 colours to make this border.
TIP: Construction paper can be easily dyed by glue. Be careful to only get the glue where it should be. When making the border, I would suggest putting glue on the small piece, rather than making a large swipe on the background and then putting the pieces down. It’s not the end of the world, but it can make it look messier than intended once it dries.
