Sugar Skulls

These skull tracings were a great way to incorporate some of our recent Halloween day preparations and some fine motor skill practice into our classroom. Using the light table we identified the different features of a human skull and talked about the parts that were missing and not made out of bone, our ears, our nose, our eyes. While looking at the skull we also decided this person must have taken good care of their teeth because there were a lot of them and they are big!

To expand on this tracing project we opened a dialogue with the classroom about decorating our skulls similar to those associated with Day of the Dead. We spoke to the class about how in some other countries they celebrate the day of the dead and how it is similar to Halloween but also different. The day of the dead is a special day that many people observe to celebrate and remember the people or pets in their life that were special and passed on. We talked a little bit about death and one child told the class how his dog " blue" passed away. We asked what his favorite thing about Blue was and he told us that Blue was a great dog and a good listener who was very good at walking on a leash. Other students participated in the conversation telling stories of animals that they lost. Another child told us that they had not lost anyone in their family but instead that his dad lost a grandpa when he was little. It was a very meaningful conversation and the children took a lot away from it.
We looked at various day of the dead skulls and found different patterns and flowers in each. We also realized that we could make our own from our imagination! Some were spooky and some were pretty. They will be hung up as flags in our classroom as Halloween decorations.
Toward the end of our activity the same boy finished his decorated skull, handed it to me and said, " I made this for Blue" before happily going off to play with his friends.