October Art Class

I have 8 kids that come to class each month and they rarely miss a class! We have a lot of fun and create something neat as well! I must say that the kids are so well behaved and respectful that it is a pleasure teaching them.

This month I decided to do an art project on the holiday "The Day of The Dead."

Some might say ... "that isn't appropriate" or "skeletons!" or "we don't do Halloween." I say that everyone has their own thoughts and ideas for things. I however, don't think like most. I am pretty open for the most part and think very abstractly. You can still learn about things and to me it is how you can see a different side of things. Some people freak out over Halloween. I don't think it is bad or devilish. If you look up how Halloween started it is a very interesting story that some people take the wrong way.

Today, we learned of how the Latinos celebrate their most popular holiday "The Day of The Dead" and how special it is to them. It isn't morbid at all or depressing. It is a 3 day celebration to remember their loved ones by decorating skulls in bright and beautiful colors and designs and feasting.

It is a time of happiness not sadness.

(The wonderful completed projects)

The kids worked very hard. First, they traced the skeleton and we learned about making half of something ... like the flowers on the side of the head. They were to create the same designs that was on one side to the other. They were to color in with marker in a nice solid way with no scratchy rushy looking coloring. Afterwards, they used orange chalk and a cotton ball to give depth around the forehead, cheeks and chin areas. Finally, they mounted their project onto black card stock for a more finished look.


(The gang)

We all wore costumes and of course I was a very pale, blonde Latino woman. We played a couple of games, handed out treats to each other, ate lots of yummy food and just socialized. Ha, I love that term "socialization!"