This little third grade Dia de Los Muertos project was enjoyed by my third graders and by me, too!
I love Crayola Color Sticks – they can be a nice alternative to oil pastels when you don’t need to blend colors and don’t want the awful fingerprints all over the nice pictures. No need to sharpen, peel, or wash off and they keep working even when they break. šš¼
I found the idea here and we made it our own. Thanks, Ms. Kristen!
We used paint only to made the skeleton. While that was drying, we glued the squares for the border. The second class we added the facial details and flowers with the color sticks. Voila!
Ps – I love how commonplace Day of the Dead has become. The kids totally get the idea behind it and love sharing their own memories of lost loved ones with their class. The symbolism is meaningful, colorful, and fun and I think one of the most important lessons we learn in life is to remember our history, be grateful that it happened, and celebrate the good times instead of hanging onto the sad.
tinyartroom 
Dear Tiny,
A) thanks for posting. These are wonderful.
B) I love how we as art teachers get to touch upon life and death with students. ‘Is the artist dead or alive?’ ‘ how’d they die?’ Recently we are talking about Van Gogh and the biography from our library stated he committed suicide, and was in a hospital for his mental illness. Totally allows a chance to visit areas so difficult to broach. Good work!
C) color sticks my favored medium lately!
Thanks for sharing such great ideas! And thanks for allowing us to honor our forefathers in such a cool project.