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Mexican Paper Marigolds for “Day of the Dead”

By Cheryl Trowbridge 14 Comments

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How to Make Easy Mexican Paper Marigolds for Day of the Dead“Day of the Dead” is a traditional Mexican holiday for honoring ancestors and loved ones who have died, and is celebrated each year on November 1st & 2nd. This festive, family-centered holiday celebrates the cycle of life and highlights the Mexican peoples’ general acceptance, rather than fear, of death. Colorful marigolds are a regular feature adorning the altars or “ofrendas” set up for honoring loved ones. These Mexican paper marigolds are super-easy and FUN to make! You’ll be amazed by how great they turn out!
 

It’s easy to make your own Mexican paper marigolds!

Materials:

  • one sheet of orange tissue paper per flower
  • one green chenille stem (pipe cleaner) per flower
  • scissors

Directions:

1. Fold the long edge of your tissue paper in half, so that the short ends meet.
2. Fold it in half again, the same direction. You should have a long, skinny rectangle.
3. With one of the short ends facing you, accordion fold this rectangle into folds that are ½” to 1” wide.
4. Next, twist a pipe cleaner around the middle of your folded accordion, twisting the ends into a stem.
5. Cut about ¼” off each end, then cut a “V” shape into each of the ends.
6. Pull out your accordion so that it forms a circle.
7. Carefully pull up the first layer of tissue paper as far up as it will go, all around the circle.
8. Repeat with each layer until your flower is fluffy and full.

For Cinco de Mayo decor (or any festive occasion), try creating lots of these Mexican paper marigolds in a variety of colors. You can even join two halves together to make a sphere to hang outside or from the ceiling.
 
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Filed Under: 3D / Sculpture, Day of the Dead / Dia de los Muertos, Holiday / Event, Lessons, Mexico, Multicultural, Paper Tagged With: Mexico, multicultural art, paper

Comments

  1. Travis says

    at

    How big is your 1 piece of tissue paper?

    Reply
  2. TeachKidsArt says

    at

    Just the standard 20″x30″, straight out of the package!

    Reply
  3. Anonymous says

    at

    thanks. Great blog by the way. I'm a K-4 Spanish teacher in Santa Barbara and these projects are great.

    Reply
    • Anónimo says

      at

      All looks good. Will try this, too.
      K-5 Spanish in Massachusetts
      :-)

      Reply
  4. some random 7th grader says

    at

    So could you do this without the tissue paper and use regular colored paper?

    Reply
    • Cheryl Trowbridge says

      at

      I actually haven’t tried it with regular paper. I think it would be too thick to fold easily and would be really hard to pull the layers apart to fluff it out. But why not try it if you’re curious? Let us know how it goes!!

      Reply
  5. Sam says

    at

    Could you make these with crepe paper? If so, how big do I need to cut off the roll? We have lots of crepe paper to make use of and these look wonderful.

    Reply
    • Cheryl Trowbridge says

      at

      I haven’t tried making these with crepe paper, but it would depend on how wide the crepe paper is and if you could make enough folds to give the flowers their fluffiness. The paper I used was 20″ x 26″. Since you have a lot of it, why not experiment? Give it a try and let us know how it goes!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Day of the Dead / Dia de los Muertos Projects | TeachKidsArt says:
    at

    […] Paper Marigolds […]

    Reply
  2. 7 Dia de los Muertos activities with your kids says:
    at

    […] scissors, and a few pieces of wire or pipe cleaners. Take a look at this how-to video. Or visit Teach Kids Art for some simple […]

    Reply
  3. 5 Easy Dia de los Muertos Decorations For Kids says:
    at

    […] Marigolds are referred to as “the flower of the dead” and you’ll often see them in Day of the Dead art and altars. These are beautiful, cheap and easy to make. […]

    Reply
  4. World-Schooling: Dia de Los Muertos Crafts for Kids Discover Share Inspire says:
    at

    […] So we decided to make our own tissue paper marigolds (you can find instructions for making them here.) […]

    Reply
  5. 41 Día De Los Muertos Activities For The Whole Family | Sharing Interesting Stuff, Updates News & Free Tips says:
    at

    […] teachkidsart.net […]

    Reply
  6. 10 ways to Celebrate Mexico's Day of the Dead, with Kids (Part 2) - globetotting.com says:
    at

    […] Get your kids some tissue paper and follow theses instructions from Kids Art. […]

    Reply

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