Day Of The Dead

Day of the Dead was one of my favorite cultural studies in school and I wanted to share that fun with my students. In September we introduced the idea of Air Dry Clay and many students' projects were unsuccessful for various reasons. So I wanted to take the chance to reteach. When I did this project with my elementary students in the past, we used Crayola Model Magic but since we are in middle school, I wanted a little bit more difficulty. 

Now, our school is on a very tight budget. I actually purchased all the supplies for this project out of pocket. The supply list is as follows: 

- Aluminum foil

- Air Dry Clay 

- Acrylic Paint

- Puff Paint Pens 

- Sequins, Colorful Foils, embellishments (optional)

I started with a lesson on Day of the Dead and let the kids watch a special on Sugar Skulls from the Food Network. 

We had already covered the principles of Balance, Variety, and Emphasis so with these Principles in mind I gave them a paper template of a sugar skull and asked them to make a design. They had to chose something to emphasize, they had to use a variety of lines and shapes and designs, and their skull had to be symmetrical. When their paper copy was complete, we started building our clay. 

Because we are low in budget, giving each student enough clay for an entire skull was not possible. Instead I used an aluminum center technique. 

Students created an air ball of aluminum foil. I emphasize that you do not want your aluminum foil to be a tight small ball. Instead, imagine trapping air into a ball so it's light and puffy. 

Then I give them their clay. They need to flatten their clay like a pancake. When it is smooth and flat, they cover their air ball of aluminum with their clay. 

They need to smooth out their clay so their are no wrinkles or cracks. Any wrinkles or cracks will dry and can cause the skull to fall apart. 

Then they create their skull shape. The more air in the aluminum foil ball, the more flexibility to create their desired shape. If the aluminum is a tight ball, then your options are much more limited. 

Then we left them to dry overnight. 

Students were allowed to pain their skulls any color the next day or they could leave the natural white clay color. Once they had a strong base color, they added embellishments with Puff Paint Pens or paint. 

Students were able to come to art club afterschool and add foil or sequins or glitter but I unfortunately forgot to take pictures! 

Here are some of the results: