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Celebrate the vibrant traditions of the Day of the Dead with our delightful paper cup sugar skull craft, designed for kids to create their own colorful and festive sugar skulls.

This hands-on activity allows children to engage in the cultural celebration, learn about the significance of sugar skulls, and express their creativity as they design unique and personalized sugar skull creations to commemorate this special holiday.

The symbol of sugar skulls

Sugar skulls are an important symbol in the celebration of the Day of the Dead.

They represent the idea that death is a natural part of life and should be celebrated. People believe that during Day of the Dead, the spirits of their loved ones come back to visit, and they use the sugar skulls as a way to honor and remember them.

Each sugar skull is unique and can be decorated with bright colors, flowers, and other special designs. Making and sharing sugar skulls is a way for people to show love and respect for their family members and friends who have passed away.

More Day of the Dead crafts for kids

From crafting a colorful Day of the Dead puppet to designing sugar skull headbands and even creating a Dia de Los Muertos spinner , our crafts will immerse preschoolers and older kids in the joyful spirit of this Mexican holiday.

Although normally sugar skulls are made out of sugar or clay, we will use paper cups to make ours. Using markers, kids can draw and design their own sugar skull on the cup, adding colorful patterns, shapes and details.

To make it even more special, they can decorate the top of the cup with a plastic flower, symbolizing the vibrant marigolds used in the Day of the Dead celebrations.

If you don’t have a flower at hand, you can also use a yarn pom pom.

For an extra special touch, you can insert a small battery-operated tea light or glow stick inside the cup, causing the sugar skull to illuminate and glow in the dark.

This creates a mesmerizing effect, making the sugar skull craft a captivating and unique decoration that can be displayed during Dia de Los Muertos celebrations or Halloween parties.

I also added a few holes at the bottom of each paper cup for a more fun effect, but you can skip this step, if you want.

Paper cup sugar skull craft

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Supplies:

• White paper cups
• Pencil
• Markers
• Hole punch
• Plastic flowers
• Hot glue gun
• Battery tealight candle

Step by step instructions

Draw a sugar skull on your paper cup.

It is better to outline the design first with a pencil and then use a black marker.

Make holes at the bottom of the paper cup.( This is optional)

Use colored markers to color the flowers and patterns on your paper cup.

Use a hot glue gun to glue a plastic flower at the top of the paper cup.

Place a flameless candle inside the paper cup to make it glow in the dark.

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