Cinco De Mayo is a very entertaining and educational day where people celebrate the Hispanic heritage. Cinco De Mayo happens on the fifth day of May and is celebrated by music, food and dance within the Hispanic communities around the world. If you want to make an easy craft to help celebrate Cinco De Mayo, then you might want to try the maracas. Maracas are a big part of Hispanic culture because they are one of the many unique instruments used in Spanish music.
In order to make maracas for your Cinco De Mayo craft you are going to need two Styrofoam cups, glue, acrylic paint in red or white and also some dried beans. The first thing you want to do is make the cups decorative for the spirit of the Cinco De Mayo holiday by painting the cups in red and other festive colors. You can add any color combination to your cups and can even use glitter or other craft supplies. You can gather all of your craft supplies at your local craft store for about 10 dollars. Once you have painted the cups and decorated them, they need to dry for at least six hours before moving on to the next step. I prefer to paint the bottom of the cups red as well as the middle of the cups and then use white paint in the middle, it looks best if the red paint is at the bottom.
After the paint is dry you can then add a scoopful of dried beans into one of the cups, maybe fill the cup halfway with the dried beans. The cup with the beans should be placed on a flat surface which will make it easier when it comes time to glue the cups together. Using a hot glue gun or normal craft glue, go around the edge of the cup with the beans in it. Take the empty cup and sit it on top of the glue and hold the cup down firmly for about one minute or until it is dry. You need to make sure that when you are placing the empty cup on the glue that you have the cups lined up properly or else the maraca will not work right.
You can now add any final decorations you want to the maraca craft such as ribbons or string. You can use a ribbon in festive Cinco De Mayo colors around the middle of the cups where the glue was so that the glue is not visible or leaking. There are a lot of interesting ideas you can do with the maracas to add a final touch and really it is up to you how you want to place the final decorations. Allow the finished product to dry overnight to make sure the glue is set and that all of your decorations are properly secured. Once you have let the maracas dry overnight, you can then proceed to shake them around for a simple maraca craft. This is a very easy and fun craft for Cinco De Mayo because it involves little effort and is easy enough for even children to do. If you want to celebrate Cinco De Mayo and make a craft that directly ties into the Hispanic culture, the maraca craft is a good choice.
