Cinco De Mayo Celebrations in the Classroom

Cinco de Mayo is celebrated on May 5th but can be celebrated all month long too! Today’s blog post is all about Cinco De May celebrations in the classroom.

If you are looking for general tips about holidays in the classroom, check out an old post HERE. For other May ideas visit my May category on my blog! For other seasonal activities, consider May Binder Tasks, May Directed Drawing, or May Vocabulary Activities.

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What Is Cinco De Mayo?

What is Cinco De Mayo? It is way more than a piñata and candy. Introduce the holiday to the students using this simple social story so that students understand the true meaning of the holiday. This social story can be printed or projected and introduced during morning meeting or whole group lesson.

How To Manage Behaviors On Cinco De Mayo

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. School holiday celebrations can often times bring on some challenging student behaviors. Prep students ahead of time by reviewing some of these behavior basics so that all students are successful!

School Celebrations: This lesson is kind of a given if your school celebrates holidays. If you are having a celebration or performance the routine is going to be different. Review expectations before the celebrations begin!
Sharing: Are you doing a piñata? Candy? Teach kiddos to share so everyone gets an equal amount!
Personal Space: Are you doing a piñata? Once the candy explodes it might be a free for all! It is important to teach students to respect personal space of their peers during this fun activity!
I Will not Throw things: : Pinatas and celebrations can be exciting. Remind students the importance of staying calm and not throwing things during the fun celebration!
Taking Turns: This lesson is important for school celebrations because often times with celebrations come fun activities. These activities typically require sharing and taking turns with peers.
Changes in School: Like all holiday celebrations, many routines change. It is important to review with students ahead of time the important of flexible thinking and tolerating the changes in schedule due to the celebration!

Cinco De Mayo Picture Books

These four books below are SO DANG cute to read during your Cinco De Mayo celebrations in the classroom.

Celebrating Cinco De Mayo by Sandi Hill
Chicks and Salsa by Aaron Reynolds
Cinco De Mayo by Emma Carlson Berne
Cinco De Mouse O! by Judy Cox

Communication on

If you are planning any Cinco de Mayo celebrations, don’t forget to plan for communication. Whether students are verbal, limited speaking or non-verbal, communication opportunities should be planned with your lessons. These visual communication boards can help your students build their Cinco De Mayo vocabulary.

Cinco De Mayo Videos and Songs

Incorporating songs and videos into your holiday celebration helps kiddos generalize the holiday vocabulary and themes. This is a cute little video for Cinco de Mayo!

For Cinco de Mayo, this counting by 5 song is a great way to get your kids up and moving!

Cinco De Mayo Goodies

I am linking some Cinco De Mayo goodies I found that can help you have a fun celebration in the classroom.

Cinco De Mayo Crafts and Sensory Activities

Below are some fun ideas for the holiday that I wanted to share with you! Click on each image to be taken to the original author for more information!

I love this Flag of Mexico slime idea from Steamsational!

This fork painting cactus craft is to die for cute from Preschool Playbook!

Holidays can be a blast in the classroom if planned out ahead of time. I know this blog post is full of all sorts of goodies, and I completely understand if you can’t incorporate all of these ideas every year. I do hope you found some of these tips and tricks helpful for this holiday season. If you plan on discussing more holidays this year, check out my Holiday social stories discounted bundle!