Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Cinco De Mayo 2012

Happy - Belated - Cinco de Mayo! We had a fancy Girl Scout campout to celebrate. I thought I would share my plans and other items in case you like the idea! Feel free to celebrate with your SU or Council!
MENU:
Mexican French Toast
Walking Tacos / Cheese dip / Veggies & Fruit
Snack - Trail mix with added Coconut, dried fruit and Chocolate
Chili / Grilled cheese / Veggies & Fruit
S'mores
There were a few I things I wanted to serve keeping with the more traditional Mexican theme such as 
snack: Jello and fresh bananas
Kids making homemade Salsa and sopapillas - instead of S'mores
I was, however, overruled...cost or whatever!)


This is the Camp map I created in MS Visio.



This is the Master Schedule for our 5 groups of Scouts. I tried to keep the groups to 18-22 girls and 7-15 adults. I did this in MS Excel.


Some of the fun activities we did are:

Mexican Hat Dance
Supplies:
Sombrero
Authentic music from Mexico
Have the children make a giant circle while holding hands. Explain that when you begin the music they should all begin to walk sideways. When the name of a child is called that child leaves the circle, walks to the middle of the circle and dances around the hat until another child's name is called. They may then rejoin their classmates and the dance continues.


Mexican Loteria or AMIGO 'bingo'
Loteria game is a traditional game from Mexico that is very similar to bingo. Instead of using numbers on ping pong balls, there are different images on a deck of cards. Each student has a card with a grid of pictures that corresponds to the images in the deck of cards. There are four pictures across and four pictures down on the students' grid cards. Teachers draw an image randomly from the deck of cards and call out the name in Spanish. Students match the name of the image called out by placing a marker on their picture grid. When a student has four images in a square, horizontal, vertical or diagonal role, he wins and shouts out "loteria!"
Futbol (soccer)
Soccer, or futbol, is the most popular sport in Mexico. Divide your class into two teams and teach the students the rules of soccer. You can play soccer with as few as three kids per side, but the standard rules are 11 children per team. Teach kids to dribble, pass and master the art of soccer. Students can compete in a friendly game that is the national pastime of Mexico.
Papel Picado
Spanish for cut paper, is a typical Mexican craft that appears throughout the country during festivals and fiestas.  It involves cutting out intricate patterns in colored tissue paper and stringing up the sheets to decorate your home or garden. 
The tradition of papel picado can be traced to the indigenous cultures of Mesoamerica, who cut images of deities into their homemade bark paper, also known as Papel Amate.  The indigenous Otomi continue this tradition with bark paper today.  The village of San Pabilto in the state of Puebla is especially famous for bark paper cutouts.  In the rest of the country, plastic or tissue paper are the most common materials for making papel picado.
San Salvado Huixcolotla in the state of Puebla is where you can find the best and most elaborate papel picado made from tissue paper. 
Materials needed:
Tissue Paper
Scissors
Elmer’s Glue
String
Instructions:
To make your own papel picado, buy sheets of tissue paper in several different colors.  Papel picado can vary greatly in size, but a good size to start with is an 11 inch by 16 inch sheet. 
Take your tissue paper and place it horizontally on the table.  Next, take the bottom edge of the paper of the paper and fold it about an inch up.  Next, continue to fold the paper as if you were making an accordion until you can’t fold the paper anymore. 
Now, take your scissors and cut different designs along the folded edge of the paper.  Make sure not to cut on the sharp edge of the paper that hasn’t been folded. Open you paper to see your design!
Mexican Mask
The use of mask in Mexico dates back to pre-Hispanic times.  Masks representing animals were commonly used in ritual dances throughout Mexico and Mesoamerica.  With the arrival of the Spanish, new customs and traditions mixed with indigenous ones to create a diverse world of culture, dance and ritual. Mexican masks are made of anything from coconut shells, to carved wood, to dried, baked clay. We used Plastic Half masks and used sharpies on them. Then glued feathers, jewels and other bling-bling to them!
Pull String Pinata 
Make a paper bag pinata for your next fiesta party. It's easy and of course lots of fun to play at your party. This version uses a "pull string" to get the candy and treats from the bag so nobody gets whacked with a stick trying to break open the pinata.
Materials
Brown paper bag
Tissue Paper
Ribbon or String
Craft Glue
Stapler
Small toys, candy and wrapped treats.
Make the Pull String
Carefully cut a section from the bottom of the paper bag, leaving at least 2 inches of the bottom intact. Cut a 48-inch piece of string or sturdy ribbon and place the center inside the hold. Glue on a layer of tissue paper to fit the bottom of the bag, taking care to leave the ends of string free but glued onto the bottom. Glue on several more layers of tissue to the bottom of the bag to create a new bag bottom. This will make a quick-release rippable pinata bottom that you can use for the game instead of breaking open the pinata with a stick.
Fill the Pinata Body
Cut pieces of colorful tissue paper into strips and shapes about 6 inches long. Slightly scrunch these pieces and use as confetti-type filling in a layer at the bottom of the bag. You can also add glitter confetti and ribbons to the mixture.
Add a layer of toys, treats or candy, then another layer of confetti filling.
Alternate confetti and toys layers until the bag is almost full. Don't pack down too much as you fill the pinata. Keep it light and fluffy.
Add a Hanging Cord
Staple a length of string or sturdy ribbon into the top of the bag, then fold over slightly and staple the top of the bag closed. This will be the hanging cord for the pinata.
Decorate the Pinata
Separate different colored tissue paper pieces into 4 sheet stacks, keeping layers folded the same way as they came in the package, or fold into thirds the long way.
Cut through the folded layers to make strips of tissue paper about 6 inches deep, then cut 4-inch slits about 3 inches apart all along the long edges - you're creating "fringe" from each of the bands of tissue paper. Separate the fringe bands carefully.
When you've finished making the fringe, glue the bands around the bag, starting at the bottom and working upward in layers, leaving the fringe parts free.
Alternate colors and continue working your way around the bag and up to the top. Finish off by stapling a fringe section over the top of the bag, working around the hanging cord. Glue any other paper streamers or decorations you like to the outside of the pinata bag.
When all the glue is dry, hang the pinata from a tree branch or doorway and prepare children for the pinata game.

Paper Flowers
To make Mexican paper flowers, layer several colors of paper on top of each other, fold the entire stack in a fan fold, attach them to a wire pip cleaner, and fan out the petals into a nice shape.

Ojo De Dias aka "God's Eye"
A craft from the Huichol tribe of Mexico, kids can easily create many of these colorful God's Eyes with Popsicle sticks and yarn.
What you'll need:
String or yarn in several colors
2 Popsicle or craft sticks
Glue
Scissors
How to make it:
1. Glue the two craft sticks together in a cross.
2. Take one color of yarn and wrap it over and around one stick, then over and around the next, over and around the next, and so 
on. Keep doing that until the color is used up. 
3. Tie a different color string onto the old one with 
a tight knot. 
4. Repeat steps 2 + 3 until complete.
5. Take a piece of string for a hanger, cut it, and tie or glue it to your God's Eye. Hang it up in your room to enjoy.

We bought small wooden plain maracas for them to 'sharpie' decorate.
We cut out of donated fabric ponchos and let then 'sharpie' decorate them too.
We also took time have them to KP duty in the kitchen and rest more than one SEISTAS for rest!
I made sure to have rainy day games in case we got rained out we did not thank goodness!!
Benito Juarez Says
How To Play:
Before playing explain to the children that Benito Juarez, a Zapotec Indian, was born and raised in extreme poverty. With hard work, determination, and strong love for his country, Juarez became the president of Mexico and defeated the French, who had occupied the country for five years.
Played similar to Simon Says. The player up is "Benito Juarez". Player will say "Benito Juarez says hop on one foot". The children will hop on one foot. Player will say "Stop". The children are to keep hopping on one foot until player says "Benito Juarez says stop". Repeat for additional activities such as take one baby step forward, step backwards, turn around, sit down. Sometimes Benito Juarez will say "Benito Juarez says" and sometimes he won't. It's a fun game to play with young children.
Remember, most games can be adapted to all ages of children with a bit of creative thinking. Also, if you choose to play a game that requires teams and you have an odd number of children, one person will need to go twice. Ask for a volunteer and if one doesn't surface you might want to leave it up to the team to choose who they think will be the fastest.
Pass The Chili Pepper
Supplies:
Pillow chili pepper for each team.
How To Play:
Children divide into two teams. Give each team a chili pepper pillow the size of an orange. On your mark, the first child puts the pillow between their chin and neck and passes it to the next player. Here's the catch, players may only use their heads to pass (no hands or teeth allowed). The process continues to the last person in line and then reverses sending the pillow back to the first player in line. The first team to complete the game wins.
La Gallinita Ciega (The Blind Hen)
La Gallinita Ciega (The Blind Hen) is a game of tag that is played by children in Mexico. Three or more children are needed to play this game. Choose one child and cover her eyes so she cannot see, which makes her the blind hen. Spin her around and set her loose. The other children call out to the blind hen by saying things such as, "Come and get me." The object of the game is for the blind hen to find all the other children and tag them while she is unable to see. There are no time restrictions; the game is finished when the children no longer want to play.

Overall it was brilliant and all the planning played out so I was happy and tired afterward...
aMiE

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