A Sweet Day of The Dead Craft: Paper Sugar Skulls

I was trying to think of some easy, simple, yet totally fun Halloween projects that yield great results. All of a sudden I saw a James Bond Spectre poster, and there it was… Sugar Skulls! I am a HUGE fan of Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos). Spooky scary skeletons all decked out in sparkles, glitter, and popping in color?! Yes please! So I thought it would be fun to make some paper sugar skulls. The great thing about this project is that you can use whatever you have in your craft drawer. Especially if its colorful and has some sparkle to it! The other great thing is that there are so many different designs that can be made, (just take a look here for some inspiration) I predict you’ll have success with this project whether you’re 3 or 73.

UPDATE: We have a new printable to go along with this fun sugar skull making, if you’d like to sign up to our email list we’ll send it to you as a way of saying thank you! Just enter your name and email below.

So lets get started!

Sugar Skull Supplies:

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Paper – Any color, but try to choose a thicker stock, or watercolor paper, if you plan on glueing and bedazzling a lot
Scissors – and/or exacto knife if you want to cut out the eyes, nose or mouth, or you can color them in black
Decorations – Here’s the fun part, have at it! Some things you might consider would be:
- Markers
- Glitter / Glitter Glue
- Sequins
- Sparkly Jewels
- Pom Poms
- Fake Flowers
- Pipe Cleaners
- Yarn
- Colored or Patterned Paper
Glue – For said decorations

PARENT TIP: If your little creatives love using up all the glue, like mine do, give them a little dish with some glue and an old plastic bristled paint brush or a Q-Tip

Make It:

1. DRAW a simple Skull shape on your paper, then add oval eyes, an upside down heart for a nose, and an oval-ish mouth. Or enter your name and email below to sign up for our email list and we’ll send it to you for free.

2. CUT out your Skull.

PARENT TIP:If your little creatives have never seen a sugar skull, show them some examples of what they look like, by searching google for some examples.

3. DECORATE your skull! Sugar Skulls use lots of flowers, hearts, crosses, swirlies, colors and sparkles, so don’t hold back, go for it!

DISCUSS:How these skulls are a Mexican tradition that are used to help celebrate The Day of The Dead (Dia de Muertos) which focuses on bringing family and friends together to pray and remember those close to us who have died and help support their spiritual journey.

Here are some of the beautiful sugar skulls my family made.

And here are the ones we made with our new printable!

My Take Away:

I love watching my little creatives create. I’ve noticed how Ms. 3yrs and Mr. 5yrs both have different personalities when it comes to creating. Ms. 3 likes a LOT of EVERYTHING, the more the better for her. Mr. 5 likes his work colorful (rainbow if possible) he likes his colors in some sort of order, and he sticks to 1 or 2 (maaayyybe 3) different materials. It’s so interesting how their process of creating mimics their personalities.