FREE Cinco de Mayo: Design Maracas Activity Mats | EYFS & KS1 Printables

FREE Early Years (EYFS & KS1) Cinco de Mayo Activity: ‘Design Your Own Maracas’ Multimats

Get ready to shake up your learning this Cinco de Mayo with our wonderful FREE Cinco de Mayo: Design Maracas Activity Mats! These engaging printables are perfect for EYFS and KS1 children, providing a versatile platform for creative expression, fine motor development, and hands-on learning.

Ideal for Preschool, Nursery, School, or for Parents and Childminders at home, these activity mats are a fantastic way to introduce children to the themes of Cinco de Mayo through art and sensory play.

This versatile resource features:

• A "Design Your Own Maracas" template. Each mat shows a large outline of maracas (one or two), ready to be decorated.

• Multiple Use Options:

  • Laminated & Reusable: Once laminated, these mats are ideal for use as a playdough mat or a loose parts mat, allowing children to press, roll, and arrange materials to design their maracas. They can also be used with whiteboard pens, providing a reusable surface for mark-making and drawing.

  • One-Time Use: Without lamination, the sheets can be used with a variety of mark-making tools (crayons, pens, paint) or with art and craft materials for a fun cut-and-stick collage project.

• Full Colour and Black and White Versions: This offers flexibility to suit your printing needs and allows children to either work with a pre-coloured background or design their own colours from scratch.

(Note: Please use your own discretion and knowledge of your children to ensure appropriateness of each activity suggested on this page and safety concerning any materials given and activity undertaken.)

• 💡 How to use this resource in your classroom/setting

  Our FREE Cinco de Mayo: Design Maracas Activity Mats are incredibly versatile and can be used in a multitude of ways across various early years and KS1 environments:

  • Sensory & Fine Motor Centre: Place laminated mats in a continuous provision area with playdough, pom-poms, beads, buttons, or other small manipulatives. Children can use their fingers or tools like tweezers to arrange the loose parts, strengthening crucial fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

  • Mark-Making Practice: Provide the black and white version with different pens, pencils, or crayons. Children can fill the maraca outlines with patterns, lines, and shapes, practicing their pre-writing and mark-making skills.

  • Art and Craft Activity: Turn it into a collage project! Children can cut and stick colourful paper, tissue paper, fabric scraps, or other craft materials to create vibrant maraca designs.

  • Topic Introduction: Use the mats to introduce the theme of Cinco de Mayo, discussing the role of maracas in music and celebration. This can lead to a listening activity with some traditional Mexican music.

  • Differentiated Learning:

    • EYFS: Focus on the sensory aspect, mark-making, and colour recognition.

    • KS1: Challenge children to create symmetrical patterns, or to write descriptive words about their maracas on the mat itself.

• 🎯 Learning objectives covered - 🐣 EYFS Framework

  EYFS Framework:

  • Expressive Arts and Design: Children explore and use a wide range of media and materials to create their own designs. They develop their own ideas and express creativity through the different ways they decorate their maracas.

  • Physical Development (Fine Motor Skills): The acts of manipulating playdough, arranging loose parts, or using mark-making tools and scissors all strengthen hand muscles, improve dexterity, and enhance hand-eye coordination.

  • Communication and Language: Children can describe their creations, explaining their design choices and the materials they used.

• 🎯 Learning objectives covered - 🐤 KS1 Curriculum

  KS1 Curriculum:

  • Art and Design: Children use a range of materials to design and make products. They can explore colour, pattern, and shape to create their maracas.

  • Design and Technology (indirectly): Designing a product for a specific purpose (decoration) and selecting appropriate materials.

  • Mathematics (Properties of Shape - indirectly): Discussing the symmetrical shape of the maracas and patterns within their designs.

  • Geography/History (indirectly): A starting point for a discussion about a different culture and celebration.

Download our FREE Cinco de Mayo: Design Maracas Activity Mats today and bring a festive, hands-on learning experience to your setting!

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