A few years ago, I hosted a Cinco de Mayo playdate complete with snacks and crafts. It was a big hit and thought it would be helpful to share the Cinco de Mayo crafts and snacks all in one place. To start the playdate, we read Dragons Love Tacos because tacos are the best way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, right? Not to mention, my kids and I love that book. After we read the book and made a few healthy snacks with avocados and beans and then got our Cinco de Mayo crafts on!
1. Paper plate tacos
These cute paper plate tacos are fun to make and even better to decorate with if you’re hosting a party! Best part? The kids can make them for you!
Here’s what you need to make paper plate tacos
- 1 paper plate per taco
- crayons (or paint or markers)
- brown paper bags
- red construction paper
- green shredded packing supplies (or easter basket grass or green paper)
- a stapler
The taco is literally as simple as letting the kiddos color or paint the paper plate brown. Next, fill the taco with your favorite toppings and staple the paper plate shut so that your toppings stay inside of the taco. You can see the middle taco has black beans on it, the top taco has hole punched red tomatoes, and the bottom taco has giant slices of tomatoes. Let the kiddos use their imagination. Heck, you can add broccoli and gummi worms, if they’re feeling it! And clearly whatever you do, do not add any spicy salsa! (If you’ve never read the book, dragons hate spicy salsa.)
2. Taco cookies
After you make paper plate tacos, it’s time to whip up some sugar cookie tacos! As I was planning our Cinco de Mayo playdate, I came across this adorable taco cookie bar from Alana Jones-Mann and had to try a kid friendly version.
Here’s what you need to make taco cookies
- Store bought sugar cookie dough
- Coconut
- Green food coloring
- Oreos
- Whipped cream
- Dots
The trickiest part of sugar cookie tacos is shaping the cookies into taco form. Don’t laugh, but there is no way to get a pretty picture of this situation. To shape the cookies, I covered a broomstick in tin foil and laid the cookies over the broomstick handle to cool. I wish I had a secret trick to share and tell you that if you do this every cookie will be perfect, every time. Alas, that was not the case!
Tips for shaping the sugar cookie tacos
- Since all ovens are different, test 1-2 cookies first so that you don’t ruin a whole batch.
- Undercook the cookies just a little bit and then let cookies cool for one minute before shaping them over your broom stick.
- You don’t want your cookie to thin or too thick, it needs to be just right so that it doesn’t crumble.
- Some cookies will crumble, use those for your “taco salad”!
After you get the cookies shaped, you need to get the toppings together.
Sugar cookie taco toppings
After you get the cookies shaped, you need to get the toppings together.
- Meat or beans: Place 10 or so Oreos in a zip lock bag and let a kiddo crush them up.
- Sour cream: I bought whipping cream in a spray bottle for easy use.
- Lettuce: Mix green food coloring with coconut.
- Cheese and Tomatoes: Cut Dots into strips for cheese and circles for tomatoes!
Then the really fun part, putting together your taco and eating it!
3. Cinco de Mayo inspired dips
The kids enjoyed ogling and eating these creative creators made out of dip! I made a cactus, sombrero, and, of course, a dragon from the book! Here are the complete details on the Cinco de Mayo snack ideas.
And just because I’m curious, I had to look into the meaning of Cinco de Mayo. What the heck are we celebrating anyway? Cinco de Mayo is also called the Battle of Puebla day when Mexico defeated the French army. This battle catapulted the resistance movement for the Mexican government and 5 yers later, the French finally withdrew their troops from Mexico. Find lots more information about Cinco de Mayo and why we celebrate it in the United States here.
Happy Cinco de Mayo crafting and eating!
The sugar cookie tacos are absolutely adorable….and genius! I had to stop by to see what they were made from because they looked so much like a meat taco. Cute, cute, cute!