Mardi Gras....do YOU know what it's about?

A couple of years ago I was curious about why there is Mardi Gras and what it's all about. I looked up the history and traditions and decided it would be something fun to participate in...of course in our OWN way. last year I pretty much just dressed the kids in Mardi Gras colors, purple gold and green, but this year since we are doing homeschool, I thought it would be fun to use it as our theme that day. It was actualy on Tuesday, but since tuesday is cleaning day, and since we were celebrating St Patricks on Thursday, we moved our Mardi Gras to WEdnesday.

I had found many ideas and activities all over the web but most from this site.

We incorporated it into our reading, writing, math, science and art! It was really fun and the kids sure seemed to enjoy it!

One fun activity was making King Cake.

Here is how we made it!

First the kids got to choose a color (purple, gold, or green) to turn their sugar into.

  

Then we took our premade tubed cinnamon rolls, unraveled them and braided them together, laying them out on a pan in an oval.



We had two extra rolls that I stuck on there and then the kids said it looked like Mickey MOuse!

then when it was done baking, you cover with the icing, sprinkle on your sugar and you are done! The kids (okay and I helped) at the entire thing! They loved it!




The next activity was macaroni necklaces. WE decided to be a little different with the coloring of our macaroni so we painted them! Each kid got a little conatainer with some paint, poured in some noodles and then with the lid on tight they shook it up! It worked pretty good!







Next we let the macaroni dry on a lined cookie sheet. I did have to seperate a few that stuck together, but it wasn't that big of a deal





then using boondoggle (i have no idea if that's spelled correctly) we strung macaroni necklaces! The macaroni was too curvy and kinda hard to use, but we made it work.

 

Last we made maracas with paper plates, beans and streamers.

 
I guess I don't have it pictured, but Maliyah's turned out awesome! She colored her paper plate really neat...It's one project I hate to throw away. (like I throw away ANYTHING My kids created).

Overall it was a fun day, the kids dont remember a bit of the history of mardi gras or why it's held...and that's really okay. It's an interesting concept to comprehend for preschool and kindergartners!