Mardi Gras brings forth a lot of delicious cuisines, rejuvenating parades, and music 🎶 that will make little ones dance 🕺 to their fullest.
Mardi Gras, also popularly known as ‘Fat Tuesday,’ also means all of us will enjoy celebrations in shades of gold, green, and purple.
Mardi Gras activities for kids give my little ones a great opportunity ✅️ to connect with traditions, festivities, and bags full of happiness.
Therefore, I make sure never to skip Mardi Gras activities by making these activities as engaging and interesting as possible for my little ones.
Interesting Ideal Mardi Gras Activities for Kids
When my little ones are engaging in Mardi Gras activities, I make sure the whole aim 🧐 of the
activity is not to entertain them only.
Read on to learn about the list of Mardi Gras activities that help my little ones polish their motor skills 💪, cognitive abilities, and overall development.
Mardi Gras Mask
The colorful Mardi Gras Mask decorated with accessories, embellishments, and vibrant colors 🎨 is one of the very first things that grabs the interest of my little ones.
Here are a few simple steps in which you can easily make a lovely Mardi Gras mask for your little one.
What you need-
Colorful paper plates, printed outlines of Mardi Gras masks, paint 🎨, crayons, pencil colors, marker pens, feathers, gems, accessories, glitter, sparkles, a pair of scissors, embellishments, glue, and thread.
Steps:
- I teach my little ones how to cut ✂️ along the outline of a printed Mardi Gras Mask cautiously utilizing a pair of scissors.
- We decorate this cutout of a mask with everything that gives out the vibe of 🕺 festivities.
- My little ones paint the mask with vibrant and eye-catching colors in the form of various patterns. We utilize crayons, acrylic colors 🎨, and pencil colors to make the mask look unique and rich in colors.
- We use embellishments, accessories, feathers, and gems to add a magnificent effect to the mask.
- We add the final touch with a dash of glitter, sparkles, and a fancy thread tied to the ends of the mask to provide support in wearing it.
- You can also use colorful marker pens to draw the outlines of the Mardi Gras mask on a paper plate and then proceed to decorate it.
Important Note:
Please be extremely careful while teaching your little ones how to utilize a pair of scissors for any activity to avoid any kind of accident.
Let’s Make A Jester Hat
Another aspect of this vibrant occasion is Jester Hats, and my son absolutely loves wearing these colorful hats.
Here are a few easy and simple steps following which you can make amazing jester hats for your little ones.
What you need–
Colorful chart papers (mostly in the shades of golden, green, and purple), a pair of scissors ✂️, thread, and glue.
Steps:
- I teach my little ones how to cut ✂️ along the outlines of isosceles triangles 🔺️ drawn on various shades of chart paper by cautiously utilizing a pair of scissors.
- I make sure that the measurements of the isosceles sides are comparatively longer than the measurement of the base of the isosceles triangle. Make sure the measurements of all the triangles 🔺️ are the same.
- Following this step, I teach my little ones how to cut ✂️ along the outline of a rectangle on a piece of chart paper by cautiously utilizing a pair of scissors.
- I make sure that the length of this rectangle is long enough to help wrap it around my little one’s head.
- My little ones and I use craft glue or transparent tape to stick the triangular cutouts side by side along the base of these triangles on the rectangular strip of paper.
- We add tiny circular 🟡 cutouts of various colors on the edges of the triangles where the two isosceles sides meet.
- We curl these triangles 🔺️ slightly towards the outer side to create a better effect.
- Our jester crown is ready , and I tie it around my little one’s head using a piece of thread or glue.
Important Note:
Please be extremely careful while teaching your little ones how to utilize a pair of scissors for any activity to avoid any kind of accident.
Make A Mardi Gras Tambourine
Is it possible to enjoy Mardi Gras to the fullest without a tambourine?
Obviously not.
Read on to discover the simple and easy steps following which we make a beautiful Mardi Gras Tambourine at home.
What you need-
A stapler, a pair of scissors, paper plates, Mardi Gras beads, and ribbons.
Steps:
- My little ones and I take a bunch of Mardi Gras beads and segregate them into three sections, each section consisting of 12 beads.
- We utilize beads of three different colors and suitable colorful paper plates to create a more vibrant and festive-looking 🎉 tambourine.
- I carefully create snips on the outer edge of the colorful paper plates with gaps of about one inch covering up half of the circumference of the paper plate.
- I take a colorful string, put a bead on it, and insert it in the first snip from any side of the paper plate such that one bead lies at the backside of the colorful paper plate. I string the rest of the 11 beads towards the front of the paper plate.
- I skip out the second snip (the snip following the first snip on the paper plate) and move on to the third snip.
- I loop the same section of the beaded string that was cut to the third snip in a similar way, such that one bead lies behind the paper plate and the remaining 11 beads lie in front of the paper plate.
- We repeat these steps with the rest of the beaded strings with mixed or alternating colors.
- After we have inserted all the beaded strings 🟡in the snips, I thread a beautiful ribbon through all the snips present on the circumference of the paper plate.
- To achieve our aim of making a tambourine, we staple snipped segments of the colorful paper plates together to make sure that the ribbons and beads remain in place.
Pro Tip
If you don’t have beads at home, you can use colorful duct tape by rolling it in the form of cylindrical tubes and inserting it into the string.
Make Mardi Gras Noisemakers
Mardi Gras noisemakers are the favorite of little ones who love dancing 🕺 to their own tune.
The way we make Mardi Gras noisemakers at home is an amazing way ✅️ to upcycle empty plastic bottles.
What you need–
Empty plastic water bottles, acrylic colors 🎨, rice, grains, cereal, or pieces of pasta, embellishments, accessories, glue, and glitter.
Steps:
- My little ones and I place cereal, rice, grains, or pieces of pasta in separate bowls and pour vibrant golden, green, or yellow shades of paint on them before mixing them up properly (if your little one likes other shades of paint, then you can utilize those shades of acrylic colors too.
- I teach my little students to mix the contents in every bowl 🥣 for a minute and put it away for the acrylic colors to dry up so that the pieces of pasta, grains, cereal, or rice are available in the chosen shades of paint.
- My little ones are encouraged to decorate the empty plastic water bottles with acrylic colors 🎨, embellishments, accessories, and glitter on the outer side.
- We put in the colorful rice, grains, pieces of pasta, or cereal that we had prepared in the empty water bottle and fastened the cap.
- My little ones love to shake these beautiful Mardi Gras noisemakers and dance 💃 away to their own tune.
Mardi Gras Sensory Tub
Now, this Mardi Gras sensory activity is a staple during festivities in almost every household.
Sensory activities should always be included frequently in all forms of activities because these activities play a valuable role in the overall development of my little ones.
Therefore, I never skip out on this ideal Mardi Gras sensory 👏 activity.
What you need–
A tub full of flour, vegetable oil, Mardi Gras-themed accessories, and everything related to the festivities of Mardi Gras.
Steps:
- I ask my little ones to utilize their thinking abilities and name any five things that come to their mind when they think about Mardi Gras.
- I place those five things related to Mardi Gras in a plastic tub containing a mixture of a bottle of vegetable oil and a suitable amount of flour.
- I teach my little ones to utilize their hands ✋️ while searching for those Mardi Gras items in the sensory tub, thereby polishing ✅️ their sensory skills.
Pro Tip
You can also mix up slime in shades of golden, purple, or green to make a perfect Mardi Gras-themed slime for your little ones.
Mardi Gras Sweet Delicacies
Mardi Gras brings a wonderful opportunity to enjoy delectable delicacies along with a festive vibe.
Here are a few ways of celebrating Mardi Gras-themed edible items with your little ones.
My little ones love gorging on Mardi Gras-themed cupcakes 🧁 and ‘King Cakes’ available in shades of green, golden, and purple.
The delicious icing on the top in the shades of golden, purple, and green was a big hit during the festivities.
I insert creams in shades of vibrant colors (by mixing edible food coloring with white cream) in piping bags and often guide them to create the various patterns of Mardi Gras on all the cupcakes.
Teaching my little ones how to use a piping bag to create a sequential Mardi Gras-themed pattern demands a lot of concentration. Hence, this Mardi Gras-themed activity is extremely good for aiding to enhance the concentration 🧠 of my little ones.
I also teach my little ones how to create terrific Mardi Gras-themed patterns with the help of colorful creams in a piping bag on slices of bread 🍞 , yummy cookies, or delicious scoops of ice cream.
Read Books About Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras also brings forth the opportunity to read amazing books related to this occasion.
Here are a few Mardi Gras-themed books 📚 my little ones and I love to read:
The Bourbon Street Band Is Back
Delphine Denise and the Mardi Gras Prize
The Little Purple Mardi Gras Bead
Mardi Gras Almost Didn’t Come This Year
Timothy Hubble and the King Cake Party
Spy Boy, Cheyenne, and Ninety-Six Crayon: A “Mardi Gras” Indian’s Story
The Great Festival of the Mardi Gras
Jenny Giraffe’s Mardi Gras Ride
Randolph solves the Mardi Gras Mystery
When the Morning Comes: A Mardi Gras Indian Story
Important Note:
I will advise all parents to carefully go through the contents of any book 📖 before allowing their little ones to read it just to be aware that the contents of the books are suitable according to the age group of your little ones.
Conclusion
The Mardi Gras activities are an opportunity for learning new things as well as enjoying a lot of interesting craft activities. I hope these activities will add to the festive joy and excitement of your family.
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Rashmi Panchal
I’m a former teacher (and mother of Two Childs) with a background in child development. I’m here to help you with play-based learning activities and crafts for kids ages 0 – 8. ( Cledemy.com is my Next startup on Pre to 8th Grade Printable and Worksheet Education Resources)
