BACK TO A - Z LISTING

MORE THEMES COMING SOON
Check back often!
   

Alligators
Angels
Apples
Arbor Day
Back 2 School
Beach
Bears
Birds
Birthday
Body
Bubbles
Bunnies
Butterflies & Caterpillars
Camping
Canada Day
Chinese New Year
Christmas
Cinco de Mayo
Colors
Community Helpers
Construction
Dental Hygiene
Dinosaurs
Dr. Seuss
Earth Day
Easter
End of the Year
Fall
Farm
Father's Day
Fifties Week
Fire Safety
Five Senses
Flowers
Frogs
 

 

Cinco de Mayo Recipe & Snack  Ideas

 

Make Tacos


Make tacos,  letting children help prepare and assemble ingredients.   Pumpkin
carving knives are great for children to use in cutting veggies into small pieces.
 
 

Sombrero Cookies

Take a flat round sugar cookie and add a gum drop on top. Use frosting for the "glue."


Sopapillas

Place flour tortillas on foil covered cookie sheet and let children spread  butter on tortillas.  Next have them
 sprinkle with sugar & then cinnamon.  Bake on 350 degrees for 5 - 10 minutes Slice like a pizza and ENJOY!!!!

 

Cinnamon Snacks

Use a flour tortilla and brush with melted butter. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the tortilla and
 fry in lightly oiled pan for 30 seconds to 1 minutes. Cut into triangles and serve. The kids love it!
Be careful around the hot oil, but it doesn’t splatter because you use such a small amount of oil.


Flag Snack

Cut up red bell peppers and green ones too, into strips. Dip them into yogurt mixed with ranch
 dressing. You have the colors of the flag...GREEN WHITE RED.   Tell the kids about the flag.


Cheesy Nachos

Let the children help make cheese nachos by sprinkling grated cheese on
 top of tortilla chips. Then bake at 350 degrees until the cheese has melted.
       

Burritos

Provide each child with the following: a small flour tortilla, a tablespoon of refried beans,
a tablespoon of shredded cheese, and a small cup of mild salsa for dipping.  Demonstrate
 how to spread the beans on the tortilla, sprinkle the cheese over the beans,
and then roll the tortilla into a burrito. Yummy!


Quesadillas

Ingredients Needed:
1 Dozen flour tortillas
1 Lb. Cheese - either Cheddar or Monterey Jack (grated or sliced thin)
1/2 cup sugar (optional)

Directions:
Warm tortillas on a griddle or grill to soften.  Place cheese on half of the tortilla and fold over
 and return to grill.  Let it toast a little on one side, then turn over to toast the other side long
 enough to melt the cheese.  When cheese is melted remove from grill and cut into halves
or fourths to serve.  Quesadillas may be sprinkled with a little sugar if a sweet taste is desired.


Cinco de Mayo Corn Chips

Ingredients Needed:
!/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup very hot water
3/4 cup very hot water
1 tsp. margarine

Directions:
Mix cornmeal and salt together in large bowl.  Pour in one cup of hot water and margarine,
 stir until margarine is melted.  Add 3/4 cup water and stir.  Drop spoonfuls of the corn chip
mixture onto a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 450 degrees "F" for 12 - 15 minutes or until
golden brown.  Add a few drops of food coloring to your Cinco de Mayo Corn Chips to
 make a colorful and tasty bowl of chips.


Salsa

Have the children bring the following ingredients from home: tomatoes, onions,
 chilies, and cilantro.  Let them take turns cutting up the vegetables using a dull
butter knife.  Add a little salt and sugar.  Provide a bag of tortilla chips for dipping.

 

Guacamole

Be sure to find avocados that are ripe so they will have the best flavor and they will mash easier.
Also, don’t forget to bring in bags of chips. Peel a large ripe avocado & remove the pit. Mash the
avocado with a fork in a bowl. Pass the bowl around the class so each child can  help mash the
avocado. Add 1/2 cup chopped tomato, ½ tsp. minced onion & 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice. Stir well.

 

Luaqueda
(Mexican drink)

3 c. milk
3 bananas (very ripe)
1 can frozen concentrate tropical fruit juice
OR 2 1/2 to 3 cups
fresh fruit such as strawberries, raspberries, mangos or passion fruit.

Put all ingredients in mixer. Mix until smooth. Serve cool. 6-8 servings.

 

Mexican Punch

Try this tasty drink with your class. You will need the following:

12 oz can of frozen orange juice (thawed)
48oz can of cranberry juice cocktail
 2 liters of lemon-lime soda
24oz water

Mix all ingredients well and chill. Serve over ice.


Mexican Wedding Cakes

Pre Heat Oven to 400*
Mix together 1 cup softened butter or margarine, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
 in a large bowl. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and 2 1/2 cups flour to make a stiff dough.  Shape the
 dough into golf ball sized balls. Place the dough balls on 2 ungreased cookie sheets about
2" apart. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until lightly browned.  Allow to cool slightly and roll in
powdered sugar.  I usually roll them all the cookies twice in the powdered sugar.



Mexican Fiesta / Tasting Party

Sharing Mexican cuisine with the children would make a great snack or lunch.
  Here is a list of foods that would be great to have the children try.

Guacamole: and show them a avocado so they will know what type of food this was made from. 
 A picture or real fruit will be fine.  With the real food they are able to touch, see smell and taste.

Bean Dip or Refried Beans:  Having some dry beans on hand again they can
see touch smell and taste.  Then you can use the beans to make a craft with.

Corn Chips and Tacos: Showing an ear of corn, corn meal and corn flour.  This is great because you can
 mix the corn meal or corn flour with water and they can feel the different textures and compare the taste too. 

Making Tacos ,Burritos, enchiladas, which you can make so many fun things with these.
They can be used for breakfast with eggs and cheese, refried beans and p-nut butter and bananas.
        
At lunch you can use scrambled hamburger, cheese, chicken , refried beans and veggies.
You could also use cold cuts and make a stack and cut them in triangles and
serve with red and green peppers. Which are the colors of the Mexican flag.
       
At snack you can spread butter on the with cinnamon and brown sugar and toast in the oven
 and have a nice snack.  Also using Chocolate chips too, or a flavored cream cheese. 
The other thing is that you can purchase the hard shells and the flat ones that are
either corn or flour. Again another great way to compare. They would
have fun with these because they can help make their own snacks.
   
Mexican rice: This would be easy to make on your own
with rice and tomatoes and onions and some seasoning.
 

Polvorones
(Mexican Sugar Cookies)

2 cups flour 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1 cup butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 300 F. In a bowl, stir together flour, sugar and cinnamon. Cream butter with a beater.
 Add flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time to the butter while still beating until it is all incorporated.
 Use a teaspoon to spoon out small pieces of dough and shape into a cookie.
Place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake 25 minutes. Optional:
sprinkle warm cookies with sugar and cinnamon. Makes 24 cookies


Taco Soup

11/2 lb ground beef
1 28 oz can tomatoes
2 15 oz tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 can pinto beans
1 14-16 oz can corn, drained
1 envelope taco seasoning mix
Tortilla chips broken-up into small pieces

Toppings: Shredded cheese, chopped tomato, chopped olives, green pepper, shredded lettuce

Brown beef, drain. Puree tomatoes in their liquid; add to pan with tomato sauce water, beans, corn
 & mix. Bring to a boil then let it simmer for 10 minutes. Top with chips and other desired toppings.


Mexican Tortillas

Made with either corn flour or wheat flour, these flat rounds are a staple of the Mexican
 diet. Tasty right off the griddle tortillas also provide a base for meat and cheese fillings.

2 cups masa harina corn flour, available in ethnic food sections of supermarkets)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups warm water

Combine masa harina and salt in a large bowl. Gradually add water and mix with your hands until mixture
 forms soft dough. Form dough into 15 equal balls. each about the size of a golf ball. Using a tortilla press
 or a rolling pin, flatten each ball into a thin 6-inch circle. Cover tortillas with a moistened towel until ready to cook.
 Fry tortillas in a dry pan over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes, turning once. Serve warm. Makes 15 tortillas.

 

Bread Pudding
(Mexican Capirotada)

Ingredients:

6 to 10 slices of dried bread or 6 flour tortillas
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups grated cheese
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup pinons (pine nuts) or chopped pecans
2 cups water
6 T. butter, oleo, or oil

Mix sugar, cinnamon and water. Spread 1/6 mixture of cheese, raisins, butter, and nuts on tortillas.
 Stack and repeat until all ingredients are used. Pour syrup (sugar, cinnamon and water mixture)
over the entire dish. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes at 350'. Serve warm.


 

Pre-K Fun Theme Pages are for educational reference only! 
No copyright infringement is intended.
I do not claim any of these as my own ideas.  
They are shared from friends and fellow group members.  
Thanks for sharing all your great ideas!

 

Site designed and maintained by Shelly Boone. Copyright 2002-2012 - All rights reserved
Graphics by M1Knight and Thistle Girl Designs   Anti-copy scripting from DynamicDrive.com