DIY de Los Muertos (DIY Sugar Skull)

thingiverse

<b>Introduction:</b> Sugar Skull, or La Catrina, is widely recognized as a symbol for Mexico's Day of the Dead holiday. Families visit their deceased relatives, bringing prayers, food, and songs to honor them. Beyond the Day of the Dead, La Catrina has become synonymous with Mexican craftsmanship, often depicting artisans who create this iconic image. This lesson plan aims to teach students about the history and evolution of La Catrina. La Catrina was created by illustrator Jose Guadalupe Posada in 1910 to portray people from indigenous backgrounds who tried to abandon their heritage for a European aristocratic lifestyle. Posada illustrated them as skeletons, serving as a reminder that everyone's fate is the same regardless of background or social standing. <b>Objectives:</b> Students will learn about the history of Day of the Dead and La Catrina's story, then design their own Sugar Skull using 3D-printed decorations. <b>Audience:</b> This activity is designed for students in grades 2nd-9th. <b>Subjects:</b> History, Art, and Design <b>Materials:</b> TinkerCAD, Thingiverse, 3D Printer, Glue <b>Print Time:</b> Depending on print settings, skulls can take around five hours to print. Decorations typically take about half an hour. <i>Optional: Students can be divided into groups of three to design a group skull and reduce the amount of printing time.</i> <b>Duration:</b> 2-4 class periods <hr> <b>Activity:</b> <b>Step 1:</b> Students will receive a paper with a skull drawing as well as a transparency. They will draw their design on the transparency, which will later be printed and applied to the skull. <b>Step 2:</b> Using a camera, students or the teacher will take a photo of their transparency against a white background. <b>Step 3:</b> Send the photo to an email address, then use a vector conversion website to convert the photo into a vector image. <b>Step 4A:</b> Download the SkullMold.stl and upload it to TinkerCAD in the same workplane. <b>Step 4B:</b> Align the skull design so that the mold intersects with the design and is aligned with the design. <b>Step 5:</b> Download “Lisa the Printable Skull” from Thingiverse and upload it to TinkerCAD. Select the Hole tool to convert the skull into a hole. <b>Step 6:</b> Align the “hole” skull and the design so that ~5 mm are protruding from the skull. Use the “Align” tool to ensure the two objects are well-aligned, then group them together. <b>Step 7:</b> Have students select their preferred flower decorations for their skull. The project includes two preset skull files with holes designed to fit the decorations. <b>Step 8:</b> Print all desired files. It's recommended to print with Supports enabled along with standard settings. <b>Step 9:</b> Assemble! The flowers are designed to be pressure-fit with dowels that were printed alongside them, while the skull design needs to be glued on. <hr> <b>Evaluation:</b> Students will be evaluated based on their ability to follow instructions and participate in the activity. Optionally, students can be quizzed on La Catrina's history and Day of the Dead traditions.