Multicultural Monday/Thursday--Latin American Dance

As promised my late Multicultural Monday Thursday post. So as I mentioned in my last post, Hazel has not been in the mood for crafting lately. (I don't know why.) So today we read a couple of books about Hispanic Families (Mexican to be exact) and then had a Latin American Dance Party based on one of the books. We are continuing our celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month!

In My Family by Carmen Lomas Garza has a description both in English and in Spanish of the author's paintings of her family and special events. It goes from every day things to healing practices to weddings and other celebrations. It is really lovely and she identifies each family member for you as well as what they are doing in the painting. A great glimpse at another culture from a very personal view.

What Can You Do with a Rebozo? by Carmen Tafolla describes all the uses different family members have for a rebozo or a Mexican shawl (typically made out of cotton or silk). The uses go from dressing up, cleaning up, playing peek-a-boo, building forts, cradling a baby for free hands, etc. The story is told by a young girl whose favorite thing to do with a rebozo is dance. This is what we did. I pulled out three shawls--not rebozos but the closets thing we had. I put on a Hispanic CD, Latin Playground by Putumaya   from the library and we danced. We even pulled out our homemade instruments from last week!

Hazel even put on her princess shoes--plastic heels! But I think she had trouble dancing so she often was taking them off and putting them back on. She played the guiro and I played the maracas. We had a great time!

Of course, Fluffy did not like the noise of our homemade instruments. Any time I shook the maracas she gave me a stare. This picture does not quite do it justice because of the flash with her eyes.

It was a fun time!! Afterwards we needed a little down time and went to play with hers and Daddy's trains. How are you celebrating National Hispanic Month?