DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Day of the Dead Catrina Paper Craft

Contributed by Leanne Guenther

La Calavera Catrina (in English, 'The Elegant Skull') is zinc etching made by Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada in 1910.  Catrina has become a part of the Day of the Dead celebrations and is used in costumes, figurines, posters and artwork.

This is a simple cut and paste paper craft version of Catrina.  You can glue the pieces together or use brass tacks to assemble it so the pieces move.

Materials:

• paper,
• printer,
• glue,
• scissors,
• something to color with
• Optional:  brass tacks
• Optional:  fancy scrapbook paper, wrapping paper or construction paper

Instructions:

• Print out the template of choice (you'll need 4 pieces of paper to make Catrina, she's quite big).
• Color the pieces as appropriate and cut them out.
• Glue or brass tack the arms to the sides of the shoulders (the shoulders are sticking out of the rib cage).  The piece of the arm you're gluing looks like a ball.  There are small dots to help you line up the pieces.
• Glue or tack the elbow of the arms together (these are the pieces from the Arms Template that look "bone shaped")
• Glue or tack the hands to the arms.
• Glue or tack the hips to the bottom of the spine.
• Glue or tack the largest leg bones (femurs) to the hips.
• Glue or tack the knees together.
• Glue or tack the feet to the bottom of the legs.
• Glue or tack the head to the top of the spine.
• Optional:  Cut out a fancy long dress (ballgown) and dress Catrina in it.

Templates:

• Close the template window after printing to return to this screen.
• Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).

Template - Catrina's Spine     (color)   or   (B&W)

Template - Catrina's Arms      (color)   or   (B&W)

Template - Catrina's Legs      (color)   or   (B&W)

Template - Catrina's Head     (color)   or   (B&W)