10 Fun Activities for Cinco de Mayo in Spanish Class

Inside: Activities and lessons to teach about Cinco de Mayo in Spanish class with your middle and high school students so they learn about the history and culture of the day.

Cinco de Mayo is one of those holidays that can also be a great learning opportunity for our students, not just an end of the year celebration. Many of our students don’t know a lot about the history behind the party, so it’s a great opportunity to educate them! It’s a relatively minor holiday in Mexico. In the US, people use it to celebrate Mexican customs and culture.

If you’re looking for a way to introduce your students to the history and culture behind the holiday, here are a collection of Cinco de Mayo resources I’ve used in my classroom! You’ll find learning activities, printables, readings, graphic organizers, and more!

If you’re looking for videos, websites, and other virtual lesson plan ideas for Cinco de Mayo, check out my post Digital Cinco de Mayo Activities for Spanish Class here!

10 Fun Activities for Cinco de Mayo in Spanish Class

• Reading and Comprehension Activities
• Infographic and Coloring Sheets
• Scrambled Sentences
• Create a Bulletin Board
• Virtual Field Trip
• Compare and Contrast Cinco de Mayo and 4th of July
• Read a Short Story
• Play Boom Cards
• Watch a Short Video
• Create a Timeline of Events

Cinco de Mayo in Spanish Class PDF Worksheets

Cinco de Mayo Reading Comprehension

This reading and comprehension activity is a great option for your students to learn about the history. The reading in Spanish or English to introduce your novice students to more information about the holiday! The questions are also included in Spanish and English! Mix and match to fit your students’ needs. Click here to see more!

You can take it a step further by letting students draw what they read. Have them create a one-page comic strip showing the main events or people from the reading. Not only does it help with retention, but it also gives your visual learners a chance to shine. Another fun twist is to let them pair up and quiz each other on the reading using only drawings or gestures.

Cinco de Mayo Infographic

This set of digital and printable Cinco de Mayo worksheets is great for your Cinco de Mayo lesson! A fun way to finish this activity is to have students present one interesting fact they learned from the infographic. Let them decorate a sticky note with that fact and add it to a class display or fact wall. It turns into a colorful mini-museum of knowledge that you can refer back to throughout the week. This activity includes an infographic in Spanish about the history of Cinco de Mayo and the victory of the Mexicans over the French army. There is a comprehension activity to go with the reading in the form of a coloring activity! 

Scrambled Sentences for Cinco de Mayo

Scrambled sentences are a great way to get students thinking about the language! You can add a little competition by making this a race. Put students in small teams and have them compete to see who can put the sentences together the fastest. Once they finish the paragraph, challenge them to act it out or illustrate the story. It’s a fun way to bring the sentences to life and reinforce what they learned. With this set not only do they have to put the words in order, once they have all of their sentences they put those in order to create a logical paragraph about the history of Cinco de Mayo. Tons of great language practice, plus real facts about the holiday!

Cinco de Mayo in Spanish Class Virtual Field Trip

A virtual field trip is one of my favorite ways to let students connect WHERE they are learning about with the information.

This virtual field trip lets students explore the global interactions that occurred with the Batalla de Puebla. Check out the full lesson plan here and take your students on a field trip! After the trip, hand out blank postcards and have students write a message as if they visited Puebla during Cinco de Mayo. They can describe what they saw, something they learned, or their favorite part of the celebration. Display the postcards on your bulletin board or string them across the room with clothespins for a festive touch.

Cinco de Mayo in Spanish Class Short Story

Check out this quick lesson plan for el Cinco de Mayo for your middle school and high school Spanish classes! This novice friendly short story is perfect for your students to learn about el Cinco de Mayo and how it is (or isn’t!) celebrated. Once students have read the story, let them create a visual summary. It could be a quick sketch, a mini comic strip, or a storyboard with captions in Spanish. This activity taps into creativity and helps them retell the story in their own words, which builds both comprehension and confidence. You can turn this into a mini challenge by setting a timer and encouraging students to beat their own score. Or let them work in pairs and explain their answers to each other as they go. This adds an element of teamwork and gives them more speaking and listening practice without feeling like a test.

Boom Cards on Cinco de Mayo in Spanish Class

Boom Cards are a great option for a digital lesson on Cinco de Mayo in Spanish class! (New to Boom Cards? Check out my post here to learn more about Boom Cards!)

This set starts with a reading and listening activity to introduce students to the holiday. Then students complete some comprehension questions, order a timeline of events and unscramble sentences. Finally, they do a cultural comparison activity looking at how the Fourth of July and Cinco de Mayo are celebrated, what they have in common, and what’s different between the two! Click here to check out the set in a short preview. You could turn this into a small group discussion and let students come up with two or three interesting questions to ask the class. Then let each group present their answers. This makes the comparison more interactive and lets students practice speaking in a low-pressure setting. You’ll be surprised by the thoughtful ideas they come up with. You can turn this into a mini challenge by setting a timer and encouraging students to beat their own score. Or let them work in pairs and explain their answers to each other as they go. This adds an element of teamwork and gives them more speaking and listening practice without feeling like a test.

My favorite part about this set? It basically encompasses all of my printable stations, so if I have an absent student while I’m using them in class, I can just share the link with them and they’re set! Handy!

Cinco de Mayo in Spanish Class-Create a Bulletin Board

To make it more interactive, add a simple question prompt like “What surprised you about Cinco de Mayo?” and let students write their responses on sticky notes to add to the board. You could even include a map and have them mark places in Mexico or the US where Cinco de Mayo is celebrated. This little touch brings the geography into the conversation in a visual way.

Create a Timeline of Events

Make it a collaborative class project by assigning each student or pair one event to research and illustrate. Once everyone has their event ready, put them in order on a wall or string them together across the room like a timeline banner. It’s a great way to reinforce sequencing and celebrate everyone’s contribution.

Websites and Videos for Cinco de Mayo in Spanish Class

• Social Studies for Kids has a simple explanation
• WatchKnowLearn has a gallery of videos for learning about Cinco de Mayo
• Pinterest board of videos that explain and celebrate the history of Cinco de Mayo

Shop Resources for Cinco de Mayo in Spanish Class

Want a print & go option to save you time? Check out this bundle of 6 different activities! Use them as stations or split up the activities over a few days!

How do you educate about Cinco de Mayo in Spanish Class?

How do you educate students about Cinco de Mayo in your classroom? Do you do anything special for the day, or is it a normal day of class? Let me know!