Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead): Grief Support Activities

Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a Mexican tradition that honors the deceased while processing grief in a collective and creative way.  Rather than focusing on loss, Día de los Muertos celebrates the continuity of life by engaging in meaningful rituals.  This article explores the significance of these activities explaining how they can offer comfort to youth and families navigating the complexities of grief. Whether you are looking to learn or expand your rituals this year, we invite you to consider these Dia de Los Muertos activities:

Create an Altar (Ofrenda) Together

• Purpose: An ofrenda helps youth connect with the memory of their person by displaying objects that represent them.
• How to do it: Come together as a family to create an altar with photos, mementos, and favorite foods of the deceased. Invite youth to create something that represents their feelings and memories about their person who died. This could be a symbolic drawing, a note, a picture of their favorite memory, or a colorful calavera (skull). Keep reading below for more ideas….

Create Nichos (Miniature Shadow Box Altars)

• Purpose: Nichos are small shadow boxes that allow youth to create personal, visual tributes to their person, offering a space for them to express grief and memories.
• How to do it: Provide small boxes (like shoeboxes) and materials such as paint, markers, figurines, fabric, and photos. Invite youth to decorate the inside of the box with symbols that represent their person. This could include tiny items they loved, miniature representations of favorite foods, or photos. Nichos can be placed on the ofrenda or displayed in the child’s room. Click here for a DIY Nichos video.

 Create Papel Picado (Decorative Paper Banners)

• Purpose: Papel picado represents the fragility of life, and creating these beautiful banners can help children and teens understand and express the idea of life’s impermanence.
• How to do it: Provide colorful tissue paper and scissors to make intricate, lacy cut-out designs. Teach youth how to fold the paper and cut out patterns (or offer stencils for easier designs). Explain that the designs traditionally represent life, death, and rebirth. Encourage youth to create papel picado in colors that remind them of their person or to cut out shapes or symbols that represent memories. Hang the banners around the ofrenda or in your home. Click here for a DIY Papel Picado video.

Make and Decorate Sugar Skulls (Calaveras de Azúcar)

• Purpose: Decorating sugar skulls can be a fun, hands-on activity that helps youth learn about the meaning of skulls as symbols of remembrance.  This creative and playful activity reinforces that death is part of life’s cycle rather than something to fear.
• How to do it: Purchase or make sugar skulls and provide icing, paints, glitter, or beads for decoration. Explain that the colorful designs celebrate the lives of those who have passed. Encourage youth to decorate the skulls in ways that reflect the personality of the person they are honoring. For example, if their person loved music, they could paint musical notes. Once decorated, the skulls can be placed on the ofrenda. Click here for a Sugar Skull video.

Calavera Face Painting (Maquillaje de Catrina y Catrín)

• Purpose: Face painting can be a playful way for youth to participate in Día de los Muertos while connecting to the idea of death as a natural part of life.
• How to do it: Support youth in designing their calavera face paint, explaining that skulls are a symbol of remembrance and not meant to be scary. After face painting, take photos or dance as a family in celebration of life, connection, and memories. Click here for a Calavera Makeup Tutorial.

Storytelling and Oral Histories

• Purpose: Telling stories keeps legacies alive and gives youth an understanding of their family’s history.
• How to do it: Read books or tell stories about the deceased family members. Youth can be invited to retell their favorite family stories or come up with new endings or twists to those stories. Kids and teens can also make a mini-book or comic strip depicting a family story or memory of the person who passed away. Click here for some Story Writing prompts.

Letter Writing

• Purpose: Writing letters can provide an avenue to say goodbye or express things that youth didn’t get to say to their person.
• How to do it: Invite everyone to participate by writing or drawing a letter to their person. They can share how they feel, things they miss, or memories they cherish. Click here for a printable Goodbye Letter template (also available in Spanish). Place the letters on the ofrenda, or alternatively, you can help youth “send” the letter by releasing it in one of these eco-friendly rituals or burning it in a symbolic, safe fire.

Create a Memory Jar

• Purpose: Memory jars allow families to continually add memories over time, keeping the connection with the deceased ongoing.
• How to do it: Decorate a jar as a family and place it on the altar. Throughout the celebration, family members can write down their memories on slips of paper and add them to the jar.  For young children, you can provide some prompts such as, “What was something that made you laugh with them?” or “What was something they did that made you feel special?”  At the end of Día de los Muertos, gather together and read the memories aloud, or keep the jar to read at a future time. Click here for more Memory Jar activity ideas.

Baking or Cooking Their Favorite Food

• Purpose: Preparing favorite dishes is a way of celebrating their life and traditions.
• How to do it: Involve youth in making the favorite food of the deceased person. As you cook, share stories about why this dish was special. You can also bake Pan de Muerto (Bread of the Dead) together and let children help decorate it with sugar or colors, explaining its significance in the tradition. Click here for a Pan de Muerto recipe.

Celebrate with Music and Dance

• Purpose: Music and dance can lift the spirits and honor the lives of the deceased in a joyful way.
• How to do it: Play the favorite music of the person you are remembering. You can also play traditional Día de los Muertos songs. Encourage youth to dance, play instruments, or sing along to celebrate life. Consider this Ocean Drum activity for some handmade instruments. You can also hold a small family performance where each person sings a song or tells a story in honor of the deceased.

Watch Día de los Muertos Films or Read Books

• Purpose: Watching films or reading stories can help youth understand death in a gentle, comforting way.
• How to do it: Choose age-appropriate films or books like Coco or Rosita y Conchita to introduce the concept of Día de los Muertos and discuss death. After watching or reading, have a conversation with the children about what they learned and how it relates to their grief.

Light Candles for Remembrance

• Purpose: Lighting candles is a symbolic act of remembrance and guiding the spirits.
• How to do it: Youth can help light candles on the ofrenda or around the house for each family member they are honoring. You can use battery-operated candles for safety with young children. Each person can share a brief word or thought as the candle is lit, inviting youth to voice their feelings or memories.

Visiting the Grave (Graveyard Pilgrimage)

• Purpose: Visiting and tending the gravesites of the remembered is a central part of Día de los Muertos. It offers families a chance to honor the deceased in a peaceful, reflective environment.
• How to do it: Plan a visit to the cemetery as a family. Bring marigolds, candles, and favorite foods of the deceased. Clean the gravesite and decorate it with the items you brought. While at the gravesite, you can engage in a family activity such as singing, sharing memories, or offering prayers. Youth may bring drawings, letters, or small mementos to leave at the grave.

These activities offer a blend of creativity, expression, and family connection while honoring the traditions of Día de los Muertos. They provide both comfort and an opportunity for children and families to process grief together in a safe and meaningful way.