The Education Department within the Emma S. Barrientos - Mexican American Cultural Center seeks to provide dynamic, innovative, and socially relevant programming that preserves, creates, and promotes Mexican American and Latinx cultural arts and heritage.

AT-HOME LESSONS For Parents & Teachers

Lucha Libre / Mexican Wrestling

Lucha Libre (Mexican Professional Wrestling) is known worldwide for its high-flying moves and colorful masks. This lesson will show how to make your own luchador mask using templates available for free in the links below:

View the full Lucha Libre Lesson!
Enter the Smithsonian Learning Lab!
Print the Lesson Plan & Mask Template!
Watch Instructional Video!

More Resources on This Lesson:

Teacher Guide 5-7 years, Teacher Guide 8-10 years
Parent Guide (5-7 years), Parent Guide (8-10 years)

The Mythical Mexican Axolotl (Ajolote)

Learn about the Mythical Mexican Axolotl! Participants will create an understanding of the significance of the Axolotl while learning about the origins of the Axolotl. Participants will learn about the Environmental Injustice they face in Mexico City and all over the world.

View/ Print the Full Lesson Plan!
Print the Template!
Watch the Instructional Video!
View the Lesson Page!

Mexican Milk Snake

Mexican Milk Snake: Participants will create and learn about the significance of the Mexican Milk Snake (between Texas and Mexico) and it’s unique facts. Students will create their own accordion snake.

View/ Print the Full Lesson Plan!
View the Lesson Page!
Watch the Instructional Video!
Learn More About Borderland Wildlife!

Nature Self-Portrait

Nature Self Portrait: Participants will learn the importance of self-portraits, and while analyzing portraits of Latinx historical and contemporary figures. Participants will also use what they have learned to create portraits of themselves.

View/ Print the Lesson Plan!
Watch the Instructional Video!

Tecun Uman Masks

Tecun Uman Masks: Participants will create and decorate a mask inspired by the Tecún Umán masks of Guatemala, while learning about the history and meaning of Tecún Umán masks.

View/ Print the Full Lesson Plan!
Watch the Instructional Video!

Coloring Book & Gallery Tour

Coloring Book and Gallery Tour: Students will learn about the history of the MACC and consider what kind of art they would put on the gallery walls.

The free book, "An Empowered Village and Its Citizens" is a coloring and activity book that tells of the history of the ESB-MACC and encourages children to envision what they would like to see take place at the Center.

View/ Print the Coloring Book (PDF)!
Watch this Live Reading of the coloring book!
Visit the Coloring Book Lesson page!
Take a Virtual Tour of the MACC!

The Rainforest / La Selva: Lungs of the Earth

Explore environmental justice as it relates to Latin American rainforests, taking simple steps to fight for justice.

Click Here for COMPLETE Lesson

Instructional Video for Ages 5-6

For Parents
Parent Guide Rainforest (7-13 years)

For Teachers
Teaching Guide

Lowriders

A thriving subculture in Austin, lowriders celebrate this tradition in Chicanx communities.

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Resources for Parents
Lowriders Instructional Video
Lowriders Parent Teaching Guide Ages 5-6 years
Lowriders Parent Teaching Guide Ages 7-13 years

Resources for Teachers
Lowriders Instructional Video
Lowriders Teaching Curriculum Ages 5-6 years
Lowriders Teaching Curriculum Ages 7-13 years

Sugar Skull Making (Day of the Dead)

Join ESB-MACC educators Lori Navarrete, Michelle de Santiago, and Gricelda Silva in a video tutorial on calaveras de azucar, or sugar skulls. The video will tell viewers about the origin of sugar skull making as a way to honor the deceased, as well as a complete recipe for making them and tips on decorating. The final part of the video includes a prerecorded Q & A by students in classrooms all over the U.S. The video was filmed with Nepris, a virtual classroom that broadcasts directly to schools, and was created as a step by step tutorial to coincide with the ESB-MACC's Day of the Dead Festival.

Click here for COMPLETE Lesson

Sugar Skull Making Video Tutorial 2018
Sugar Skull Making and Paper Flower Making, 2020

Uprooted Dreams (Alebrijes)

On permanent display at the ESB-MACC is Uprooted Dreams (2012), a site-specific sculptural installation that features over 19 individual, brightly colored woodcarvings. For the artist Margarita Cabrera, the process and product of Uprooted Dreams provides an ongoing platform on which to build respect, equality, solidarity, and dignified ways of making art and creating community.

Click here for COMPLETE Lesson!

Resources For Parents:
Virtual Gallery
Alebrije Parent Guide
Video Tutorial
Storyboard Activity

Resources For Teachers
Lesson Plans for Teachers: Ages 5-8
Lesson Plans for Teachers: Ages 9-12
Lesson Plans for Teachers: Ages 13-18

Tejano Music History

Tejano Music History: Students will learn the history of Tejano music such as its connection to German folk music (eg. the use of an accordion), and the differences within the genre of Tejano music amongst artists such as Flaco Jiménez and Selena Quintanilla.

Watch the Video!
Download the Lesson Plan!