Teach Spanish Colors With a Printable Activity Inspired by Mayan Makech Beetle Legend

Culture and history go hand-in-hand with language learning. Civilizations lived in today’s Mexico long before the Spanish colonizers arrived. The activity I am highlighting today is based on the makech beetles, decorated beetles from the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico worn as living jewelry. The tradition of transforming these beetles into brooches originates from an old Mayan legend.

In this legend, a Mayan princess is promised in marriage to a prince. Much to her father’s disappointment, the princess falls in love with another man. Enraged, her father decides to hurt him. The princess begs for her true love’s life to be spared. Her father agrees but has him turned into a beetle for having the audacity to love his daughter. The princess has the beetle decorated with beautiful jewels and wears him, keeping him close to her heart forever.

With this printable activity, numerous worksheets with makech beetles are provided and ready to be decorated! On each page, you will find a beetle with small gold shapes with the words of various colors in Spanish. The jewels on the worksheet are cut out and matched by color to the correct words. In the end, beautiful and fully decorated makech beetles are created!

To learn more about this tradition, head over to the Smithsonian Magazine website. They have an insightful article about the makech beetles kept on display in the National Museum of Natural History.

✨Find the printable makech beetles activity in the resources section! ✨