Fourth of July
Time to celebrate the USA with fun patriotic crafts and activities for kids. I have a few fun new ones planned for next week but I need to stock up on some red white and blue paint. Today I will feature the best from the past few summers so they don’t get lost in the archives!
Flag Craft – that flag lasted years!
Handprint Fireworks – great for all ages.
Cookie Cutter Prints make drawing stars a breeze.
These Cupcake Liner Fireworks are super simple and crazy cute!
This Star Garland can be a family project with toddlers pitching in with finger painting!
I am sure there are versions of this craft all over , I haven’t seen any lately but here is our take on a fun 4th of July craft. It’s the first craft we’ve done since the baby arrived and it was awesome to get back to “normal” making it with my little man. I like it because it’s simple but really adorable.
- Gather your materials. You will need a piece of white and a piece of black construction paper, red and blue paint, glue, 2 plates, scissors and glitter.
- Start by putting the paint on the plates.
- Dip your child’s hand in , get it well covered.
- Print on to the white paper.
- Repeat with other hand and color. We did 2 hands each.
- If your child is like mine have extra paper on hand to keep finger painting with the extra paint. This gives the hand prints time to dry some as well .
- Let the hand prints dry a little and cut out.
- While I cut them my son washed his hands, my sink, and my breakfast bowl… I wasn’t complaining.
- Although I ended up doing all the gluing because he was having fun in the sink. So now glue the hands together to look like fireworks.
- Add glue for the glitter. If the paint is still wet, you won’t need glue on the hands.
- He came back for glitter, imagine that!
- Let dry.
Need 4th of July Books? Check these out
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Red, Blue and White play dough: we used our favorite play dough recipe. We also added glitter to the white after they played with it the first time. The recipe is super simple: 1 cup water, 1 cup salt, 1 cup flour, 2 TBSP oil and coloring( for this i used sugar free jello! smells so yummy! but you can use food paste or coloring, kool aid or paint.) stir all the ingredients till smooth,cook on med heat till it pulls away from the
pan, cool for a bit, knead still smooth and play!
Shannon blogs at Welcome To Our Wonderland where she share’s books and sometimes activities to go with the children’s books. She taught prek for 11 years and become a stay at home mom 10 years ago when her oldest was born.
Below are all our 4th of July book reviews together in one easy to find place. Also the last book is a new review not found in any other post. Have a fantastic and safe holiday weekend!
“How to Make a Cherry Pie and see the USA” by Marjorie Priceman didn’t disappoint one bit. I was worried after falling in love with the previous book that this couldn’t live up to my expectations. It did! This time she wasn’t looking for ingredients for the pie, but rather materials for her tools. She gathered wood in Washington for her rolling pin, cotton in Louisiana for pot holders granite in New Hampshire for her pastry slab and more. What I wasn’t expecting of this book and loved was how she gathered natural resources and then processed them to make what she needed. I think this is a wonderful lesson about manufacturing and could be used for a launchpad for learning about so much more. Another gem I will be adding to my must buy list.
“How to Bake an American Pie” by Karma Wilson is sentimental, sweet and probably should be reviewed by an American. The reason I say that is that it’s written to pull at your heart strings, make you feel pride in your country and I am sure it succeeds when the reader is American. But the same way I wouldn’t expect an American to get choked up singing “O Canada” the way I do , I just don’t get the full effect. Strictly as a book this was a little too figurative for my son although he loved the illustrations of the dog and cat baking the pie and kept turning back to the page with rainbows. Older kids will recognize some of the text that is taken from America the Beautiful and will understand the figurative language, although may be put off by the illustrations that seem more geared towards little ones. I would love to hear from any Americans who have read this book to get your take!
“Apple Pie 4th Of July” by Janet S. Wong is an awesome book. I am always awed by authors who can tackle complicated “adult” issues in the pages of a children’s book successfully. In this case the issue is 1st generation identity and immigration, at least that’s my take. The little girl in this book is sulking around her parent’s store on the 4th of July. They are busy making Chinese food for customers she is sure won’t come, who would want Chinese food on such an American holiday is her rational. Of course there are layers about her connection to her ancestral culture and her own national pride. As a proud owner of a green card and a Canadian passport I relate to this story, sure the differences are as deep or as obvious to an outsider but unlike the previous book when this book ended with fireworks I got tingles of pride for my adopted country. Fantastic book- and my son liked it too.
“Hats Off for the Fourth of July” by Harriet Ziefert is a fantastic book for children who are just understanding what this holiday is all about. The book follows a parade with hints of what is next to come along, making the reader feel the same feelings real parade goer does as they stand on their tipy toes to see what is on it’s way. My son really enjoyed the book because it was packed with marching bands, motorcycles and more. My son will see his very first 4th of July parade tomorrow and this book helped me explain what he’ll see and when we get home it will help us discuss what we saw. Useful and entertaining.
