Preschool 4th of July Crafts

I am not always the greatest at doing crafts with my kids, but there are a few holidays that I love doing crafts for. The 4th of July happens to be one of those holidays. I mean, who can resist the beauty of red, white, and blue? I love America and I love doing crafts with my kids to help them get their own patriotic spirit. Today I have five 4th of July crafts that are perfect for preschool and toddler ages. And yes, I really have five crafts. I know I’m not usually this creative, but something about Independence Day just gets me in a crafting mode.

 

Salt and Glue Fireworks

Start this craft with red, white, or blue paper. It’s a good idea to have a paper for you (that you will use to demonstrate the craft) and one for each of your children. Using glue from a bottle, make a firework design on your paper. Obviously a toddler’s “firework” will look more like a blob, but he will surely still enjoy the process as Smiley Man did. While the glue is still wet, cover it with salt (like you would with glitter), then pour the excess salt into a container or a garbage can. Let the salted fireworks dry for a few minutes. When they are dried slightly (or completely), get some small cups or containers and fill them with red and blue colored water. I used 3 drops of food coloring for each of these containers, but I wish I had used more food coloring. If I did it again, I would probably use 10 drops of food coloring for each color. Use a dropper to squeeze the colored water onto the salted fireworks. The salt will help the color to spread. My children loved this craft, especially Little Bear.

Tissue Paper Flag

Draw a flag outline on red, white, or blue paper. Cut several strips from red, white, and blue tissue paper. Have your child tear the strips of tissue paper into smaller squares, then have him glue the small square onto the flag outline. Be sure to talk about the colors of the flag so your child knows which colors of tissue paper to put where. I didn’t expect Smiley Man to tear his tissue paper or even to put the tissue paper in the right place, but this was definitely his favorite Fourth of July craft. He loved the tissue paper and the glue.

 

Dot Marker Flag

I made this dot marker flag printable and had Little Bear paint it with his Do-a-dot markers. We don’t have a white dot marker, but since the paper was already white, Little Bear just painted the red and blue portions of the flag. Do-a-dot markers are always a favorite at my house, so this was a great craft for the 4th of July.

 

Weaving

This was the first time I have ever done any type of weaving with Little Bear and I was quite surprised at how quickly he caught on. To get this activity ready, get one piece each of red and blue construction paper. Cut one inch strips horizontally on one paper, but leave about an inch on the end that isn’t cut. Do the same with the other paper, but cut the strips vertically. Now, tape the two pages together across the sides that are not cut. Have your preschooler weave the paper. Little Bear was definitely confused when he first started this craft, but he got it by the end and was so proud of the 4th of July craft he had made.

 

Hanging Spiral Decoration

I loved this craft because I snuck in some cutting practice for Little Bear. Sometimes it is hard for me to get him excited about cutting activities, but he was genuinely interested in this one and he cut without a single complaint. Start with a piece of red, white, or blue construction paper. Cut out a circle. Now, draw a spiral on the circle and have your child cut on the line for the spiral. When it is cut completely, hold one end up high. You will have a nice hanging spiral decoration. Decorate the spiral with crayons, stickers, tissue paper, etc. Little Bear was probably the most proud of this craft and he was fascinated by the way the spiral looked when it was hanging.

 

I hope you enjoy this 4th of July crafts and decorations. We had a lot of fun doing them, plus we got some extra learning in. :) Check back tomorrow for some fun 4th of July party games for young child.