4th of July Craft Ideas

Kids and adults alike love doing crafts. Celebrate this year’s Independence Day by having a craft party. Here are three craft ideas to do on this day of our independence.

Firecracker, Firecracker
Do you want firecrackers without the danger for the kids? Here is an idea for a personally decorated firecracker.

Supplies you will need:

• toilet paper tubes
• wrapping paper: you can use gift wrap, plain newsprint paper or butcher paper
• tape, glue
• scissors
• ribbon: curling or other ribbon

What to do:

• Use the wrapping paper to wrap up the toilet paper tube. You want some of the paper to hang off the ends of the tube so leave at least two inches excess wrapping paper at the ends of the tube.
• Most toilet paper tubes are about three and half inches long. Cut the paper about six inches and there will be plenty of excess on the ends.
• How wide you want it is personal preference. But you might want to wrap the firecracker up a few times to give it some bulk. Wrap the toilet paper tube and tape or glue the edges and let dry (if gluing).
• Once you have the firecracker wrapped, take the ribbon and tie bows or however you want to tie it on the ends and leave a little of the wrap fanned out. You can cut the paper on the ends to make it even, leave it uneven or cut it and pinch it a little to give it a crumpled look.
• If you use plain paper, you can decorate the firecracker yourself using markers, crayons or colored pencils and other add ons such as sequins and foam craft pieces.
• You can make smaller or larger firecrackers using a paper towel tube instead. Just follow the same instructions as you would the toilet paper tube.
• While this firecracker doesn’t have a bang, it can definitely have explosive personality. You can decorate it and hang it up on the wall. Leave it as a centerpiece on a July fourth picnic table. You can string up a few and hang them as a decoration in the window or down a long hallway. It’s a bang without the danger.

Did You Know? It is believed the first firecrackers and the first idea of them was invented when someone threw green bamboo into a fire. The bamboo grew hollow and trapped air inside. When the air expanded due to the heat of the fire, the sides gave way and popped and exploded. It frightened a lot of people and thus was thought to scare off evil spirits.

July Fourth Popsicle Flag
Make a flag using popsicle sticks. Take twenty-six popsicle sticks and set them on card stock, heavy construction paper or some other kind of sturdy background material. Lay them in two columns of thirteen. Glue them to the background paper. Let them dry.

Once they are dry, then you can paint them. There will be two columns, one set of thirteen on the left and one set of thirteen on the right. Paint the first seven sticks in the left-hand column of popsicle sticks blue. These will be the blue rectangle and the stars.

Starting with the top, paint every other row of popsicle sticks red. The other rows should be painted white. Paint all the rows except the ones that you painted blue. Once the blue ones dry, add the stars in white paint. Each blue row should have seven stars plus one row will have an extra star making the total of fifty needed to represent the actual flag. If you look at an actual flag, the stars are represented in a staggered fashion. Painting the stars on in this manner could prove tricky but this can be done as well.

Let the flag dry. Once it has dried, you can leave it as it is, frame it and put it up on the wall. You could also cut around the flag, frame it and hang it up.

Did You Know? The United States flag is often called the Stars and Stripes and less commonly called Old Glory during the period of time when only forty-eight stars were on the flag. The flag has changed twenty-six times since its beginning. Flag Day is observed June fourteenth of each year.

Paper Plate Windsock
Make a paper plate windsock in red, white and blue.

You will need:

• a paper plate
• scissors
• a hole punch
• crepe paper, streamers, string or some construction paper
• tape or glue

Take the paper plate and punch holes around the edges being careful not to bring the holes too close to the edge. If the holes are too close, they might break through and the string or streamers might break off.

You can put many holes or a few holes. It depends on what you want. Paint the paper plate if you want any color preferably a red white or blue to match the holiday.

Tie string or streamers through the holes. You can glue, tie or tape the streamers depending on what material you use as your streamers. String or yarn would work just as well. Use red, white and blue streamers for a July fourth appeal. You can add glitter, sequins or any other decorations if you’d like.

Add a string to hang up the windsock and hang up on a nail outside during your festivities on the fourth of July.

Did You Know? The windsock originated in Japan and China. They were made as a symbol of good luck. They are related to kites and were originally made of silk or paper in the shape of fish.