American Flag Pattern Acvitity

This is an idea I came up with to learn about the flag and patterns. This activity works in colors, sensory, counting, patterns, shapes, and history all in one.

SUPPLIES

• Red pipe cleaner
• White pipe cleaner
• Blue construction paper
• White crayon

PREP

• Cut the blue construction paper into a paper 6 inches by 4 inches
• Cut three pieces of red pipe cleaner to 6 inches each (my pipe cleaner was 12 inches, so I just had to cut it in half)
• Cut three pieces of white pipe cleaner to 6 inches each
• Cut four pieces of red pipe cleaner to 4 inches each
• Cut three pieces of white pipe cleaner to 4 inches each

 

ACTIVITY

1. Draw 50 stars in the upper left corner. Kaitlyn (three) drew several by herself. They were more like scribbles, but that is okay. Count to 50 out loud. We put a few pieces of pipe cleaner down so we could see what our space was to fill in with stars. You could also draw a line and have your child fill in the rectangle.
2. Put the pipe cleaners in place to show the pattern of the stripes. This is a good time to talk about why we have 50 stars and why we have 13 stripes and other interesting facts surrounding the American Flag you would like to introduce.
3. Once you have the pipe cleaner in place, point out the pattern. Go through the 13 stripes saying, "red, white, red white..."
4. Remove the pipe cleaners and have your child put them back in the right order. For older children, they can do it on their own. Kaitlyn needed me to tell her which color started first.

 

This is an activity you can keep in a baggie in with your learning activities and pull out when you need your child occupied for 5-10 minutes.