Fourth of July Food

Here are some fun ideas for Fourth of July food I found on Pinterest!

Strawberries

by the Sister's Cafe

Punch

by Big Bear's Wife

Round Flag Cake 

by The Kitchen

Star Jell-O

by The Family Kitchen

Fruit Flag Kabobs

by Room-Mom 101

Glitter Fireworks

What child does not love glitter? I think all children love glitter. And most moms fear glitter--oh the mess. But come on, the mess isn't that bad. Plus you can do things like put the glitter in a shaker to make it less messy.

This is a simple and fun glitter activity. It makes a fun art project and works fine motor skills.

You simply give your child a glue bottle and have him make firework lines. Then sprinkle your fireworks with glitter! Fun, quick, and engaging. 

Independence Day Round-Up

This marks our second year as a blog during Independence Day, so we have only a few ideas from last year to share with you.

American Flag Pattern Activity

This activity works in colors, sensory, counting, patterns, shapes, and history all in one.

Fourth of July Book, Craft, and Snack

Books, craft, and a snack! Plenty to do!

Star Sponge Painting

Any time I get paint out, my children are in heaven. 

Independence Day Books

A full list of books to read in conjunction with Independence Day.

Independence Day Books

Here are some great books for Independence Day!

ABC of America by Kim Bellefontaine

Fun for the younger readers who are just learning their ABCs.

How to Bake An American Pie by Karma Wilson

I love, love, love this one. I am someone who very much loves my country and very much loves the history of it. This book pays great tribute to the founders of this country as well as the immigrants who built it up. 

Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller

This is a great book for learning about the geography of the states. Geography can be a difficult subject for young children. This book is silly and interesting to the children, so they pay close attention!

The Journey of the One and Only Declaration of Independence by Judith St. George

Similar to the book above, this book is able to teach about history (another tough subject for young children) in an interesting manner. 

A is for America by Tanya Lee Stone

This is another fun "American" alphabet book. 

July 4th: Books, craft, and snack

We started learning about the flag by reading two books: The Starry, Stripy Blanket and The Star-Spangled Banner. We talked about how many stars and stripes are found on the flag, what the flag used to look like, and a little about the history of the flag.

Next, I gave my daughter a rectangular pieces of white paper, 7 red stripes, a glue bottle, and a smaller blue rectangle. I taught her how to use the glue bottle to put small dots of glue rather than squeezing hard to make large blobs. She did a great job! My 1 year old used a glue stick instead. After gluing down the stripes, she glued on the blue rectangle and a few silver stars. You could use white paint and a cotton swab, star stickers, or for my 1 year old, I just left it blank.

To finish it off, we made a somewhat healthy snack. I cut strawberries up into matchsticks, covered a graham cracker with cream cheese. As you can see, the blue is made of blueberries. If you don't have that, use what's around, like white icing, Twizzlers, jelly beans, sprinkles, Skittles.

Yum! Happy Fourth of July!! Have a great weekend!

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.

Star Sponge Painting

I got the basics for this idea out of The Toddler's Busy Book. It is quite simple.

AGE RANGE
I would say a child 12 months or older can participate in this activity. The 12-15 month old will need A WHOLE LOT of help, the 15-18 month old will need A LOT of help, and the 18 months and older will just need help. Assuming you have your patient hat on. Your "it is okay to get messy" hat on (some of you know just what I mean). But the book is written for 18 months and up.

SUPPLIES

• Paper
• Paint
• Sponge
• Knife
• Paper plate

PREP

1. Cut the sponge into a star shape. If you aren't comfortable freehand-cutting a star shape (which would be me), try using a cookie cutter or a star shape out of paper and tracing it on the sponge with a marker. Then cut it out.
2. Get painting surface ready. At my house this means a tablecloth on the table.
3. Pour paint onto a paper plate.

ACTIVITY
Have your child dip the sponge in the paint and then press it onto the paper. Let dry and hang to decorate!

These photos are from last year. We did them the same week we learned about stars. Kaitlyn was 2 and Brayden was 4.