Fourth of July Crafts for Kids

4TH OF JULY SIGNS AND ROCKETS

4TH OF JULY SIGNS ~

Kids love making signs that celebrate special holidays and events.  Not only do they love to decorate for special times, they love being a part of making things look festive while being creative.  I often find fun decorations to use in different ways from dollar stores.  I take things apart or cut them up and turn them into craft supplies.  These stores always have lots of stuff around each holiday so it's always worth it to take a look.
I am a big fan of cardboard as a base for many projects as you can buy it by the sheet or use old boxes.  It's pretty strong so can hold a lot of paint and decorations and because of the way it is designed, you can stick things in the top, like little flags.
For the sign base I cut come cardboard pieces about 16" X 9".  I painted some pieces red and some blue and let kids choose.  I also punched some holes here and there around the edge for a hanging wire and for adding stars and other swirly items. Rockets and firework circles are made out of poster board and I gave kids some glitter and glue to create the firework sparkle.  I used some gold shreaded paper (used for packaging) for a firework burst by tying a small bunch together with some wire.  Kids  just stick the firework in one of the punched holes.  You can find lots of packaging stuff at dollar stores.  I also cut some stars out of poster board and attached a wire or some pipe cleaners so they could be added to one of the holes.
Use your imagination to get a project ready for a child and if kids can help, take them along with you and help them figure out some fun things to do with the stuff you find.

ROCKETS ~

Rockets or big fireworks are easy to make and kids love decorating them.  Rockets are created out of cardboard tubes and paper or poster board cones and can be any size you like, from small to gigantic.  For the cone you can create one out of poster board, use birthday hats, or buy them from a craft store.  You can buy heavy paper cones from Oriental Trading Company which are typically used for holding rice and flowers at weddings and showers.
Glue cone piece and tube together and cover with a layer of paper mache to make rocket strong and smooth or just skip the paper mache and paint it white (Gesso works best).  I use liquid starch for paper mache because it is easy and not so sticky like the glue recipes, and it creates a nice crisp painting surface. Before kids start painting, create a hole in the top with a large needle (or anything that will work) for a hanging wire.
Put out some red, white, and blue acrylic paints (poster paints will work as well) and let kids do their thing.  When paint is dry, cut out stars and glitter can be added.  The glittery sticky back foam from craft stores works great.  Add some crepe paper streamers at rocket base with a little glue.  Hang them outside or anywhere you choose.

CRAFTS FOR LITTLE ONES ~ UNDER 3

When I work with kids sometimes siblings like to do art too but may not be quite ready for some of the tasks the older kids can do.  I found some cardboard pre-cut stars at the dollar store, and some 12" sticks.  I taped a stick to each star and gave kids a little glitter, some glue mixed with water and a small size paint brush.  I had them paint dots and other designs with the glue on the star and then sprinkle the glitter.  This is a simple idea but little kids love things on sticks and glitter, of course.  You could also add some crepe paper streamers to the stars.

BIG ROCKETS

Another easy craft for little ones (big ones too) is a large size rocket (firework) to decorate and hang up outside or on the front door.  I used poster board and cut out a white center piece about 10"x22" and the red or blue top to fit, overlapping sides.  Any size you want to make rockets is fine, I just went big because kids like big stuff.  I added some crepe paper tails and a wire loop for hanging.
Kids can paint their rockets and add some glitter or they can use markers.  You can cut out some paper stars or sticky back glitter foam stars and shapes and let kids glue and stick them all over the rocket.  Lots of possibilities. Make some memories, have fun and always get creative with kids at holidays and celebrations,