Posts Tagged ‘patriotic’

Simple Fourth of July Decorations

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012

simple-fourth-of-july-decorations

Easy and simple Fourth of July decorations:

  • A strip of patriotic cloth running the length of the table. (You can buy this at a fabric store. I bought mine in a bag of cloth scraps at a yard sale for 50 cents.)
  • A tin bucket that is patriotic. (Mine cost $3 new at a craft supply store.)
  • Fill the bucket with sand, and stab in some Fourth of July windmills. (I got my windmills at a craft supply store.)
  • As a finishing touch, stab some cocktail toothpicks into the sand. Mine were blue and red, and they look like fireworks.

It took me less than five minutes to set this up. You might have to iron the cloth; otherwise throw it in the dryer for a couple of minutes for the wrinkles to fall out. If you are going to use the cloth year after year, you could hem it. Or you could use fabric glue instead of a needle and thread to give the illusion that it’s hemmed. To do this, iron the edge down, let it cool for a few seconds, then glue it. Do this little by little along the entire length of the cloth. But finishing the cloth isn’t really necessary, so if you only have five minutes, forget it and get the same great look.

Making a Patriotic Collage

Monday, July 2nd, 2012

patriotic-collage

Making a Patriotic Collage

To make a patriotic collage, start with a poster board or large piece of construction paper. I like to choose a color instead of starting with white. My kids chose blue, but you could also start with red. It should be one of the colors of the American flag. Now cut out pictures from magazines that remind you of being an American, like an eagle, Mount Rushmore, or some American soldiers. You can do the entire collage just with pictures from magazines, with people eating apple pie, playing baseball, or doing any other typical American activity.

patriotic-poster

Write “America” on the top in bubble letters, and color in the letters with red, white, and blue crayons or colored pencils. You could also cut out bubble letters from construction paper or use large alphabet stickers instead. You can add patriotic cloth or napkins with the American flag to add texture. Color a map of the United States, and cut it out and glue it to your poster. Overlap all your pictures so that there is no poster showing except for the title. Now your gorgeous patriotic collage is finished. Hang it up on the wall for everyone to enjoy.

Painting Fireworks with Kids

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

painting-fireworks-with-kids

What better time to paint fireworks than the weeks leading up to the Fourth of July?

In this humorous video, I show you how to paint fireworks on a poster board by throwing a pronged ball dunked in paint straight at the poster. Does that sound like fun? Painting fireworks with kids has never been so easy!

You will need black poster board, kid paint, and a pronged ball. You might also want some old newspaper to place under your project.

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Of course, my kids tried painting fireworks another way, which turned out to be disastrous. Take a look at our failed artwork as well as our successful painting of fireworks.

Memorial Day Decorations

Sunday, May 27th, 2012

memorial-day-decorations

Here are some simple Memorial Day decorations: Pour sand into a clear glass jar, and stab a flag into it. On either side of that, light blue candles. I sprinkled gold confetti stars on the dark blue butcher paper tablecloth. I threw metallic markers on the table, so that the boys could draw on the butcher paper while waiting for their food.

memorial-day-decorations-2

On either end of the table, I spray painted two shoe boxes black the day before. I filled those with sand, placing toy soldiers in the sand. I stabbed two American flags into the sand, so that they crossed each other. These decorations would also be good for the Fourth of July.