Hopefully we have been getting you in a patriotic mood with the red, white, and blue “berry” delicious ideas that we’ve shared over the last few weeks. Now it’s time to get the kids into the spirit of Independence Day with some fun summer activities and festive ways to celebrate!
-Patriotic Flip Flops
Do your kids have some old flip flops that could use a makeover? Why not turn them into festive and fashionable ones? By simply using either red, white, and blue ribbons or scrap cloth, you can do just that. All you need is a bunch of six inch fabric strips in a variety of colors and some flip flops. Kids can tie the center of each strip around the flip flop straps until they fill it up all the way around.
There is so much freedom and flexibility to this as it doesn’t matter if the strips are close together or far apart. Consider using patterned fabric with red, white, and blue color throughout for even more flair. The best part is that the strips can simply be taken off if there are mistakes or if you don’t want to invest in new flip flops but don’t want to always want the decorated variety either.
-Festive Nail Polish
Have you taken advantage of the nail polish freebies that we’ve seen at Walgreens over the past couple months? If so, you just may have some red, white, and blue nail polish on hand. If not, a cheap investment in those three colors can be loads of fun for the little ladies in your life.
Consider setting up a home manicure spa for a group of girls to come and get their nails done by the moms or have the activity available at a 4th of July gathering.
Start with a base color and add white stars on top using a dot of white nail polish and creating the points of the star by dragging paint from the dot outward using a toothpick. Create the look of a USA flag by painting the left-most fingernail on each hand with blue and the other fingers on each hand with red. Then go back and add white stars on top of the blue nails and white stripes (again with a toothpick) to the red nails.
-Firecracker Gifts
Are you hosting a party with lots of kids this holiday? Add some fun party favors to the mix that kids can take home with them or fill them with small gifts that will keep the kids entertained throughout the party. Consider putting firework temporary tattoos inside along with candies, bouncy balls, noise makers, etc. To make them extra festive, wrap them to look like firecrackers. This can be done by filling an empty toilet paper roll with the items and wrapping shiny paper on the outside. Leave enough paper on the edges of the tube to put a half toilet paper roll on each end of the full roll. Use ribbon to tie the section in between each full and half roll, and trim off any paper that goes beyond the rolls. Breaking them open is extra fun!
-Paper Chain Flag
This craft is a fun way to create a kid-friendly version of a USA flag. All you need is red, white, and blue construction paper and tape or staples.
Cut out 16 strips of blue paper that are each about 8-9 inches long and 1 inch wide. Cut out 36 strips of red paper of the same length and width and 25 strips of white paper. Create the flag one row at a time.
Have the kids make the first row by making a circle out of the first blue strip by connecting the ends of it together. Either staple or tape the ends together. String of July gathering. Start with a base color and add white stars on top using a dot another blue strip through the first blue circle and attach the same way. Do this with a total of 4 blue strips and then finish the row with 7 red paper circle links. The next row will be done the same way but with 4 blue and then 7 white strips. The third row will be the same as the first and the fourth the same as the second. Then you’ll need one completely red row of chains (11 strips total) followed by a white row of 11 strips and then the bottom row will be another row of 11 red strips.
If you keep the rows in order, you should have a flag look with blue in the upper left with red and white alternating strips on the right and then three rows of the red and white chains at the bottom. Tape or staple each row to the one above it to create a 3D paper chain flag.
What activities do you do with the kids to celebrate the 4th of July?