Saturday, March 8, 2014

American Flag Crafts For Kids

American Flag Crafts for Kids


American flag crafts can be made in celebration of Independence Day, President's Day, Flag Day or any time you want to display your patriotic cheer. There are flag craft ideas suitable for children of all ages, that use inexpensive materials that you are likely to have around your house.


Flag Mosaic


Mosaics can be made with small pieces of almost any material: tiles, beads, buttons, even candies. Whichever material you choose, start with a sturdy, rectangular background such as a wooden board or thick cardboard. You may want to sketch out a template before you begin, to make sure your background is large enough to accommodate the mosaic pieces you will be working with. Start forming the bottom red stripe of the flag by attaching red pieces to your background with glue. Regular white school glue works well for most materials. Continue forming alternating red and white stripes upward, leaving empty space in the upper left-hand corner for the blue background and white stars. To create the stars, glue small white pieces throughout the empty square. Fill in the blue background pieces to complete the flag.


Toothpick Flag


These mini flags can be used as decorations, appetizer toothpicks, or in place of a paper umbrella in a fancy glass of punch. To start, cut out a white paper rectangle about 3 inches long by 1 inch wide. Fold the paper in half around the top section of a toothpick. Spread a small amount of glue on the inside of the paper and press the paper together around the toothpick so the glue holds it in place. When the glue dries, use felt-tip markers to draw the red stripes. Pencil in stars and color in the blue background around them to finish up the toothpick flag.


Berry Flag Cake


To create a berry flag cake, start with a 9 inch by 13 inch sheet cake (any flavor will do). Frost with white frosting. To create the flag's red stripes, use small strawberries sliced in half to form a line across the bottom of the cake. Continue placing rows of strawberries above the first stripe the cake, leaving an equivalent sized blank space between each line to form the white stripes. On the upper left corner, place whole blueberries into a square shape to create the blue background, leaving small spaces of white to represent the stars.


More Flag Crafts


For more American flag craft ideas, pick up a copy of Star Spangled Crafts. As the self-proclaimed Queen of Crafts for Kids, author Kathy Ross has written dozens of craft idea books. Star Spangled Crafts includes 22 American-themed activities, including flag crafts such as a ribbon flag magnet and a heart flag necklace. The activities are geared toward children ages 4 through 8 with simple directions, common materials and colorful illustrations.







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