1. Cut red construction paper into 1″ wide strips.
2. Cut a piece of white paper big enough to fit around the peanut can. Glue the red strips of paper evenly around the container. Use a large paper plate to trace a blue circle bigger than your can. Glue the container in the center of the blue circle. Decorate the blue paper with stars. This can be used to hold pencils.

This is a perfect art project for preschool aged children. The key is to allow them to place their stripes and stars where ever they wish, but you may want to let them see a sample flag if they ask.

Give each child one piece of white construction paper and have them place it sideways on the table. Then give each child several strips of red paper, one blue square, and several star stickers. Have each child glue down the strips, blue square and stars however they wish, creating their own version of the US flag.

Using any type of bead (bigger beads work better for young children), have your child string red, white, and blue beads on a piece of string, ribbon, or yarn. Tie into a circle and instantly your child has a wonderful necklace or bracelet to wear.

1. You will need to cut a piece of poster board for each hat about 6-8 inches wide, with the length measuring just enough to fit around the person’s head with a little room to spare. (Use a measuring tape, paper or ribbon to put around their head and mark the length you will need)
2. Now you will decorate your hat BEFORE stapling it together. This is where you have many options! Each person can paint or color stars around the surface of their hat or write on phrases such as: I love the red, white and blue! Happy Fourth of July! Celebrate Our Independence Day! I love America!

   You can also add paint, glitter, or cut shapes that can be placed around the top of the hat. You could even use patriotic stickers from the store, or attach a small pinwheel to your hat!

3. Once your hat is decorated and dry, secure it together with several staples to fasten together the two edges. Place it on your head and celebrate!

1. Cut off the bottom of your rounded box. (parents can do this easily by running a knife around the bottom, instead of actually cutting a section off.) Cover the entire box with blue paper-glue on securely (you can staple too if you wish). Any size rounded container works well-the large oatmeal containers make a nice big tube with room for more stars and adding “Happy 4th of July!”.
2. Using the cookie cutter, stencil or stamp of a star as a pattern draw 6-12 stars (depending on how big your tube is) on the white paper and carefully cut them out. Glue on to your blue box-spacing them around the entire thing.
3. For your streamers you will need some type of red and white paper strips. You can use shredded paper from a paper shredder (parents must do this part), or crepe paper that is cut in half lengthwise, or other paper that has been cut into strips. Be creative with what you have around the house! Cut them fairly long-12 inches or so. Staple or tape them to the bottom of your box-spacing evenly so they hang off the tube. Lastly, punch four holes in the top of your box-be very careful to punch one hole on each side and space them evenly so it will hang correctly. Cut two 12 inch pieces of string-tie each one through two holes and tie in a knot, so you now have two “loops” on each side. Take another 12-inch string and tie it through both loops. This string is the one you will attach to your porch, so it waves around in the breeze!

1. Brush off your pot to make sure it doesn’t have any dirt or dust on it. Then using the oil based crayons draw symbols of the United States- the flag, stars, stripes, the Statue of Liberty etc.
2. Place the Styrofoam in the bottom of the decorated flowerpot. Place the flags into the Styrofoam. Using the Spanish moss cover the base of the sticks so that the Styrofoam is covered.

1. A nice way to kick off this project is either to read a story about Independence Day or have a discussion about what Independence Day means. This lays a foundation for the kids to build on.
2. The children can look through the magazines for pictures that represent independence and America. After cutting these out it is a good idea to lay them on the poster board to see how they look.
3. Once you have decided the location of the pictures, use the glue stick to attach them to the board. A nice added touch may be red, white and blue streamers to decorate the perimeter of the completed board.

1. The first step is having your child decorate his “rocket”. All tape must be away from the lid area, so the top won’t be obstructed in any way. Work with the cap or top of the canister at the BOTTOM. He or she can make a cone to put on the top of the canister, so it looks like a rocket.

   Decorate the cone before taping onto the canister, then tape in place. Another option is to cut little “fins” for each side of the rocket and tape in place also.

2. When the canister is decorated you will be ready to add the “fuel”. This is where the science experiment comes in. You will need to add water and a part of the Alka Seltzer tablet to the canister and seal it with the lid. But how much? Have each person guess what amounts may work. What happens? (The correct amount that usually works the best is 1/4 tablet added to the canister 1/4 filled with water.)
3. Add the tablet and water, put the lid on and place the rocket CAP DOWN on the ground. Now wait- in a couple of minutes the rocket will shoot up in the air from the pressure of the tablet creating gas in the canister and it becomes a rocket! You can do this experiment over and over, though your paper may need to be replaced after awhile.

1. Paint 4 craft sticks red and 3 craft sticks white. Allow to dry.
2. Arrange painted sticks with backsides up alternating red and white sticks.
3. Break two sticks to 2 3/4 inches. Glue to back as shown in fig.
4. Glue another stick to back to create a handle. Allow glue to dry completely.
5. Turn flag over. Cut a 1 1/2-inch square from the blue construction paper. Glue to top left corner of flag. Drip several dots of white glue on blue construction paper for the stars. Sprinkle with glitter and shake off.

Cut bell pepper in half and clean out the seeds. The children can dip the cross sections of the pepper into some green paint and press the shamrock print onto paper.