Fourth of July Fun

Our little Bec is a Yankee Doodle baby, in that he was born on the 4th ofJuly.  This is the first year he's been able to really understand what his birthday is and how old he will be.  We've never decorated for the Independence Day, but this year I thought it would be fun to start teaching him about how special his birthday is, so we started with an American flag wind sock. (I confess I called it a wind puppet for a few days... I was getting confused with sock puppets... having children really does diminish your brain cell count.)

I got this idea from the Brilliant Beginnings Preschool blog and modified it. Here's what you need to make one like ours:


Empty canister (we used a grits canister... gotta love the South!)
Blue Felt 
White Ribbon
Crepe Streamers in Red and White 
Aluminum Foil
Thin Cardboard (we used a Cheerios box)
Twine or String
Tape
Glue Gun or other strong glue


1. Make sure your canister has both ends open.  We had to cut the bottom off of ours. 


2. Wrap blue felt around canister and secure with hot glue.  Then use the glue to secure a strip of white ribbon around the top.  You could put ribbon on the top and bottom. 

 3. Cut long strips of red and white crepe paper streamers and tape them to the inside of the canister. Alternate the red and white. 

 If you're brave and/or crazy, let your preschooler cut them himself. 

4. Draw stars on your piece of cardboard; cut them out and wrap them in aluminum foil.  Your foil only needs to be slightly larger than the star itself. Glue them onto your blue felt. 

Notice the triangle? That was Becton's star!


5. Punch three holes under the ribbon trim and use twine/string to hang it. 


6.  Hang it on a hook outside or on a tree limb and then sit back and feel patriotic!

 We want YOU to make a wind sock!

(I promise he did the Uncle Sam finger point on his own!)

Happy Fourth of July!!
Love, 
The Johnsons