Patriotic Activities for Kids

School is almost back in session and Labor Day is approaching.  Labor Day is a day set aside to honor American workers so many people celebrate the holiday in various patriotic ways.  Teachers will be searching for patriotic activities to add to their daily lesson plans in honor of Labor Day.  In an effort to help make lesson planning just a little bit easier, I have gathered a few ideas for patriotic activities in the classroom.

Gather a collection of toilet paper rolls and cut slits on one end so that the end of the roll flares out. Pour red tempera paint onto one paper plate, yellow onto another paper plate, blue onto another paper plate and so forth. Use as many colors as you wish. Allow the children to dip the flared end of a toilet paper roll into the paint. Then, dab the painted end of the roll onto a sheet of paper. Instruct him to dab once in a few spots. Then, dab and twist in a few other spots with the tips overlapping in some instances. Allow the children to continue "dipping and dabbing" until their papers are covered with "fireworks". Allow to dry and display in honor of Labor Day or use this activity for other patriotic holidays during the year. You can also add a touch of glitter to the paint or sprinkle glitter onto the paint before it dries for the "sparkling" affect.

Another "fireworks" idea is to cover a sheet of white paper with bright colored paints. After the paint dries, cover it completely with a black crayon. Press hard to be sure no paint colors show through. Allow the children to create "fireworks" by scratching through the black crayon with a paper clip or something sharp enough to scratch but safe enough for young children to use.

Create an "American Memory Game" to be played like "Concentration". Either draw and color or print out from a computer images of American symbols. Create or print the symbols in duplicate. Print them small enough to be placed on a small index card. After the images are glued onto the index cards, turn the cards over face down onto a table or floor. Allow the children to pick up one card at a time until they find a match. Allow the children one turn at a time. If a match is found, the child keeps the matching set of cards. If a match is not found, the cards must be turned back over and another child gets a chance to try for a match. Continue the game until all matches are found. The child holding the largest number of matching cards wins the game. Make the game as large or small as you wish. 12 cards with 6 matching sets is suitable for a very small group of two or three children. Larger sets are needed for larger groups of children.

Trace a child's footprint onto brown paper. Then trace both of her handprints onto brown paper as well. Either cut white feathers from white paper or use cotton. You can also purchase craft feathers from a craft store. Glue the white feathers to the top end of the footprint to create the eagle's head and neck. Add a few feathers to the other end of the footprint to create the tail. Attach the handprints to each side of the footprint to create wings. Once the glue from the feathers dries, add googly eyes or draw on a set of eyes with a black marker. Add a little yellow beak and the Bald Eagle is complete.

Create a class flag using the finger prints and hand prints of your students. Obtain a large sheet of poster board. Square off the top left corner and paint it blue. After the paint dries, allow your students to dip their thumb prints into white paint and dab it onto the blue square to create fifty stars. Unless you have fifty students, some of them will need to place more than one print onto the blue section of the poster board. Using a black marker, draw the thirteen strips. For the red strips, paint each child's hand with red paint and allow them to place their hands onto the strip in a neat row to create the red strips. My photograph is an old, faded one. I did the activity with preschoolers after September 11, 2001 and chose to use fingerprints only, but you can still see how it is done. I have seen the project with handprints instead of finger prints for the red strips and it looks much better.  Display the class created American flag with honor in your classrooms all year long.