patriotic Archives - JDaniel4s Mom

Patriotic Homemade Slime and Graphing Activity

June 13, 2018 By Deirdre

You can easily create this patriotic homemade slime for the 4th of July, Memorial Day or any other patriotic holiday. After your children have explored the homemade slime, they could wash the slime off in a bowl of soapy water. Once the stars from the slime are clean, they can be used to great a pictures graph on a patriotic stars graph. Your children will have fun exploring slime and working on graphing concepts during this activity.

Before Starting the Activity

Links below may be affiliate links.

You may want to share a patriotic book or two with your children. Below you will find some wonderful books that have patriotic themes.

Homemade Slime Making

You will need to gather the following supplies to make the slime.

- Plastic bowl or container
- Sturdy Spoon
- 1/2 cup of Clear Glue or Liquid Glitter Glue
- 1/2 cup of Water
- Food Coloring
- 1/2 teaspoon of Baking Soda (You can add more baking soda if you think the slime is too runny.)
- 1 Tablespoon of Saline Solution
- Star-shaped Patriotic Pony Beads

Directions for Making the Slime

The first thing they will need to do is place a 1/2 cup of clear glue in a bowl.

Then they will need to add 1/2 cup of water to the bowl. Children will need to blend this mixture together well.

Next several drops of food coloring need to be added to the mixture. If you are using colored glue, you may want to skip this step.

Then a 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda needs to be added to the mixture.

After adding the baking soda, children need to add 1 Tablespoon of saline solution.

The mixture will need to be stirred with a sturdy spoon and kneaded with your hands.

Finally, you will add the plastic stars to the mixture. You will want to add a different number of each of the colored stars to the slime. That way you will end up with a bar graph that doesn’t display the same number of stars for each color.

Exploring the Homemade Slime

Your children will definitely want time to explore the homemade slime. They will enjoy looking for the stars in slime as well as watching the stars slip down the slime back into the bowl.

Cleaning the Stars

Children can use a plastic spoon to scoop the stars out the slime. Then can drop them into a bowl of soapy water. The slime will slip off the stars easily after simply stirring the star-filled water with the spoon.

Once all the stars are slime free, they can be dried off with a paper towel.

Graphing the Stars

Children can use the dried stars to create a patriotic picture graph. You will need to print out a copy of the Homemade Patriotic Slime and Graphing Activity graphing sheet.

After placing the stars in the correct column on the graphing sheet, children can talk about what they see on the graph. They can share how many stars they have of each color. Children can share which color they have the most of. They can also share what color they have the least of.

If you like this slime activity, here are some more you will love:

Exploring the Five Senses with Jello Slime

Slime Themed Duck in the Truck Activity

How to Make Liquid Starch Slime Coding Activity

4th of July Jokes in Secret Codes for Kids

May 18, 2018 By Deirdre

This is the 4th of 5 printable crack the code sets I am sharing this week. Your children will enjoy finding out the punchlines for jokes on worksheets in this set 4th of July themed jokes. They feature picnic and patriotic themed secret codes for kids to decode. When they have finished breaking each of the codes they will have fun sharing the jokes with their friends and family.

Before your children start exploring the secret codes for kids worksheets, you may want to read them one of the patriotically themed books below.

Getting the Secret Codes for Kids Printables

You will need to download the secret codes for kids printables. There are two worksheets and two answer keys in the 4th of July Jokes and Secret Codes for Kids .

Then you will need to print out the worksheet or worksheets you want your children to use. They were designed to be printed out on a black and white printer.

Exploring the Worksheets

Your children can work with a partner or on their own to crack the secret code for each of the patriotic jokes. You will find that some of the punchlines are funnier when your children read them aloud. After decoding each of the punchlines, you will want to have them read them to you. They can practice adding inflection to their voices when they get to the key areas in each of the jokes.

A number of the jokes have puns or plays on words in them. You will want to stop and talk with your children about what each punchline means in the context of the jokes. Then you can help them to figure out what they mean in a 4th of July context.

If you like this code breaking printable, here are some more you will love.

Code Breaking Ocean Riddles

Farm Jokes Code Breaker Game with Printable Worksheets

Cowboy Themed Decode This Code Worksheets

Washi, Painter’s and Duct Tape Crafts and Activities

July 1, 2015 By Deirdre

There are so many ways to use tape to create boredom busters with and for your kids. There are so many kinds of tape that can be used to create them. Today I am going to washi, painter’s and duct tape crafts and activities that were created by team of bloggers that hosted the Craft Closet Boredom Busters event last week. Many of these activities are from the bloggers archives. I loved searching their sites to find them. I think you are going t love them

Duct Tape Crafts, Activities, and So Much More

Duct tape light sabers from Frugal Fun for Boys

Duct tape counting stars from The Educator’s Spin On It

Duct tape wallet from Frugal Fun for Boys

Floor Tape Letters from I Can Teach My Child

Floor tape uppercase and lowercase parking lot from I Can Teach My Child

Birch tree painting by The Educator’s Spin on It

Tape Cities with LEGOS from Toddler Approved

Miro inspired painter’s tape art from Toddler Approved

Patriotic Washi Tape Wood Bracelets from Mama Miss

Pop Rockets Kid’s Science Experiment from Playdough to Plato

Tape Rocket and Magnetic Astronaut found right here on JDaniel4’s Mom

Tape Sight Word Web found right here on JDaniel4’s Mom

Here are a lot more ways to use tape:

19 Ways to Use a Tape Learning Maze found right here on JDaniel4’s Mom

If you try any of these, please stop by and leave me a comment telling me how it went.

Sandpaper and Crayon Art Iron On Transfers

June 18, 2015 By Deirdre

Last year one of the craft projects the kids did at my church’s vacation bible school was to create sandpaper and crayon art iron on transfers. Each child brought a white shirt and their drawing was transferred by a volunteer onto it. I thought it would be fun do this craft at home and create 4th of July crayon drawings for shirts. As you can see from the collage above and the picture below, JDaniel and I both created very different drawings to celebrate the 4th.

Let me walk you through how we crafted our 4th of July shirts. They are so easy to make. I know you are going to want to make shirts of your own for all kinds of holidays and events.

We Started with Crayon Art

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Everyday waxed crayons were used to draw on 100 medium sandpaper. (I love Crayola crayons for crafts. ) The most important part of creating crayon art that will transfer is to color darkly by pressing down hard with your crayon. That means coloring each area over and over again.

We did free hand coloring and coloring inside a star shaped cookie cutter. (A cookie cutter made a great template.) When you do this craft you can use templates, cookie cutters or just have your kids draw.

We talked about the symbols of our country before starting the project! Your kids could really place anything they think celebrates the 4th of July on their sandpaper. One of us decided to have dinosaur as part of our design. I think it was a brilliant idea. The design show U.S. symbols and something that interests it artist. It is so important that children feel they can express themselves when they create and not have to make a rigid design.

Hint: It is a good idea to tell children that the pictures will be reversed when they are transferred to their shirt. My son’s flag came out on his shirt backwards. I flipped the picture of the shirt when I edited the picture.

Moving the Crayon Art To The Shirt

When we finished our pictures on the sandpaper, I heated up the iron to a high heat. The shirt was placed on a pad with a cloth placed on it.

Then the crayon art was placed face down on the shirt. I placed our transfers up to high on the shirts. When we do this again, I will place them more towards the center of the shirt.

We set a timer for three minutes and then I started ironing. I held the iron in place for a few seconds over each area of the sandpaper to start with. Then I went back and forth across it. When the timer stared dinging, I lifted the iron off of the transfer.

Hint: An ironing board is probably a better choice. We will use one next time we do this project.

The transfer was left on the shirt for a couple of second and then we peeled it off. Voila! We had really cool shirts personally designed by us! They will be such fun to wear on the 4th of July, Veterans Day and next Memorial Day!

Hint: Placing your shirt in a dryer on a low heat will help your design set.

If you like this patriotic craft idea, you may like these too.

Flag Mobile

Cardboard Tube Flag

Fold and Thread Necklace

Patriotic Confetti Eggs

Painted Flag

If you create sandpaper and crayon art iron on transfers, please take a picture of them and share them with me. You can share them on my Facebook page.

American Flag Cardboard Tube Craft

June 30, 2014 By Deirdre

This American flag cardboard tube craft is easy for kids to put together. It would be great make to celebrate a variety of patriotic events and holidays. We have it on displayin our kitchen, but I think it would look great anywhere you would like to display it.

What do you need to create this American flag craft?

Paper towel tubes (2)
Bingo markers (red and blue)
White construction paper
White ribbon
Glue stick
Scissors

How do you put the American flag together?

You start by cutting two paper towel tubes in half. If you don’t have paper towel tubes, you can used four toilet paper cardboard tubes.

Paint three of the cardboard tube sections red and one of the tubes blue with bingo markers. I like to dab bingo markers when I paint with them. JDaniel likes to roll bingo markers in straight lines across the tubes. We both painted these tubes so, you will see some of both styles of painting.

While you are waiting for the paint to dry, you can cut out stars out of the white construction paper. We cut out two different sizes out. I need to be honest and tell you that we printed the stars out on construction paper and then cut them out. I tried hand drawing them and found that I am not great a drawing five point stars.

When the paint on the tubes is dry, you can add the stars and stripes. The stars can been glued all over the tube painted blue. Strips of white ribbon can be wrapped around the tube. We glued the ribbon on so we would have red on the bottom of the tube and on the top just like the Amercian flag.

This American flag craft can be displayed with all the tubes lined up in a row or with tubes arrange to look like the flag is waving. Both ways really work.

Here are several fun American flag and patriotic themed posts:

Fine Motor- Fold and Thread Necklace

How to Make Confetti Eggs

American Flag Mobile

Painted American Flag

For more American flag and red, white, and blue activities, please check out my Red, White, and Blue Pinterest board.

If I don’t see you before the 4th of July, I hope your family has a wonderful holiday!

American Flag Craft for Kids

June 11, 2014 By Deirdre

Using a few simple craft materials you can create an American flag craft mobile that can twist in the breeze or decorate your child’s room. It is super easy! We made this mobile two years ago for a guest post on the blog Not Just Cute. I thought you would love to see it!

A flag mobile like this one would be great to hang up on Flag Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day or the 4th of July. We have had it hung up in a tree in our yard on bright sunny days lately, but we take it in a night. It isn’t weather safe. It has spent the most time in JDaniel’s room hanging from one of the arms of his ceiling fan.

How To Make Our American Flag Craft for Kids

The first thing you have to do it so gather your supplies.

We used:

Cardboard box ( Colored poster board could be used instead)
Paint (Red, white and blue)
White construction paper
Fishing line
Plastic hanger (red)
Scissors
X -Acto knife

Directions for creating the mobile:

Trace the outline of a flag and mark off six stripes of equal length.

Draw wavy lines to separate each of the stripes.

If you are using poster board for your stripes, cut out the stripes with scissors. If you are using cardboard, cut out the stripes with an X-Acto knife.

Cut a four inch length from three of your stripes. The short stripes with be the blue area of the flag.

Now it is kid’s time! Have the kids color the three short stripe sections blue. Two of the long stripes and one of the shorter stripes will need to be painted white. Two of the shorter stripes and two of the long stripes will be painted red.

While the paint is drying, cut stars out of the white construction paper. We have nine stars on our flag.

When the paint is dry, glue the stars onto the short blue stripes.

Thread a needle with fishing line.

Use the fishing line to connect each of the small blue stripes to one of the medium sized or shorter stripes. Then connect the blue stripes to the red hanger with fishing line.

Next use fishing line to connect the longer stripes to the coat hanger.

Make sure the stripes will have enough room to spin.

Hang your mobile up and watch it spin.

I hope you like our tribute Old Glory!

Other Patriotic Crafts for Kids

If you are looking for patriotic crafts and fun, you may want to check out my Summer Crafts and Fun Pinterest board .

Follow JDaniel4’s Mom’s board Summer Crafts and Fun on Pinterest.

Here are some other patriotic crafts I have shared here on my blog:

Crafts for Kids: Painted American Flag

Bald Eagle Craft and Science Experiment

Patriotic Windsock

10 Fourth of July Books for Kids

June 25, 2013 By Deirdre

Children can learn more about the symbols associated with the 4th of July and ways families celebrate the 4th with this wonderful collection of books. When you have finished reading them you might enjoy, creating a creating a threaded necklace, patriotic confetti eggs, or a cardboard tube flag.

4th of July Books for Kids

One Nation Under God: A Book for Little Patriotstalks about our country and government in a way young readers will understand.

Sweet Land of Liberty (1) (Ellis the Elephant)> is wonderful book about an Elephant who wants to learn about America’s history while on a visit to the library.

Story Of Americas Birthday is a simple board book talks about America is simple words and pictures.

The Story of the Statue of Liberty (Rise and Shine)is a simple board book by the same author as The Story of America’s Birthday. It highlights the beginning of the song the Star Spangled Banner and about our flag.

The Pledge of Allegiance has been in my book collection since I was a classroom teacher. The book shared the song The Pledge of Allegiance and has beautiful photos from around the United States that illustrate various parts of the song.

Our American Flag (American Symbols) shares the various versions of our flag from its first design to our present design.

O, Say Can You See? America’s Symbols, Landmarks, and Important Words shares many of the symbols and landmarks that the United States are known for.

Fourth of July Mice! (Green Light Readers Level 1) is the story of a mouse family had how they celebrate the traditions associated with the 4th of July.

Our American Flag (American Symbols) is the tale of what a little girl sees as she rides her bike around town during the 4th of July.

Grandma Drove the Garbage Truck explains how while trying to pick up a garbage in a truck she has never driven before Grandma ends up in the 4th of July parade.

Many of these books discuss 4th of July traditions or American landmarks. I think the 4th of July is a great time to share with your children the traditions and heritage tied to this wonderful holiday.

If I left your favorite 4th of July book of the list, please leave me a comment sharing it with me.

Chili Recipe with Patriotic Colors

January 17, 2013 By Deirdre

I have been doing some searching online for Presdent Obama’s favorite foods. There seems to a wide variety of opinions on what he really likes. He like popcorn, but I think it is probably the slightly buttered kind. The red,white and blue popcorn I shared yesterday may not be something he would like to have. I also read that he likes chili. I didn’t find any descriptions of what kind of chili he likes so, I decided to make my own patriotic chili recipe.

We are on a ground turkey kick out my house. It is really the only type of ground meat that we have been having lately. The chili I made started out with base of ground turkey.

Chili Recipe

Ingredients:

2 pounds of cooked ground turkey

1 jar of tomato sauce

1 can of red kidney beans

2 Tablespoons of chili powder

1 Tablespoon of minced onion

1 teaspoon of cocoa

a dash of cinnamon<

Directions:

I literally placed everything in a stock pot and let it simmer.

When the chili was ready, I put it on a plate and placed a star shaped cookie cutter on top of the pile of chili. Then I spooned in sour cream until the cookie cutter’s center was filled. The chili was surrounded by blue corn chips just before I served it to my guys.

JDaniel loved the chili, chips, and sour cream. My husband asked what I added to the chili that made it sweet. I told him about the cinnamon and he asked that I go back to the old chili recipe. The cinnamon was a last minute addition. I don’t think I will try adding something sweet to it again. I love to experiment while cooking I will have to try something else next time.

How could I jazz up my patriotic chili recipe ?

Popcorn Recipe- Red, White and Blue Popcorn

January 16, 2013 By Deirdre

With Inauguration Day right around the corner and President’s Day coming up next month, I thought it would be fun to make red, white and blue popcorn with JDaniel. We could nibble on it during the parade next week or just have it celebrate Inauguration Day. I think you will like this popcorn recipe too.JDaniel was all for it. He love popcorn and snacking. Creating a popcorn snack was ideal for him. The rest of us like popcorn too and kettle corn was sure to give us a sweet treat. I settled on one that I found on online at Our Best Bites. There are several versions online. This is probably the simplest and it listed honey as an alternative for corn syrup.

Red, White, and Blue Popcorn Recipe

While I heated up the butter, honey, sugar and jello mixtures on the stove, JDaniel emptied most of the two bags microwave popcorn into two bowls. I had two mixtures going at the same time. There was a blue mixture in one pot and a red mixture in the other. (I will never do this again. Next time it will be one color at a time.) The sugar mixtures cooled down way to fast to do two different posts at the same time.

When the mixtures were well blended, I dumped each in its respective bowl and started tossing. I had thought JDaniel could help with the tossing, but it was way to hot to have him work with it. I tossed one bowl and then the other. Back and forth I went until the popcorn was mostly covered with color.

Then I dumped them onto a cookie sheet covered in foil that I had sprayed with cooking spray. JDaniel helped spread the popcorn out and sample some of it. ( The sugar layer had cooled down a lot. )We both tried it and it was wonderful. It could have been considered done then, but we followed the recipe directions and baked it at 350 degrees for ten minutes.

It came out a little crunchier and still yummy. I would love to say that it is going to make it to Inauguration Day, but I think this batch will have disappeared. Maybe I shouldn’t have halved the recipe. We might have had some leftover if I hadn’t done that. I guess we will be making red, white and blue popcorn again.

If you like this popcorn recipe, here are some more recipes you might like:

Chicken Parmesan Recipe

Muffin with Fruit and Yogurt

Breakfast Rice RecipesThis post is linked to Alphabe Thursday.

4th of July Snack and 4th of July Muffin Tin Meals of the Past

July 2, 2012 By Deirdre

The Fourth of July and pinwheels got linked together in my head for some reason. I mulled over several ways to create a pinwheel and end up with a tortilla cut into a pinwheel for this 4th of July snack.The pinwheel didn’t seem to lend itself to becoming part of a sandwich so, I decorated it with sprinkles, red frosting, and a cherry. The blueberries and grapes not only covered the red and blue colors needed in a 4th of July snack but added a healthy touch to it. The bacon in the star-covered muffin liner is there because JDaniel likes bacon. It does look a little like the red stripes in the flag. JDaniel ate the pinwheel, the cherry, and the bacon. He decided the fruit could be used for lunch the next day. I did serve him the fruit along with tiny star sandwiches the next day for lunch and he ate the whole thing.

Below you will find some of the 4th of July snack and meal ideas I have served over the past few years.

The first tin was a snack muffin tin called Very Berry 4th of July and was created for JDanel when he was two years old. It contained blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, yogurt to dip them in, and cereal to sprinkle on the yogurt. The second tin in the first row is the muffin tin lunch I shared last week. The post was called Friendship and the 4th of July. It features a hot dog wrapped in bread stick, a frozen yogurt star, tomatoes, catsup, blue tortilla chips, and blueberries.

The first tin in the second row is a second 4th of July tin from when JDaniel was two. The post featuring it was called Dipping into the Fourth of July. The tin contained blueberries, plain yogurt, spaghetti sauce with meat, tomatoes, noodles, and cucumbers. JDaniel was big into dipping food all by himself when he was two. This tin was filled with things to dip.The second tin in the second row is from when JDaniel was three. The post was called Muffin Tin Monday on Sunday- Happy Fourth of July. It is hard to see what is in the first cup. It was a burger with bread and cheese stars. The last two cups in the first row contained salads. There was a corn and black bean salad and a red potato salad with potato stars. The last row contained strawberries, red grapes, and peanut butter fudge.I really enjoyed looking back on the 4th of July snack and lunch ideas I have made in the past. I hope you did too.What are your favorite 4th of July foods?This post is linked to Muffin Tin Monday.