Posted in Arts and Crafts

4th of July Craft for Kids

Handprint USA Flag Preschool
Group USA Flag Craft

How to make a Group U.S. Flag

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This 4th of July flag for kids was a great group activity for the pre-kindergarten class. Continue reading to find how we made a group flag in our pre-k classroom.

Teacher Preparation:

  • Gather Materials
  • Set out the white pages (1 per each student) and the 1 blue page.
  • Draw lines on the white pages (2 lines for large hands and 4 lines for small hands). Assign paper based on the kids size.
  • Have a plate of red and a plate of white paint.
  • Set a time out in your busy class day to monitor hand-printing.

Making Stars

  1. Gather White paint and dark blue paper
  2. Paint Child’s hand with white paint.
  3. Push hand firmly down on dark blue construction paper.
  4. Do the same for the next child in line.

Making Stripes

  1. Paint one hand of each child red.
  2. Use white paper. Have them press their hand down, lift, and press down in a straight line. Lines drawn on the paper, make it easier for a child to follow.
  3. Monitoring by an adult will prevent a large mess. Please use washable paint.

Putting it all together: Making the Flag

The class created the flag as a group and it stayed on the wall from Memorial Day until a little after July 4th, in a year round school program. The children then got to take home their independent page, which is the white paper with red handprints. The blue paper has all of the children’s handprints on the page; the teacher kept this page.

To make the group flag you will need three white pages taped together on the vertical side.

The top white page must have 5 lines (4 drawn lines) and the other two must have 4 lines (2 drawn lines). This will ensure that there are 13 stripes on the flag.

The blue paper with white handprints will represent the stars of the flag. Tape this to the upper left corner.

Make an even rectangle with all of the student hand prints. Some student papers may need to be taped off to the side if you have an odd number of students.

The preschool was closed for 4th of July, but we held a small celebration with our class the Friday before 4th of July. Our circle time activities were U.S. centered, and we read a book about the 4th of July. Amazon has a great inventory of 4th of July Children’s Books. (View Here)

Unabashed Kids is an affiliate for Amazon and other online retailers. That means that if you use the links found on the U-Kids blog to make a purchase, we receive a small percentage of the purchase price. It never changes the price you pay and we select every item mentioned on the blog!

Materials List

White Construction Paper

Crayola White Paint

Crayola White Paint

Blue Construction Paper

Blue Construction Paper

Crayola Red Paint

Crayola Red Paint
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Posted in Arts and Crafts

A Father’s Day Craft that Dad will Love

A Gift (from kids of all ages)

So, when is Father’s Day? Father’s Day is always the 3rd Sunday of June. If you need a gift for a special Dad, here is a quick, creative, and fun craft for kids of all ages. This gift is super Easy to make: If you don’t have good penmanship and worry about drawing the word DAD ==> Print the FREE stencil below. This article goes over the steps for this art craft in detail, but it is a fairly simple project. We promise it will be a father’s day craft that dad will love.

Father's Day craft - handprint
Completed Father’s Day Craft

Simple Instructions for Father’s Day Craft:

Scroll down and read the full article for details. A free craft simple instruction print-out is available.

Print the stencil. Tape DAD cutout on poster paper or a canvas (Dad deserves the canvas). Color or paint. Remove cutout. Laminate and/or frame the poster. Give to the BEST DAD IN THE WORLD!

“My daughter got me a ‘World’s Best Dad’ mug. So we know she’s sarcastic.” —Bob Odenkirk

Dad Joke
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The fathers of my preschoolers loved this gift. It takes very little prep time or instructional time. This craft uses materials that are easily found at home or at school. The only thing I believe may not be in every home is a painting canvas. If you cannot get a canvas thick construction paper will get similar results. I suggest that artwork is done on construction paper be framed before gifting. In this article, you will see images of a DAD craft done with construction paper and a MOM craft done on canvas. I bought canvas’ for my entire preschool class at the local dollar tree. You can purchase a canvas in-store or on amazon using the links below.

Materials needed for this craft

  • Any Color Paint (recommended) or crayons/markers
  • Canvas (recommended) or thick paper
  • FREE U-Kids Dad stencil – print, cut out, trace and tape
  • pencil
  • black marker
  • tape
  • Picture Frame – only if you use thick paper. Canvas painting frames are optional.

picture frame
Crayola washable paint

“Father’s Day is important because, besides being the day on which we honor Dad, it’s the one day of the year that Brookstone does any business.” —Jimmy Fallon

Dad Joke
Mother's Day Craft

This craft should ideally be done on CANVAS or thick paper, to avoid paper folding when the paint dries. The picture is an image of the same craft done on a canvas, for Mother’s Day. Dad deserves the canvas! You can buy a low-cost canvas on amazon by clicking the link below.

Preparation before working with a child under age 10:

Follow these preparation steps before working with a child under the age of 10.

Prep step 1: Please cut out the DAD stencil if working with little ones. The FREE DAD stencil can be found in the downloadable instructions. No matter how great they are at using scissors they just don’t have the skills needed for this part of the craft.

Print the FREE Instructions linked below or draw your own. It is optional if you want to cut out the centers of letters A and D.

Prep step 2: Tape the stencil to the bottom of a canvas or thicker piece of paper (whichever you choose to use). Only the letters D A D should be taped down, discard the rest of the cutout.

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What the child needs to do:

The following steps are what a child needs to do during this art craft.

Part 1: Paint the canvas, including the taped-down word DAD. If really young children do not have the stamina to cover the whole canvas, have them focus on painting over the taped-down word DAD.

Part 2: Dip the hand in paint (palm down and flat-handed) or have an adult paint the child’s hand. Use a color different than the colors used to paint the canvas. This makes for a better highlight and contrast.

*** For the second part of the project – use a color other than white for the handprint of children who did not fully paint the top of the canvas. White paint on the white canvas will not highlight the handprint.

The Final Step Before Gifting this Father’s Day Craft

This is the final step before gifting this masterpiece to dad. Complete these final steps before gifting the craft to the BEST DAD in the world. The following step is best done by an adult or child over the age of 10 with good pencil skills.

  • Removed the taped-down word, DAD. Revealing a white outline of the word.
  • Trace the word DAD on the CANVAS with a black marker.

Bonus Step: Use white paint to cover any edges where paint got under the stencil.

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Thanks for reading and Happy Father’s Day to all of the amazing fathers. I hope dad enjoys his gift. Take a look at our Ultimate List of Books about Dad. All about Dad Children’s Book list.

Book release - Dad is my best friend