Fourth of July fun flag crafts

We have been having a wonderful time celebrating Fourth of July!  John has loved the American flag ever since we put ours back up outside.  So when I told him he was going to make one, he was so excited!

(I asked my husband to take some pictures of us crafting together. He got some wonderful ones of John — see below.  And, thanks, honey, for getting my hand in this picture.)  All you need is a little blue piece of construction paper, q-tip with white paint, then paint popsicle sticks white and red and glue them onto two popsicle sticks, add one stick to hold it.

John loves this flag!  He can’t stop waving it around the house : )  We have to make sure that May doesn’t eat it though.After all that hard work painting his popsicle sticks, he wanted to free paint.  I was so excited to see that he was painting a flag!  He painted red and white stripes.  Then I added blue to his paint plate.  I had to stop him from “ruining” his red and white stripes, and my husband told me that wasn’t letting his “inner child freely create.”  But I argued that if I let him free paint all the time, every painting would be a huge brown mess.  We are still learning the mixing of colors.  I think it’s okay to guide him in that way.  To say, “Stop! Look at your beautiful red stripes, you don’t want to color over them!”  He was excited to add some glitter at the end.

After our projects, that evening, he got to see fireworks for the first time, so it was a very special event.  “I’m so excited!” He exclaimed when we were on our way in the car.  At first he was apprehensive about the loud noises, but then he loved them and smiled and talked about each one with Grandma.  It was a wonderful night.

Here is his masterpiece:  (I had set out his old antique flag that hangs in his rooms so he’d have an idea of what we were painting and I talked a bit about it symbolism.)