It can be tough to keep your kids entertained during the summer break, especially when the weather is heating up. Over the holiday weekend, while you have a little more family time, why not get your kids crafting? Here are four fun and simple July 4th activities for kids that will keep your youngsters entertained for hours, while appreciating the history of the day!
1. Patriotic Lanterns
For a calmer July 4th evening, why not decorate the garden with patriotic lanterns? Check out Thrifty Decor Chick for the tutorial. For this activity, you can get your kids pasting in the flags and filling the jars with sand. To keep them extra busy, have them draw and color in the flags. You can use real tea light candles or electric tea lights, but be sure to light them yourself if you’re using candles. Instead of having fireworks in the evening, you can sit outside in a calm atmosphere with your lanterns and make the most of the warm evening.
2. DIY Fireworks
Fireworks are not always pleasant for everyone. The loud, sudden noises can be disconcerting, especially for younger kids. Enjoy them instead by making your own! Whether that’s in the form of a firework painting or an experiment. You can first have them watch fireworks in a safe environment, such as on the TV or if you’re lucky enough, from inside your own house. Then, once they’ve been mesmerized by the colors, they could create their own fireworks with an oil, water and food-coloring experiment. This experiment will put on a safe mini fireworks show, with all of the colors and none of the noise. All while teaching your little ones about the science of the way that molecules interact. If they want to showcase their artistic side instead, try out some firework paintings. In this activity, kids dab paints onto a canvas and use a scrunched up plastic bag to get the explosive effect.
3. Scavenger Hunt
Take advantage of the warm, dry weather with a scavenger hunt. You can choose to have your kids compete to find the most items, or have them work together to find different objects. If you decide to make all of the items the same, choose a holiday theme such as an American flag. Get your little ones even more involved by having them color in flags or even make them out of popsicle sticks. To get them working together, you could hide different items or clues that are July 4th themed, there are tons of ideas on Pinterest. Bonus: make the prize fit into the theme as well.
4. A Cultural Outing
If you’re lucky enough to live near a famous monument, art gallery or history museum, be sure to take a visit. Most towns and cities have museums and galleries which will likely have 4th of July events on throughout the month. Take your little ones to learn a little more about the history of the holiday.
You can then make this into a crafty activity by having them paint the monument or draw a storyboard of the history of July 4th. Keep in with the theme if you head to an art gallery by having your little one try painting in the style of a famous American artist.
If you enjoyed these July 4th activities for kids, then feel free to check out additional fun activities for the family!
