18 Fourth of July Activities for Kids
The Fourth of July is usually a day of backyard barbecues, dazzling fireworks, and patriotic pride. With children in tow, you can stretch out the celebration from one day to much longer, making wonderful memories as you go! With themed crafts and snacks, your preschooler will be talking about these activities all summer long. So put on your red, white, and blue, grab a flag, and let's celebrate with some 4th of July preschool activities!
Crafts
Stamp the American flag. Create a patriotic masterpiece by stamping out the American flag using marshmallows on a piece of paper. Place the paper down in portrait orientation. Starting a third of the way down, have your child stamp vertically, alternating red and white paint. They’ll create red and white stripes as they go. This is an AB pattern. Then fill in the top third with blue stamps.
Make Resist Art with pastels. Resist art is a unique way to create art with kids. The end result is always a fun surprise. To make this project for July Fourth, switch out the butterfly for cut-out stars.
Paint fireworks with salt-raised watercolor art. Encourage your child to get creative with this fun 3D art activity! Instead of painting nature, have your child paint the shapes of fireworks.
Indoor Activities
Make a themed sensory play bin. Assembling a sensory bin for your preschooler or changing up a well-loved one is easy and can entertain them for a long time. The best thing about a sensory bin is that there’s so much room for creativity too! You might include any of the following, provided that they’re red, white, and blue, of course!
1. Large pasta shapes
2. Letter or number manipulatives
3. Pompoms of varying sizes or cotton balls
4. Plastic stars
5. Cookie cutters with dull edges
Read books about America. Help your child learn about and be excited about the holiday by learning about all the things that make America unique, diverse, and cultured. Seek out different perspectives for July Fourth.
• We Came to America by Faith Ringgold
• Apple Pie Fourth of July by Janet S. Wong and Margaret Chodos-Irvine
• My Red, White, and Blue by Alana Tyson. Illustrated by London Ladd
• Blue Sky White Stars by Sarvinder Naberhaus
• The American Wei by Marion Hess Pomeranc
• Pie is for Sharing by Stephanie Parsley Ledyard
Decorate your child’s face. Get creative! You can use child safe face paint to make stars, stripes, flags, swirls, fireworks, the letters “USA,” and other red, white, and blue symbols.
Play I-Spy. Your child knows this game well. This time, only seek red, white, or blue items.
Make a patriotic playlist together. Create a playlist of patriotic songs to listen to on the Fourth of July. You can include songs like "The Star-Spangled Banner," "America the Beautiful," and "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Choose many different genres of music, as America-themed songs can be found by many artists of many different eras. Add “Party in the USA,” by Miley Cyrus, “Firework” by Katy Perry, and “Born in the U.S.A,” by Bruce Springsteen, too!
Have some downtime. Though July Fourth is associated with marching bands, fireworks, and parades, we all need some quiet time. Adapt your child’s favorite quiet time activities to make them festive. For example, see what you can make with only red, white, and blue Play Doh or Lego.
Create fireworks in a jar. Fill a clear jar with water. In two separate bowls, add one tablespoon of oil to each. Add one or two drops of red food coloring to one and one or two drops of blue food coloring to the other. Fully mix both. Pour the mixtures into the jar and tightly screw on the lid. Now, your child can shake and swirl the jar to see the fireworks!
Outdoor Activities
Draw chalk murals on the fence. Have a “no writing on the walls” policy at your house? No problem! Give your child a box of colored sidewalk chalk and ask them to draw stars on your fence to decorate for the holiday.
Visit locally-owned businesses as a family. Support your local community by visiting small shops and businesses on or around the Fourth of July.
Make red, white, and blue spin art. With just three items – card stock, a salad spinner, and paint – your preschooler will love making firework-esque art. Bonus idea: buy 5x7 inch index cards and have your kid make one for each place setting at your picnic.
Decorate bikes or scooters for your local parade. Show your patriotic spirit by decorating your bikes or scooters for a local Fourth of July parade. You can use ribbons, streamers, flags, and other patriotic decorations. Even if you’re not participating in the parade, your child can ride them to and from the parade to watch it.
Cross an item off your child’s summer bucket list. Have a water balloon fight (with red, white, and blue balloons, of course)! Stargaze! Host a tie-dye party! Take advantage of the festiveness of the summer and check off a quintessential summer activity.
Snacks
Make a 4th of July drink. Help your kid stay hydrated and cool with a red, white, and blue drink to sip on a hot day. It’s festive and best of all, only requires 3 ingredients.
Have hamburger cookies. Impossibly cute, delicious, and on-theme, these hamburger cookies are the perfect treat for an upcoming summer barbecue or to cap your summer lunch. Your preschooler will love helping to make these.
Involve your child in picnic prep. Your preschooler will love helping get ready for your July Fourth celebration! To help set up, they can count out paper plates and napkins, make decorations, and clean up their toys from the yard. If they want to help in the kitchen, have them cut softer ingredients with a childsafe knife, dump in ingredients, and stir.
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