How do you keep preschoolers entertained on a long summer day? BusyBoy and GigglyGirl are always ready for something fun, creative and new to do (they love any art and craft project), and it’s tough for a mom to come up with craft ideas on a regular basis. So, with the 4th of July rapidly approaching, to do my part and contribute to all of you in this predicament, I set my mind to developing some 4th of July Crafts for Kids. This post contains my first attempt at children’s 4th of July crafts. There may be more to come.

The first of my 4th of July craft ideas for kids is The Super Rocket!

To start you will need:

• the empty cardboard core of a toilet paper roll
• a white piece of paper (cut to 4¼ inches by 5¾ inches)
• a red or blue piece of paper (cut into a circle 2¾ inches across)
• transparent tape
• an extra long drinking straw (I got mine at the convenience store)
• about 6 inches of red, pink, or orange ribbon (could substitute paper if needed)
• crayons, markers, colored pencils, and other things to decorate the rocket (like star or flag stickers)
• scissors
• at least one preschool kid

Let your little munchkins decorate the white piece of paper with the crayons, stickers, etc. Have them draw stars, flags, swooshes, fire, and anything else they want to appear on the outside of their 4th of July rockets.

Now wrap the decorated paper around the cardboard roll and use tape to secure it into place.

Next, cut a small slit in the red or blue circle. The cut should go only half-way across the middle of the circle.

Slide the edges created by the cut so that they overlap about 1 inch. Doing this should shape the circle into a cone which will be used as the nose of the 4th of July rocket. Use tape to secure the overlapping edges into place.

Roll four pieces of the tape into loops that are sticky all around, and stick them on the inside of your nose cone. Now press the nose cone onto the top of the cardboard roll so that the sticky tape secures the two pieces of your rocket together.

Align the drinking straw with the seam of the white paper on the outside of your rocket and use tape to secure it into place. Once taped, you should be able to use it as a handle to hold your rocket.

Finally, fold the 6 inch piece of ribbon in half and tape the folded end just inside the bottom edge of the rocket. This is supposed to look like fire shooting out of the tail of the 4th of July rocket as it flies. If you don’t have ribbon, you can cut strips of paper to create the same look.

Now let your kids run around and fly their new 4th of July Super Rockets.

If you did it right, you should have occupied them with this 4th of July craft project for about 90 minutes without creating too much of a mess.

Stay tuned for more free July 4th crafts, 4th of July decorating ideas, 4th of July crafts ideas, children’s 4th of July crafts, and 4th of July activities for kids as they come to me.

Free July 4th Crafts

Finally, be sure to check out Shannon’s site for other Works for Me Wednesday participants.

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