Growing up as a Canadian in an American school in Singapore was pretty fantastic – we wore shorts every day of the year, we learned about different countries and cultures, we had friends from all over the world, and Canadians like myself weren’t required to take French all through school.
I suck at French…
But nothing is ever perfect, and life as an expat had it’s drawbacks, too.
Road trips were kind of sketchy.
School trips sometimes ended in food poisoning.
And living halfway around the world from our extended family was pretty hard, especially during the summer months when all of our friends flew back to the US for 10+ weeks and we were stuck at home with nothing to do.
The good news is that my mum was pretty involved with an American women’s association when my sister and I were young, so we always got an invite to a 4th of July celebration.
And it was pretty amazing.
There was a baseball game.
And food.
And booze.
And food.
And music.
And food.
And laughter.
And food.
My mum loved it.
But there were very few things for little kids like myself to do, which made it kind of boring for me, and since most of my readers are American, I decided to put together a list of awesome 4th of July activities for kids to help you throw the celebration of the season without boring your children to tears.
Oh! And before I forget. I recently stumbled across 3 fabulous kids activities books that will provide you (and me!) with even MORE ways to have fun at home while your kids are climbing the walls this summer. These books are available for purchase at Barnes and Nobles and Amazon, and I’ve included an Amazon affiliate link to each below in case you’re lazy like me and prefer to make your purchases online!
101 Kids Activities That Are the Bestest, Funnest Ever! by Holly Homer and Rachel Miller
The 101 Coolest Simple Science Experiments by Holly Homer, Rachel Miller, and Jamie Harrington
150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids by Asia Citro
And now for those 4th of July activities…
1. Make your own fireworks! Don’t know how? Here are 10 different ways to make fireworks with your kids!
2. Get out some old toilet rolls, balloons, and paper, and make confetti launchers!
3. Rescue a few old jars from your recycling box, grab some glue and patriotic sequins, and make some of these adorable (and easy!) jar candles.
4. Make popsicle stick flags!
5. Set-up a couple of relays and races in the backyard. A little rusty on these kinds of games? Here are some great ones!
6. Organize a flag hunt around your yard (or in your house if it’s raining!).
7. If your kids are too young to stay up and enjoy the fireworks, make your own popsicle stick fireworks that can be enjoyed at any time of the day!
8. Have some fun with red, white, and blue water beads!
9. Teach your kids about colors, shapes, and hand prints by making these adorable personalized flags!
10. Get out the oil, water, and food coloring and make these fun fireworks in a jar!
11. Make some patriotic wands to wave around.
12. Put on your aprons and whip up a batch of these delicious 4th of July cookies.
13. Find some clothespins and pom poms and make some 4th of July pom pom fireworks.
14. To help your little ones develop their fine motor skills, get out the felt and try this easy (but fun!) stringing stars activity.
15. Set up a fort in your living room and read some of these excellent 4th of July books together!
16. Make hand print fireworks!
17. Grab some empty tin cans and make some of these adorable tin can windsocks.
18. Get out the red, white, and blue straws, pipe cleaners, pom poms, and duct tape and make these patriotic crowns!!
19. Make a patriotic sensory bin.
20. Let your kids make their own 4th of July shirts…by painting their hands first!
21. Keep your kids busy long enough so you can make dinner in peace with this ‘paint by color’ egg carton flag craft.
23. Get your kids to help in the kitchen and make an American flag platter using strawberries, bananas, and blueberries!
24. Make cupcake liner fireworks.
25. Make some safe (and fire-free!) ‘fireworks’ with these confetti-filled balloons!
This post contains affiliate links.
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