4^th of July is just around the corner here in our country. Thought it would be fun to do a patriotic themed craft for this week. The supplies for this craft don’t include nature but that doesn’t mean you can’t get out and create this easy craft out in nature.

When my kids were little and we would have picnics and bar-b-ques by the creeks up north, I would pack little zip lock baggies of arts and crafts to keep them busy while we were up in the woods.

There were usually picnic tables near by and I would unpack their backpacks and pull out a fun little project to work on at the tables out there.

This one is simple enough. The supplies you will need are:

Red, white and blue card stock or construction paper.

You can also use recycled cereal boxes to trace stars onto. Just use poster paints to paint your stars red, white and blue. If using watercolors and you are near a creek, take an empty tomato sauce can and fill up with creek water to use for painting.

Scissors

White yarn or kite string.

Hole puncher

Paper drinking straws

Plastic yarn needle

First trace out your stars. You can use a template or free hand it.Trace a few, you will need a lot for a long garland. Then cut out stars. This is perfect for those fine motor practice skills.

After you have all your stars cut out you will need to use a hole puncher to punch holes into the centers.

Time to cut the straws. This was the fun part for my kids when they were little. They would laugh when the straws would fly across the table. We ended up walking around looking for straw pieces everywhere. Kind of like an Easter egg hunt. Those straws shoot off like rockets if you aren’t careful.

Next step is to cut the length of string you will be using.

I like to have all the supplies finished and together before I start working on a project.

Then start stringing your garland. Leave a little on the ends to tie off where ever you will be hanging your garland.

Once finished, have fun finding places to decorate.

If you are up in the woods camping for July 4^th then decorate the forest. Just make sure to take the trash with you when you leave.

You can use any color or shape for this project and it is so easy, anyone can do it.

Happy crafting everyone.

Special note:

For even more lessons on fine motor skills, use the left over hole punched dots for gel confetti bags. Get a zip lock freezer bag. Fill it up with clear hair gel and confetti. Next, seal and tape up with clear packing tape. The tape is to make sure no leakage comes out.

The paper will eventually fall apart inside but the kids will have fun squishing the confetti all around. Use different colors and turn it into a teaching lessons on colors. You can also use the tiny paper dots to glue onto paper using a glue stick and create fun pictures with the dots.

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