Ya’ll know how I feel about finding reasons to celebrate and building traditions. There is just something about the 4th of July. I don’t know if it is the fact that it falls in the middle of summer and summer is just a feel-good season (especially when you live in Wisconsin). Or, if it is the fact that there are typically fireworks involved and fireworks are maybe one of the most mesmerizing inventions of woman-kind (okay, not actually, but you get my point). But, in sum, there is just SOMETHING.
One of my daughters favorite 4th of July traditions is building the American Flag out of food. It is easy, economical, and educational. All you need for this is as follows: (1) mini marsh-mellows; (2) raspberries; (3) blueberries; and (4) skewers (or something of the like). Seriously, that is it.
Now, for the activity itself. If your youngins are not familiar with what the American Flag looks like, you can pull up a picture on your phone so that they can conceptualize what it is that they are building. This also provides the educational aspect of this activity: talking about the American Flag, what it looks like, and what it represents.
Place the marsh-mellows, the raspberries, and the blueberries in 3 separate dishes. Your kiddos will use these items to construct the American Flag. They will do so by taking a skewer (or something of the like) and then one by one taking either the marsh-mellow, raspberry, or blueberry and threading the skewer through it. I do 1 or 2 myself to start to show my daughters how it works. I then, for the most part, let my daughters experiment themselves. What better way for them to learn than by doing themselves?
Parent’s Perk: If your kiddos are anything like mine, they’ll probably eat a few of the materials throughout the process but they could snack on far worse things!
