Popsicle Stick American Flag Craft

My boys have been begging to do crafts on a daily basis lately and this Popsicle stick American flag was so much fun, and perfect for their ability levels! You will need 13 Popsicle sticks, paint (red, white and blue), an empty cereal box, school glue, ribbon, and a hot glue gun (optional). I realize these aren’t the shape of the flag, but I thought the symbolism of having 13 stripes was more important than having a rectangular flag.

1. Spread some newspaper out to protect your work surface. Lay your Popsicle sticks side by side.
2. Separate the top 7 sticks. These will be half blue and half stripes.
3. Paint a line down the middle of the 7 sticks and have your child paint one side blue. 
4. Separate 4 of the sticks you just painted half blue and 3 plain sticks. Those will be red. If needed, find a picture of an American flag to use as reference.
5. The rest of the sticks will be your white stripes. When your child is done painting it should look something like this:
6. Let the paint dry then have your child paint little white dots in the blue to make the stars. Challenge them to get 50 if they are old enough. Talk to them about what the 50 stars represent…the 50 wonderful states that make our country :).
7. Once that is dry, flip your flag over, making sure to keep them in the same order. Put a strip of school glue along both ends, making sure to get some on each stick.
8. Cut two strips off of your cereal box and put them on the glue to hold all of the sticks together.
9. When that is dry, use school glue (or hot glue for faster results) to attach your ribbon and hang your flags with pride!

Thank you A Pumpkin & A Princess, and stlMotherhood for the inspiration!

I’ll be linking up to Works for Me Wednesday, Mom’s Library, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Share It Saturday, The Mommy Club, We Made That Wednesday,Whatever Goes Wednesday, Fine Craft Guild,