Homeschool: 13 Colony Paper Flag
This project started the way many of our homeschool projects start...with a stack of library books!
The 4th is coming up, so Evelyn and I have been reading about the history of our country, particularly the history of the flag.
Rather than having her memorize the components of the flag, (13 stripes, 13 stars, etc...) I know that she learns best by doing. So anytime I can work "action" into our lessons I know that the information will stick better.
side-note: We love the show Liberty's Kids on YouTube for a living story on early American history geared toward children.
Another good film is Felicity: An American Girl Adventure It's the story of a young girl living in Revolutionary War times. It is a great example of what was expected of young ladies at the time, the decisions that families had to make concerning loyalty and it also has a great horse theme throughout. My daughter is OBSESSED with horses!
This project is centered around the history of the flag, but she also gets practice with tracing, cutting and gluing. There was also a large math component to this project. I did most of the measuring for her, but older kids could work in some ruler work. There is also a bit of fraction work and spacial measuring. She had to work out how to get the stripes to lay evenly and how to fit 13 stars into the circle area.
In the end you have a cute 4th of July Decoration!
This project is made from inexpensive construction paper from the Dollar Tree. In fact you can probably get everything you need to make this at the Dollar Tree. I saw that they even had glue guns for sale the other day!
We made our star stamp out of stiff felt. But you could use stickers, a white chalk marker, additional white paper...whatever you have on hand.
Materials
- construction paper (blue, red, and white) 1 sheet each
- scissors
- ruler
- pencil
- glue stick (paste or school glue)
- wide mouth mason jar (for circular template)
Star Stamp Materials
- stiff felt
- white acrylic paint
- glue gun
- glue sticks
- pencil or a dowel
1. The flag base will be your white sheet of construction paper. Start by measuring out 7- 5/8" red strips. Use a ruler and a pencil to get straight lines. Cut these out and glue them on the white paper, leaving equal white space between the red.
2. Now cut out your blue field. 4.5" x 6". Glue that on in the upper left corner.
3. Trace the circle using the Mason Jar as a template. Press lightly with your pencil so the line isn't obvious.
Star Stamp
4. Use a star template from the internet, or just free-hand a star. You want it about 5/8" tall. Evelyn got to practice her star drawing for this section. Trace the star onto the stiff felt and cut it out.
5. Use a hot glue gun to secure the felt star to the eraser end. We use a low temp glue gun and Evelyn is confident using it on her own with supervision. Now you have your stamp.
6. use a dab of white acrylic paint to dip the stamp in and stamp your 13 stars around the circle template.
