If you’re headed to a parade this holiday (or if you just want to march around your living room), this firecracker parade wand is a fun preschool Fourth of July craft that will add some oomph to your celebration. Happy Independence Day!

The Fourth of July is just around the corner and we’re getting excited.

Little Man LOVES the Fourth of July (okay, he loves every holiday). For the past week, whenever he sees a firework stand while we’re driving in the car, he tells me, “Mom, do you know why I think there are firework stands right now?”

“Why, Buddy?” I respond, even though we’ve had this same conversation dozens of times.

“Because,” he excitedly explains, “It’s almost the FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!”

And then he proceeds to ask me when we are going to buy fireworks, and he tells me that his favorite ones are the parachute fireworks. It cracks me up that we can repeat this exchange over and over, and he still acts as if it’s the first time.

As part of our preparation for the holiday, our home preschool this week is focusing on all things patriotic. It’s been so much fun and we’re just getting started.

We printed out this map and talked about our country’s name and that it’s made up of 50 states. I helped him identify and color in all the states he’s visited, and we also talked about other states that we have family in, even if he hasn’t been there.

We also practiced chanting USA and identifying those letters and what they stand for. We looked at the US flag and talked about its colors and shapes. We watched music videos of patriotic songs and waved our flags and marched to the music. I have so many other things planned for later this week, I’m not sure we’ll get to them all!

Today, our craft was these firecracker parade wands. Parades are a big deal around here. Every Fourth of July, we go to the Fourth of July parade in my husband’s hometown (it’s only about 30 minutes from where we live). It’s a great, small-town affair with lots of fun for the kids. Ever since last year’s celebration, Little Man has been having make-believe parades on a regular basis. One of us has to be the “parade guy” and march along while throwing candy to the other people who are standing and watching. It’s all very exciting.

Because of how much Little Man loves parades, when I saw the parade wands that Angela at About a Mom created with her kids, I knew Little Man would LOVE them. Since he’s so into fireworks right now, I though it would be fun to make ours look like firecrackers instead of stars. Oh my, was I right.

Here’s how you can make your own…

Firecracker Parade Wands

Fourth of July Craft

Materials Needed:

• Scrapbook paper
• Toilet paper roll
• glue (hot glue works best)
• ribbon/streamers (I actually used a combination of a dollar store pom pom and ribbon)
• stick (a dowel would work, or I actually used a wooden chopstick)
• Paper towels or tissue paper

Directions:

1. Cover a toilet paper roll with your choice of scrapbook paper (I used red).
2. Cut a circle out of a second color of paper (I used blue) and cut a slit from one edge to the middle. Curve the paper around to make the top of your firecracker. Attach to the toilet paper roll with glue.
3. Attach ribbons/streamers to the bottom inside edge of the toilet paper roll. Glue or tape works well for this part.
4. Insert your stick into the bottom of the firecracker. Stuff the inside of the toilet paper roll with paper towels/tissue paper to keep it in place. (I actually stuffed mine, then removed the stick, added some glue, and stuck it back in to make it more secure.)
5. Crank up the patriotic music and test out your parade wand!

For about an hour after we made our wands, my boys alternated between marching and running around the house, waving their wands, acting like they were in a parade and then like they were catching the candy. We even put on some music and they danced with their wands. So much fun! I can’t wait for them to bring their wands to the real parade next week!

What are you doing for the Fourth? Do you have any great family traditions?

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