Celebrate Canada Day with Your Kids

It sometimes gets overlooked in favor of American Independence Day on July 4, but Canadians celebrate the birth of their nation on July 1 each year.

It’s not Independence Day, but it marks the signing of the Constitution Act, which, on July 1, 1867, joined the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Canada into a new nation that would be called Canada.

If you’re any good at math you’ll realize this year, 2017, is a big anniversary, 150 years since the confederation was formed. If that’s not a reason to celebrate and learn more about Canada, I don’t know what is.

Learning about Canada for Kids

If you’re from a country other than Canada you might not know much about its history, geography or culture. Thank goodness for the Internet, right?

Learn the basics from National Geographic Kids. Check this page at Ducksters for more on Canada’s geography, economy government and people.

KidZone has worksheets about Canada for a variety of ages, the lyrics to the national anthem and more. Kids World Travel Guide has some more facts about Canada your kids might be interested in, such as that nearly 90 percent of Canadians live within 125 miles of the border with the United States.

If you want to delve deeper, Kathi Mitchell has a great collection of links about Canada for further study.

Canada Day Crafts

Some great Canadian bloggers have excellent collections of crafts and activities you can do with your kids to mark Canada Day.

And Next Comes L has sensory activities, painting projects, a list of books to read and more.

One Time Through has more than 20 Canada Day activities and projects. I love the tin can wind sock, which could easily be made different colors in different countries, depending on the flag where you live.

Happy Hooligans has some great Canada craft projects, too. The red and white god’s eye is a classic project from when I was a kid!

Don’t miss the Canada Day preschool printable pack from Frugal Mom Eh, and make sue you make the Canada Day fruit kebabs for snack time while you work on the worksheets.

You’ll also want to check out the maple-scented playdough from the Chaos and the Clutter. Play and Learn Every Day has some cute Canadian flag shakers (a great upcycling project, too).

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Learn about American Samoa for Kids

I’m in deep denial about the fact that new year is almost upon us again! It’s been the fastest and the longest year at the same time, and I can look back and see some good things as well as some things I wish had gone differently.

Doing a year in review with your kids — whether in the classroom or at home — is a good way to capture some of their memories and the things they really liked about the year gone by.

There are a lot of different printable year in review worksheets you can use if you want to make this super easy. Here are links to a few (often part of larger posts about NYE celebrations with kids that are worth a read, too):

Teach Beside Me has lots of fun printables fro the end of the year, including a year in review that covers favorite memory, funniest memory and the best book they read, among other topics.
NurtureStore‘s version has space for a self-portrait and prompts like favorite toy, best day out this year and future dream job.
Remember favorites, their “best idea” of the year and have room for setting goals for next year with this one from The Keele Deal.
The year in review from Yes We Made This has room for drawing or writing and includes things like something they learned, a memory they made and a place they visited.

Of course you could pretty easily make your own year in review for the whole family to do that asks questions based on what you most want to remember. (Favorite video game? Best friend? Favorite family memory?)

And if after the year in review you’re ready to look ahead a bit, Mrs. Merry has new year’s resolution printables to inspired kids to look ahead and set goals for things they want to try. You can totally fill this one out as a grownup, too.

[Photo: Mrs. Merry]

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