Flag Day Crafts and Activities for Kids

It’s kind of weird to people outside of the United States (and maybe within them, too) that the USA has a special holiday dedicated to its flag.

Flag Day is a federal holiday in the United States, celebrated on June 14, that commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777, by resolution of the Second Continental Congress.

The first Flag Day celebration was held on June 14, 1877, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event was organized by the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution and was attended by over 10,000 people. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation declaring June 14 as Flag Day. In 1949, Congress passed a joint resolution making Flag Day a federal holiday. (Want to know more about the history of the flag and other flag facts? Check out this post from PBS.)

Flag Day is a fun reason to bring out some flag crafts, which you can use to decorate for the Fourth of July or any other occasion through the summer.

Preschoolers (or older kids!) can use pattern blocks as stamps to paint a flag with this crafty idea from The Preschool Toolbox Blog.

Or try building a flag with Legos! Little Bins for Little Hands will show you how.

This flag mosaic from What We Can Do with Paper and Glue would be a great project for a class full of kids to work on around Flag Day, both prepping the materials and making the mosaic itself.

Crafty Moms Share has a roundup of Flag Day related books and activities if you want to read more about the history of the flag or the pledge. There’s a link in there for a template to make a flag using paper or felt, which you can then use to arrange the stars in different ways to show how the flag has changed through the years (the Smithsonian has a good rundown of all the variations).

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Bastille Day Activities for Kids

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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