Fun Forth of July Foods Kids Can Help Make

Summer is a great time to get your kids to help in the kitchen, where they can learn some life skills as well as math (measuring, dividing recipes) and science (what happens when you bake things?) and more, and hopefully have some fun at the same time.

Making red, white and blue Fourth of July foods is fun for everyone, and here are a few pretty easy recipes you can make with your kids or that older kids can make themselves for the holiday gathering.

First, a classic, the red, white and blue fruit plate. This one from Passion for Savings uses strawberries, yogurt covered pretzels and blueberries. Kids can help assemble the flag, and older kids can cut the strawberries.

The Educator’s Spin on It has a similar idea using berries to make a graham cracker flag. Kids can make this one themselves if you prep the berries for them. So fun for a bunch of kids to do at a holiday cookout or even at school.

If it’s not too hot to bake where you live, you can make firecracker cupcakes with this recipe from Princess Pinky Girl. The cake part is made with cake mix and food coloring to make it red and blue, while the toppings add white and the firecracker bit. These are so cute and kids will have a lot of fun helping with them. And if you’re not much of a baker, you’ll appreciate the fact that they’re made with cake mix.

You’ll need a drink for your Fourth of July party too, right? How about one of these red, white and blue drink recipes collected by The Soccer Mom Blog? So many tasty ideas, and while some of these are made for grownups (please don’t let the kids help with those!) there are plenty of options for kids, too. I love the look of the Italian creme sodas from Butter with a Side of Bread, and I’m sure they are yummy, too!

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Fourth of July Crafts and Projects

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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