Fun Fourth of July Activities for Kids

The Fourth of July is a day traditionally full of fireworks, cookouts and family fun, and it’s a great day to do activities and on-theme experiments with kids. Check out these easy ideas for fun Fourth of July activities for kids that adults will enjoy, too!

This one is listed as a Flag Day activity, but I think going on a flag hunt would be great for any patriotic holiday. (We have a few people in our neighborhood who line their yards with tiny flags on patriotic holidays, and when my daughter was little we’d go on walks and count all the flags.) No Time for Flashcards made a flag hunt into a race against the clock, but if you have several kids you could also see who can find the most flags in a period of time.

Make the classic baking soda and vinegar explosion reaction into red, white and blue fun with this fun activity from Kindergarten Worksheets and Games. Or make oil and water “fireworks” with this quick experiment from Preschool Play and Learn. You probably have everything you need for both of these in the house already if you keep food coloring around.

And while we’re making fun out of stuff in the pantry, grab an empty paper towel roll and make some fun marshmallow shooters. The decorations on the shooter are what makes this a Fourth of July activity, but if you don’t have red, white and blue supplies on hand kids can also decorate the tubes with a holiday twist before turning them into shooters. Get the instructions from Hunny I’m Home.

Looking for more July 4th activities to do with kids? Check out my list of flag crafts that kids can make, as well as some printables with a Fourth of July theme. And if you’ve got young ones these red, white and blue sensory activities are great for the fourth or any time of year!

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Fun Outdoor Games for Fourth of July and Summer Events

As I write this, back to school time is right around the corner, and if you have kids going to school for the first time or who might need a refresher on what school is like, books can be a big help in calming fears and letting them know what to expect.

School Days by Fabiola Sepulvelda is a wordless picture book full of photographs of various things that happen during the school day, such as leaving home, getting off the bus, greeting your teacher, raising your hand to talk, circle time, reading, quiet work, lunch, recess, art and music, and greeting your parent at the end of the day.

This is a nice book to prompt conversations about the way things might look and things that might happen at school, and could also be used in the classroom to talk about routines and what happens each day. It’s meant to be for kids who don’t yet know how to read, but could be used with older kids as well.

Ready for School by Dona Herweck Rice and illustrated by Amanda Morrow follows a little girl through a day getting ready for school and thinking about all the things that happen at school. It covers things like calendar time, mat time, being read to, math (they’re learning to count to five), recess and art. She’s so excited to go she wakes her mom up and it’s still nighttime.

This one is good for kids who like reminders of how the routine goes (both getting ready for school and being there) and those who might be apprehensive about what’s going to happen or if it will be fun.

The same author has a series of books that are meant to be for ESL learners but would work for others as well. Welcome to School has photos and single words or short phrases for things you do to get ready for school, different ways you might travel there, greetings, morning meeting activities. people you might see at school (like teacher, student, custodian), places and objects you’ll find around school, things at recess and school rules (like line up and raise hand).

Your School Day uses longer phrases (“riding in car” instead of just “car,” for example) and older children in the photos. The routine is also for older kids and uses bigger words like announcements and equipment. It also shows photos of different subjects kids might study, different kinds of learning groups and more people and places you’ll find in school.

A Day at School is kind of in between these two, with older elementary students going through many of the same things. This one doesn’t mention morning meetings but also doesn’t use the level of vocabulary of the book for older kids. Either this one of Welcome to School would be fine to use with young kids who already speak English but might like to see all the things and people they’ll see at school.

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