Ideas & Activities for Independence Day

Create and play a trivia game about interesting aspects of American history.
(There are trivia quizzes, as well as other ideas on family.funeducation.com)

Download patriotic songs for your iPod/mp3 player to play at your barbeque.
Some ideas: God Bless America, America the Beautiful, This Land is My Land, America Will Always Stand by Randy Travis, This Ragged Old Flag by Johnny Cash, You’re A Grand Old Flag, Marine Hymn, Star and Stripes Forever and other marches by John Phillip Sousa, Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder, and of course The Star Spangled Banner

The whole family can decorate white t-shirts with red and blue fabric paint to wear to a parade or the fireworks.

Let children safely make fire-cracker type noises by popping the bubbles in strips of bubble wrap with big bubbles.

Accept the challenge of eating as many red, white, & blue foods as possible~ Try blueberries, watermelon, apples, cherries, jello, popcorn, and marshmallows.

Make cupcakes using Pillsbury’s Stars & Stripes cake mix and Funfetti Frosting.

Children can decorate with drawings of flags from different times in American history or create their own designs for new flags or symbols to represent America.

Have your own Fourth of July parade on your block. Provide flags and crepe paper, balloons, foil ribbon, stars, etc. for kids to use in decorating their trikes & bikes and wagons. Have your parade marshal carry a boom box playing marching music and give walkers rhythm band instruments to keep time. Kick off the parade or celebrate the end of it with refreshments. You might want to expand the parade into a block party complete with games, contests, and a cook-out.

If the forecast for the 4th call for rain, have a patriotic movie on hand.
Some ideas: 1976 the Musical, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (with Jimmy Stewart), Apollo 13, Sergeant York, Yankee Doodle Dandy, National Treasure, The Right Stuff, An American Tail, Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front, The Century: America’s Time, This is America, Charlie Brown, The Crossing, Johnny Tremain

Prepare for Independence Day by reading a historical novel such as Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes or a picture book. For picture book suggestions, see www.notimeforflashcards.com and http://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/American-History-books.html.

Express appreciation and pray throughout the day:

During breakfast, invite each person at the table to talk about something that they love about America.

During lunch, go around the table and let each person name something that is as American as apple pie. (“______ is as American as apple pie!”)

During grace at dinner, pray for our country and our leaders.

Before bed, take turns thanking God for ways that you are blessed by living in our country.

There are fun crafts, games, and recipes on http://fun.familyeducation.com/fourth-of-july/holidays/. More activities and games can be found on http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/fourth-of-july/.

More Independence Day Recipes:
http://spoonful.com/4th-of-july/patriotic-recipes |