I love doing seasonal activities with Ellie, and she had so much fun trying these 4th of July toddler activities!
I don’t know about you, but any time we try something new around here, we end up with some major wins and some major disasters. I’ll be sharing both here so that you can avoid some of the pitfalls that we experienced. (Plus, some “nailed it” moments are pretty funny!)
1. Toilet Paper Roll Fireworks Stamper
Our most successful project was the toilet paper roll fireworks stamper from Crafty Morning. I’ve seen this in several places, but I like this version best because it suggests cutting the toilet paper roll in half and taping it back together to eliminate the big circle in the middle of the toilet paper roll. Ellie loved dipping it in the paint and stamping it, and she was really purposeful about where she wanted her fireworks on the paper. This is a great fine motor activity because stamping helps improve hand dexterity and hand/eye coordination. This was our vote for best 4th of July craft for toddlers!
2. Flag Snack
Our second activity was a flag snack from The Educator’s Spin on It. I liked the original, but I decided that we would make our own larger version of this instead. My thoughts were that if each individual graham cracker were a type of fruit or just whipped cream, Ellie wouldn’t have to be as precise in her placement (which thinking back now, totally defeats the purpose of a fine motor activity). The end result was that she just poured handfuls of fruit on each cracker instead of placing each one individually. If we were to do this again, we would stick with the original design. While our final product wasn’t beautiful, it was a really great snack for all of us, so I’m still considering it a win!
(Bonus Tip: If your child is dairy free, the Coco Whip from Wal-Mart is delicious! It made our snack a tiny bit tropical!)
3. Red and Blue Playdough
Playing with playdough is great for toddlers because it builds their hand strength, and making your own playdough is even better because toddlers can practice their scooping and pouring skills. We got our playdough idea from Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds and the actual playdough recipe from our OT. (Here is the recipe that she had from Food.com.) This recipe uses Kool-Aid instead of food coloring and makes the playdough smell like the flavor used, which makes it extra fun! Add in objects that your child can stick into the playdough for an additional fine motor experience.
This activity was a success for Ellie. She loved playing with the popsicle sticks and beaded necklaces that I gave her to stick in the playdough. We need to do more playdough activities in the future!
4. Flag Mosaic
This was the activity that I was most excited about doing and also the activity that ended up being the biggest disaster for us. To be fair, it is still a great idea, Ellie just wasn’t developmentally ready for it.
The idea for this came from We Are Teachers. My plan was to make it a little more accessible to Ellie by having her tear tissue paper and guiding where she pasted it. My first mistake was thinking that she would actually tear the tissue paper into tiny, somewhat regular chunks. She did tear the paper, but not really into usable pieces. My second mistake was that I didn’t think about the fact that she had never really used glue (which she loved, by the way). She put glue all over everything and then got stuck to it. Needless to say, putting tiny bits of paper into the glue in any regular formation was just not going to happen.
We’ll try this one again next year! An older toddler will probably be able to do this with fewer problems.
5. Red, White, and Blue Sensory Bin
The sensory bin was also from We Are Teachers. Ellie loves sensory bins but not for their intended purpose; she takes immense joy in dumping all of the little pieces out. I should have known better from previous experiences, but the red, white, and blue rice was so cute that I couldn’t resist. Ellie loved the sound of the rice as it poured out all over my floor. 🙁
If you have a child who doesn’t dump all of the contents of every sensory bin out, playing in rice is really satisfying. To dye it, just put rice and a tablespoon of vinegar in a gallon Ziploc bag. Move the rice around in the bag until it is coated in vinegar. Add as much food coloring as you wish, and then move it around once again until the rice is the correct color. Pour the rice out in a thin layer on paper towels to dry.
To complete the sensory bin, pour the rice into three sections, and then add small red, white, and blue objects. (Obviously, watch your child closely if she still puts things into her mouth.)
6. Shaving Cream Firework Print
This activity came from I Can Teach My Child. Our final product doesn’t look like theirs due to failure to follow instructions (it clearly states to make lines coming out of the center like a sun — oops!), but the colors on this print were really vibrant, even if we made blobs instead of fireworks. Ellie got to work on her fine motor skills by spraying the shaving cream, smoothing the shaving cream, squeezing food coloring, and spreading food coloring with a toothpick (all with help). This was a really messy project (once again, we didn’t follow the suggestion of doing it outside), but it was pretty easy to clean it all up. I think we could do a better job with it if we tried again, and people who follow instructions could get really beautiful prints out of this.
Ellie and I had a really great time with these 4th of July toddler activities! I loved doing crafts growing up, so it is so much fun doing activities with her that help her with her fine motor skills. Let me know your favorite 4th of July toddler activities in the comments!
