I absolutely adore Independence Day celebrations. I feel that there is no better time to teach my Emma how our forefathers fought for freedom and the sacrifices that have been made to keep that freedom since then. Aside from all of that though, it’s a great “excuse” to just kick back and relax with the family, have a BBQ and let the kids do a few awesome 4th of July crafts. One of my favorite kids 4th of July crafts are these Patriotic Paper Wands. They’re super simple to make and work well not only for July 4, but Memorial Day and Veterans Day as well!
If you’re looking for a way to help your kidlets show their patriotism, this is one of the easiest 4th of July kids crafts you can do. The only other one that I know of that may be easier is our 4th of July Button American flag craft. Both are super simple and can be modified easily for kids of all ages. No matter which one you choose though, I’m positive your kids will have a blast waving them around and showing them off!
Easy Patriotic Paper Wand 4th of July Kids Craft
The best thing about these is that they’re so much safer than a sparkler and they’re just as much fun to wave! Don’t get me wrong, I have tons of great memories involving sparklers, but they’re so scary sometimes for parents who have little ones. These paper wands are so much more tiny one friendly and your bigger kids will enjoy them as well! I’ve included directions below for a bigger kid version and a second version for the really little ones.
Side Note: Teaching your little ones about the 4th of July? Grab our FREE 4th of July Preschool & Kindergarten Unit Study right HERE. Your kids will love it and they’ll learn too!
The instructions below will give you the steps for making each of the wands you see in the photo at the very top of this post. The wand on the left in the photo is the triple square wand. The wand in the middle is the one for smaller children and the wand on the right is the triple star wand.
You will need:
- Scrapbook Paper/Cardstock in various Patriotic Colors or patterns
- Patriotic Paper Wand Template found HERE
- Dowel rods or paper straws
- Glitter Glue Pens
- Elmer’s Glue
- Double Sided Tape
- Ribbon
Before you start, be sure that you’ve printed out the paper wand template found HERE. You’ll need it to make your wands. It loads as a PDF file so you’ll need to make sure you have Adobe Reader installed on your computer in order to view the template. If you have older kids, they will really enjoy making the triple star wand or the triple square wand. They’re a bit more complicated than the double sided star wand that I have below for little ones.
If you’re making the triple star wand, cut our three large stars and three small stars. If you’ve opted for the triple square wand, cut out three small stars and thee 3 x 3″ squares. Do this for each wand that you want to make since the amounts I just gave you make one wand each.
If you’re making the triple star wand, glue the smaller stars onto the larger stars using the Elmers school glue like shown in the photo above. For the triple square wand, glue the small stars onto the squares like shown in the photo below.
Let the glue dry completely before moving onto the next steps. If not, your pieces could slide and your wand will be lopsided.
Once your wand pieces have dried completely, decorate your starts or squares any way that you would like. You could use glitter glue pens like we did in the photo, sparkles and more! The choice really is up to you on how you decorate.
After our decorations are done and completely dry, you’ll need to get ready to attach your wands pieces. If you made the triple square wand, apply glue to the outer edges of only two sides. If you made the triple star wand, apply glue to the outer side edges making sure you leave both the top and bottom edges unglued and open.
Hold one of your outer edges together for a few minutes so that the glue sets a bit before moving on.
Add a small dollop of glue to the 3rd star or square and attach the straw or dowel rod. Glue your remaining outer pieces to each other to create a “tent” around the straw and allow it to dry completely. We left ours to dry overnight. Once dry, decorate with ribbons and enjoy!
To make the Double Star wand 4th of July Kids Craft for younger kids:
Cut two 5″ circles, 2 large stars, one 3″ circle and one 4.5″ circle from the PDF pattern. Add glitter glue if desired and let dry completely.
To assemble: attach double stick tape to the back of one circle and affix a straw. Add two more pieces of tape across the straw then add glue to the back of the circle. Press the other circle onto this one. Let dry.
Add three 6″ pieces of ribbon to the straw and tie your super simple 4th of July kids craft!
Originally Published 6/2015 – Updated 6/2018
