Fourth of July with kids!

“Celebrating the Fourth of July is an honor.” –R. Parks, SC

The History of the July 4th:  In 1776, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania a document was written to inform Great Britian that Amercans had decided to become independent. Independence is the freedom from control, influence, aid, support or the like of others. That document was the Declaration of Independence. This was “officially”adopted by the leaders on July 4, 1776. In August of 1776 they all signed the official Declaration of Independece. This was an extremely brave and dangerous act Americans made at that time. To support the Declaration of Independence in 1776 was actually an act of treason because we were under the rule of Great Britian. The bravery and pure passion for our Great Nations Freedom and Indepence shown by the Americans at that time is such a wonderful, extraordinary act that carries over into our lives today. You can visit this PBS site that explains the true history of July 4th by clicking HERE

I actually asked a few people on my walk into work today if they knew why we celebrated the Fourth of July. Their answers varried but basically I received answers such as, “to begin summer”, “because we won some battle”, and “to celebrate freedom with our families. Ok, I can give them that, but what a shocking realization that many people celebrate this holiday and do not even recognizes is its significance in their daily lives. This is an extremely important holiday as an American. This is the holiday that celebrates our independence and our freedom.


You can visit this website HERE that provides us with a Transcript of the Declaration of Independence


The Table Setting: We used a white table cloth and had festive red, white, and blue placemats. We used red trays and placed red plastic forks, spoons and knives on a white napkin in small flag bags that are made out of felt. We took red and white impatiens flowers in a festive red white and blue bag and placed flags and garland throughout it to make a really marvelous centerpiece. This turned out fantastic this year.

The Food: We created a tremendously good punch made with grape juice, pineapple juice, lemon lime soda with fresh blueberries and strawberries floating in it. In that we placed star shaped ice cubes. This was really terrific. It looked so festive and everyone loved it. We made a flat panned cheesecake and decorated it as a flag with Cherry pie filling for the red stripes, Blueberry pie filling for the star section and then whipped cream for the stars and the white stripes. It was so cute! We served the typical BBQ food, burgers and hotdogs and all the accessories that come along with BBQ food.  The kids had fun place toothpick flags in every piece of food they had, lol.

The Activity: We really think that a great activity on this holiday is to actually read the Declaration of Independence. You can pick out pertinent statements and lines from the Declaration of Independence and have them recreate the document adding the lines or words they chose to their very own document. Have them sign it and get them to ask family members to sign it too. Explain that the biggest signature on the Declaration of Independence is John Hancock. This is why they will sometimes hear someone say that name, John Hancock, when asking for their signature.

The Crafts:
Parade Gear: You can make party hats for your community parade.  We made these last year and the kids had a lot of fun making them.  We have also decorated our own T-shirts.  Found this cute inexpensive paper craft TipNut.com called Patriotic Paper Lollies.  You can find the directions HERE

Miscellanous things we found on the internet:

Taco Dip Flag -this is too cute for anyone that normally makes the taco salad dip for their get-togethers.  They placed the ingredients so that it looks like the American Flag.  You can get the recipe HERE

Free July Desktop picture/calendar - Download this adorable Desktop image with calendar HERE 

Print these adorable vintage pictures from Country Living to use in various craft projects HERE.  You can also check more craft projects from Country Living HERE