Painting and Pinning Patriotism

With Independence Day right around the corner, the boys asked to repeat both of these activities that we did back in April when studying the American War for Independence.

We love watercoloring.  I like it because the mess is minimal and the boys like it because of the flexibility they have with varying the depth and variety of color.  As we learned about Betsy Ross, I decided that we should paint flags. 

To get our white starts we used our white colored pencil (a white crayon would also work) to draw the thirteen starts.  The boys loved painting that square blue and watching the stars magically appear!  There is something so peaceful about watercoloring.  Watercolors and our Lyra colored pencils are my two favorite art mediums!  Of course the four year old took a good deal of creative license with his flag!

I'm always looking to include fine motor skill work into our days and so we pulled out our pin-punching activity that we utilized when "Pinning Down Africa."  The boys were mesmerized with pricking holes in the star outline and then punching it out.  It kept them occupied for almost an hour while I read to them.  What better way to help them work on that correct pencil grip than with fun 'work' such as this!

What are your plans for the Fourth of July?  I think we're going to go outside (early) and read the Declaration of Independence and pretend that we were there on that momentous day.  It is supposed to rain on Wednesday which means the humidity will be up to around 45%, so the mugginess will only add to the effect.  If we close our eyes and imagine big leafy green trees everywhere I think we'll just about have it!

Of course BBQ pork, homemade coleslaw, watermelon, swimming and fireworks are on the agenda for that evening!