4th of July craft

Ok so I know it's E week but since it's the 4th of July this weekend and we are closed tomorrow I decided to do a 4th of July craft today instead. We made painted fireworks with bendy straws! I know that sounds strange but stay tuned it makes sense.

What you'll need:

• Red and blue paint
• Paper
• Paper plates (or something to put the paint on)
• Bendy straws
• Tape
• Glitter (optional)

(Sorry for the crappy picture it was nap time and the lights were off. Forgot the flash.)

So here we go:

1. Gather a group of straws, I used about 10 per grouping.
2. Extend the straws all the way out, then bend them each to a 90° angle.
3. Hold them together so they're all sticking out into different directions, then take a small piece of tape and wrap it around the straws.
4. Squirt a good amount of paint onto the paper plates.*
5. Assist the child in gripping the straws and spreading them throughout the paint making sure to coat the whole length of the straw to ensure big fancy fireworks.
6. Help the child press down on the paper with the painted straws.**
7. We stamped each color 3 times on the paper, needing to go back for more paint after the second stamping.
8. Optional: If you want to really make it pop add some glitter at the end for that shiny fireworks effect! I happened to have glitter paint on hand so I was able to kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

Here's the finished product!

*Note in the picture I used small paper plates but after testing the activity I found that larger paper plates were better if I wanted to coat the whole length of the straw.

** I pressed down on top of the straws with my hands while the child held them to help the straws make contact with the paper.