Homeschool Ideas from a Simple Momma: Project: Stars & Stripes

Since today is America's birthday, I thought I'd share a recent project we did on the Pledge of Allegiance and the American flag. We started Project: Stars & Stripes on Memorial Day, continued through Flag Day, and completed it today on Independence Day. It's a wonderful summer project for those of you who stick to the traditional school year, or a great way to start the year for you year-arounders. Patriotism in the hearts of young children is a beautiful thing and I have enjoyed watching my children come to love America and what we once stood for. Here are the things we did:

1) BOOKS: The local library has a TON of books on the flag and that's the best (free) place to start! I checked out as many age-appropriate books as I could to help my kids gain interest in the flag. Our favorite was I Pledge Allegiance by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson. This book teaches the meaning of each part of the Pledge in a simple way for children to grasp.

2) SCAVENGER HUNT: We did a photo scavenger hunt for 50 flags. The kids LOVED this! Everywhere we went (and even in our own house) if they found a flag we took their picture with it or in front of it. It didn't take long at all for us to find 50 flags. In fact, they still do this even though we have finished this part of the project. The other day in the car on the way home from the park they found 93 flags! Here's a few of my favorite pictures...

Samuel realized he had a flag
on his PJ's

The kids in the train museum after
a long day outside in the sun

This is the flag at the front of our
Sanctuary at chruch

Savanna drew her first flag

The kids saw flag stamps on

a letter from their best friends

This is a car lot down the
street from us. Jackpot!

3) FLAG LAPBOOK: We love lapbooks! They're so much fun, informative, and easy to make. I couldn't find a template with the info I liked so I made my own. Here's the Flag Lapbook for you to download. You will also need: manilla folder, blue and red construction paper, scissors, glue, pencil, blue and red crayons or markers. My kids loved making these and the info provided would be good for PK - 5th grade. (NOTE: You can adjust the level of difficulty. For example, I cut out most of the booklets and filled in all the words for Samuel (3yrs) and just let him cut out a couple of the squares since he's learning to use scissors and doesn't know how to write. But for Savanna I allowed her to cut out more and to copy my writing. For an older child you may let them cut out all the materials and try to fill in the blanks on their own. However you do it, this is a fun part of the flag project.)