Canada Day is coming up early next month and it inspired me to share a small craft project that I did with Onetime (my 3 and a half year old son) last year that got him interested in our national flag. (It doesn’t hurt that it’s a highly visible symbol and our town just happens to have the biggest Canadian flag I’ve seen in Ontario (save for maybe Ottawa)!
Follow my easy instructions to help your child make a Canada Day windsock, or borrow my idea and change the colours (and maybe leave out the maple leaf handprint!) to create your own nation’s flag windsock.
Warning:
I’m pretty sure that this craft began a year-long interest in searching for and counting flags (we regularly tally them up as we drive different routes. 14 was our highest count on the way back from the mall the other day!).
So please don’t blame me if you do this and your child becomes obsessed in a similar fashion!
Windsock Supplies:
- Red and white acrylic paint (or your national flag colours) and paintbrushes
- Red glitter
- An empty tin can
- Red and white ribbons (try to find ones that are lightweight and waterproof) – we used wide wrapping ribbons)
- Glue (hot glue is the best!)
- String for hanging
- Optional: other decorative items like red fun foam, red beads, red stickers etc.
Making the Canada Day Windsock
1. Paint the entire can white and allow to dry.
2. Help your child make a red handprint on the can.
3. Sprinkle glitter on the handprint while it’s still wet.
4. Paint red rectangles on either side of the handprint – or decorate as your child wishes!
5. Cut several lengths of ribbons to hang from the windsock. Glue the ribbons one at a time around the bottom of the can using a hot glue gun.
6. Punch two holes in the top of the can using a hammer and nail. Thread the two ends of a colourful piece of string through the holes and tie a knot inside to hold in place.
7. If you want your windsock to be weatherproof, make sure to spray on some acrylic sealer!
These look so great outside blowing in the wind!
Follow One Time Through’s board Canada Day on Pinterest.
I love this! It is really cute… it would be really easy to convert stars and stripes 🙂 for USA.
I thought so too – just do the can blue with yellow stars and white and red ribbons. You could even have the kids do the stars with fingerprints! Thanks for dropping by Betsy!