Last month we did a couple of July 4th crafts with our groups, making red, white, and blue rockets and Statue of Liberty costumes.  Our participants really love anything they can dress up in, so these were a real hit.

Before we get into the How-To, let’s get some tips from Kaye!

• For the Statue of Liberty costumes our participants made their own crowns and torches, but we provided the green drape and tablet to complete the look.
• In advance we cut out the crown shapes and drew in rectangles to simulate windows.  If time for this craft is limited you can even glue down the cones in advance and the participants can just paint the outsides.
• Because the paper cones are wax coated the paint beads up a bit on the waxed surface, which looks like oxidation.  You can even talk about how metal oxidizes if your group would be interested in that!
• We also pre-cut the paper arcs and strips for the torches, to save time.
• For the July 4th rockets, we cut paper tubes into 6″ lengths ahead of time, but you could do any size.
• Adding the netting and ribbon before gluing on the rocket’s cap worked best.

Let’s get to making!

For the Statue of Liberty crown, each participant gets  a pre-cut paper crown and three paper cones.  Have then paint these with a light green watercolor.  Let dry.

Once dry, color in the pre-drawn windows with a black marker.

Run liquid glue along the bottom edges of the three paper cones, then glue onto the paper crown as shown:

Once the glue is dry, wrap the crown around your head and staple it in back to fit.  You can even add a strip of paper as an extender if you need the crown to be bigger.

For the Statue of Liberty torch, take a pre-cut green paper arc and roll it into a cone shape.  Staple the edge to hold this shape.

On a long strip of green paper create a design for the top of your torch.  Then wrap it around the top of your paper cone and staple it in place.

Create flames by gluing red, yellow, and orange strips of paper (tissue paper works well for this) to the inside edge of your torch.

Finally, don the provided drape and grab the tablet and strike your best Statue of Liberty pose!

We made the July 4th rockets during the times that the watercolor and glue needed to dry on our Statue of Liberty costumes.  Here’s how we made them:

Take a paper tube and decorate it with colored tape.

Using clear tape, attached ribbons and strips of netting to the inside of one end of the tube.  These will be the streamers at the end of your rocket to show it’s in flight.

Next, take a pre-cut paper disk (just a paper circle with a slit cut half-way into it) and fold it into a slight cone shape.  Staple this in place to hold its shape.

Run a bead of glue along the un-adorned end of the paper tube.  Set the paper cone on top and press gently so the glue adheres.

Once the glue is dry, poke one end of an ornament hanger through the cone.  Use it to hang up your rocket like it’s flying!

Here’s to celebrating Lady Liberty!