A Crafty Fourth of July

Today the kids started the day by drawing some chalk fireworks on the patio for tomorrow. So colorful!

After sidewalk art we headed off for our standing Tuesday morning, library date. Isaac got comfy at a table with drawing materials and a book to read. Riley and I headed in for Preschool Jams. She seemed tired and didn't want much to do with the unfamiliar songs. Although she "Shook Her Body Down!" like a champ. She perked up again when they got out the bean bags, but it was a different bean bag song than we were used to and she opted out early. At the very end I thought the librarian said she was passing out rhythm sticks. I thought she meant the musical instrument that consists of two sticks that you hit together. Nope she said ribbon sticks.

You can't tell because these are action shots, but it's just a paint stir stick and some ribbon. They were gleeful. It was adorable! I decided to steal the idea and make the kids ribbon fireworks to play with tomorrow.

Materials

• Paint Stir Sticks (free at any major hardware store)
• A drill and various sized bits
• Acrilyc paint
• crayons
• Various colors, types, lengths of ribbon
• Hot glue

I got two extra sticks just in case and I broke them both trying to drill holes. Start with a small bit and make a pilot hole before moving up to what Mike described as the "thumb size" hole I required. It was a good project for me to learn/remember how to use a drill because the worst that could happen was a shattered free paint stirring stick.

After you've got the correct hole size you can embellish any way you choose. Some of the sticks at the library still had the hardware store logo on them. That wouldn't do for me at all. You can draw directly on them with crayons or markers too. That's the best method is good when you have a little assistant. Mine was napping, so I used acrylic paint to make mine red. Except for the one Mike dyed blue with food coloring trying to "help" me diversify.

I don't know if you can see it, but my favorite paint tray is one of Riley's old travel wipes containers. It washes clean when I'm done and I can close the lid while one side of the project dries drys and still use the paint for the other side. They dried very quickly, like I folded a basket of clothes and they were dry. To pretty them up and make them a little different from each other I drew on them with crayons. I drew stars, stripes and fireworks. My white crayon hasn't seen as much action in its entire existence as it did today.

After that it's just tying ribbons. I did varying lengths and textures of red, white and blue. I double knotted each ribbon, but I know from crafting experience if you add a drop of hot glue to the knots they're forever. I alternated sides and tried to tie thinner ribbons' knots over the thicker ones for added security.

Pretty darn cute, huh? All the excitement of fireworks (if you're 2.5yrs old) and none of the danger. The last picture is all of them in a glass vase which actually makes an adorable centerpiece. If I was intending to make a centerpiece I would have done shorter sticks or ribbons though. I let the kids test them, they approved.