President's Day Crafts

It's President's day again, and both kids had the day off from school. We had been reading some great books for about 2 weeks before. We stuck with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln this year. These 3 crafts were simple, easy, and use things that most people already have in their house!

The first one was a very simple Honest Abe. Originally found at Chalk Talk. I drew the basic shape out on just white construction paper. Just let the kids have at it with basic crayons. I love how they all came out slightly different and slightly the same.

This was a very fun Washington craft! Found on The First Grade Parade . They also had the kids do a writing prompt, which I wanted to do, but ran out of time. Start with a paper plate cut in half. To make the perfect skin tone for this craft, just mix a little orange in a blob of white. While the paint is drying, cut out the hat from blue construction paper. When all is dry and ready to go, add cotton balls for his wig and let the kids draw on his face. D made sure to add his false teeth and tongue!

I found this finger puppet craft last year and ran out of time. So I thought it would be great to try it this year. Originally found Kaboose and marked as for 4 years and up, I would say that even my very crafty 5 and 6 year old had trouble with this one. Made from just construction paper, tape, and coins, the kids had trouble rolling the paper and taping at the same time. With a little help from me, we were able to get it in the right shape. From there on out, I let the kids embellish them however they liked, and we had no more problems. Later in the day, the kids both put on a show using these little guys.

See what other fun crafts we have done in the past!
2012: President's day crafts
2011: President's day

President's day crafts!

We celebrated President's day this past Monday at the library with the moms group, and L was very happy that he has school off and was able to join us. All the projects we did this year came straight from things I found on Pinterest! You just HAVE to love that site!!!! The original blog to post these was Mrs. Karen's Preschool Ideas!

We also made a flag with just strips of red and white paper, a blue rectangle, and some silver stars I found. Somehow I didn't get a picture of those, but they were very interesting! We had kids between the ages of 2-11 doing these crafts this time, and it was so fun to watch the difference in concept of how these should all look. Not one looked the same!

The first craft we did was the Abe Lincoln log cabin.
Supplies needed:
brown construction paper
Elmer's glue
popsicle sticks
triangle, square, and rectangle cut out of paper

The kids first glued the sticks in the shape they wanted the cabin to be in. Most just put little dots of glue on each end and the middle of the sticks. I didn't even have to tell them, they did it on their own. I was very impressed! Then they figured out where they wanted the roof, window, and door.

Next up was the George Washington face. This was my favorite!
Supplies needed:
red or blue background paper
red or blue hat shape
red or blue star
white circle
6 cotton balls
coffee filter
markers
Elmer's glue

The kids picked out which colors they wanted to make this in. First we glued the circle for his face on the background paper. Then came the hat, star, then the cotton ball "wig", and the coffee filter ruffle shirt. I didn't draw a face on mine so the kids had to use their imagination to draw a face on theirs. I LOVED seeing all the different faces of Washington!


Here is what we did last year! I read all the same stories because we really liked them. At home the kids and I read some other books for a little bit bigger kids. I will post those below.