This list is chock-full of some fun activities for a preschool patriotic theme. They are a great addition to an Independence Day theme if your school has summer hours. Scroll down to take a look at all of the hands-on patriotic fun!
Being a Marine Corps “brat” (my dad’s retired), it’s no surprise that I love including a preschool patriotic theme in my annual planning! I don’t do a full theme every year, but I like to incorporate some of the ideas at relevant times. Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day are perfect examples. These activities are also fun to do at home for holidays that take place outside of the school year — July 4th and Flag Day.
I’ll share the materials list for each of these activities as I list them. Please note that I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
USA Bracelet
Materials
- Red, white and blue pony beads
- Pipe cleaners
This is one of those simple activities that the kids just loved! They were so excited to wear the bracelets they’d made using red, white, and blue pony beads. We talked about how America has initials just like we do, which prompted some of the kiddos to add U.S.A. to their Americana bracelets.
Letters and Pictures for Active-Duty Marines
Materials
The boys and girls did an amazing job with their pictures! Mary Poppins and I enjoyed writing down what each child had to say to “the soldiers” who serve our country.
American Rockets
Materials
We made and decorated rocket ships. The children enjoyed playing with them a little too much — we had rockets zooming around the classroom for a while, which cracked me up! 🙂 Mary Poppins brought in really thick cardboard tubes, which helped with the rockets’ sturdiness. She also found the cutest space-themed stickers! The kids loved those stickers so much that we had to “ration” them!
Red and Blue Colored Ice Play
Materials
- Water
- Ice cube trays
- Assorted containers
- Food coloring
- Water table
- Plastic cups
- Funnels
- PVC pipe
- Toys of choice
Engineer and a few of my babysitting kiddos really enjoyed this over the summer! It would be a great addition to a water table or sensory play center.
Patriotic Word Building
Materials
For the ABC Center, we wrote words related to America on our teacher white board. The children used magnetic letters to make those words. In the picture below, I placed the appropriate magnetic letters all mixed up near each written word. The letters can also be placed on one big cookie sheet near the white board.
Soldier Dress-Up
Materials
Dressing up like soldiers was a hit in the home center! The kiddos are so used to Mary Poppins and I taking tons of pictures . . . this entire week, every time one of them dressed up, they dutifully walked over to one of us to pose for a picture before returning to play. With such cute students, though, how could we not take pictures?!
American Flag Craft
Materials
- Gold star stickers
- Red, white and blue construction paper
This was an incredibly simple craft for the students. I simply set out red and white strips of paper, some star stickers, and blue rectangles. Then I suggested they make their own American flags, and I left them to it! I’m proud of what a great job they did on this independent craft activity!
American Symbols Book-Making
Materials
The children practiced writing ‘I’, ‘see’, and ‘the’ while making a book about America. It wasn’t fancy or cute, but it served its purpose very well! They wrote about different American symbols, then glued the colored-in clip art on the appropriate pages. I liked observing who knew the words already, who still needed help with holding the pencil, and who knew the pictures of different American symbols.
Build National Monuments
Materials
Mary Poppins printed a laminated a variety of American monument pictures for our building center. We placed the pictures near the blocks and challenged the kids to create their own versions of the monuments. I loved watching them work together to problem solve and build!
Sorting Coins
Materials
- Printable sorting sheets
- Printer
- Copy paper
- Laminator
- Laminating sheets
- Coins
A simple, but meaningful, way for the kiddos to work with coins. Sorting them drew attention to the similarities and differences of each coin. There’s a link to a free sorting printable there.
For more ideas for a preschool patriotic theme, please feel free to check out my {Theme}America Pinterest board. I’ll continue to add to it as I find great ideas!
Shared at Tender Moments with Toddlers & Preschoolers, THE Pin-It Party, Pin It Tuesday, Kids Co-Op, We Love Weekends, Link and Learn, Activities for Preschoolers
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LOVE your rockets!! It’s funny–my students know that I love to take pictures too!
Karen :o)
Mrs. Stamp’s Kindergarten
Thanks for stopping by! Most of the time, the kiddos are soooo good at putting up with the pictures. Every once in a while, though, I’ve heard, “She’s getting her camera! Watch out!” 🙂
I love your rockets.
Terri
The First Grade Princess
Thanks 🙂
We are working on a patriotic theme tot school. I have so many things planned and you just gave me even more ideas! Such a great theme for summer.
How cool, Courtney! Let me know if you’re able to try any of the activities out. 🙂 I’m going to pop over and check out your patriotic ideas in just a few minutes.