Mommy Monday - Firework Craft for the 4th of July- Free Printable

The 4th of July is quickly approaching, so today me and my boys made some fireworks.  Not real fireworks of course, but crafty ones, made out of everything I already had at home in my craft stash.  I am big on up-cycling or re-purposing.  So, I save my empty paper towel rolls and some of my cereal boxes, some jars, etc.

What you will need for today's craft:  2 empty paper towel rolls, an empty cereal box, at least 9 plastic grocery bags, Red, White and Blue paper (2 sheets of each), Glue gun, glue gun sticks, glue sticks, pencil, scissors, paper cutter, metal skewer, 1 gold pipe cleaner, my free printable (see below), I think that is it.

I'll show you the finished product first to get you excited about the craft.

Instructions:

First printout my printable on card stock. 

Okay so I found out that it is best to do all of the prep work before hand or else the kids gets restless waiting.  I would suggest you cut out all of the pieces, have the papers pre-cut, and the paper towel rolls already cut. Here is all of the prep work and the dimensions I used:

Paper Towel Roll and paper to go around them:

     * The big one I cut to 8 inches in length, so I also cut the red paper to 8 inches by 9 inches.

     * The middle sized I cut to 6.25 inches, so I cut the blue paper to 6.25 inches by 9 inches.

     * The little one I cut to 4.75 inches, so I cut the white paper to 4.75 inches by 9. (You could probably change the last too so medium is 6 inches and little is 5.  A normal paper towel roll is 11 inches, so these two pieces are cut out of 1 roll.)

Top and Bottom pieces out of cereal box:

     * Use the above pattern, cut out piece B and trace it onto a cereal box, now cut it out. (it should be the same size as the top and bottom of the paper towel roll.  If it is bigger, trim it. If it is too small them cut it out bigger).

     

Top and Bottom pieces out of colored and white paper:

     * Use the above pattern, cut out piece A and trace it onto the colored and white paper.  There should be two white, two red and two blue. The dotted line is for reference of where to cut into. Start at the outer edge of the circle and cut into the dotted line every 1/2 inch.

Stars:

     * Use the above pattern, cut out piece C and trace it onto the colored and white paper. Then cut them out. I think I had a total of: 7 white stars, 5 red, and 5 blue.

Gold Pipe Cleaner:

    * Cut it into three pieces: 5-6 inches long.  Once inserted they will stick out 4 inches.

Thin Pieces of paper:

    * Cut thin pieces of paper from each color.  You will then wrap each one individual around the metal skewer 4 to 6 times, making it curly.

      

 Now you are ready for the kiddos.

First step now is deciding who gets to make which firework.  I have three boys so the oldest made the big one, the middle made the middle size and the youngest made the little one. You decide what you would like to do. Give them each the paper towel roll and have them stuff them with the plastic grocery bags.  It took 2 plastic grocery bags for the little one, 3 for the medium and 4 for the big.  This gives it a little bit of weight and makes them sturdier to stand up.

Now, it's time for moms help.  With a hot glue gun, place glue along the top rim, then place one of the cereal box cut out on the glue, make sure the brown part is facing out. Do this to the bottom also. If there is any over hang from the cereal box, trim it off with scissors.

Now let your child put glue from a glue stick all over the top and about 1/2 inch down the top side of the paper towel roll. Now place one of your pieces of the circle paper on it, rub out the top and push down the edges. Do this to both the top and the bottom.

Now have your child tape on the piece of coordinating paper, lining up the top and the bottom.  Wrap it around the paper towel roll and mom hot glue the end in place. 

Time for decorating.  The Red firework gets 4 white and 3 blue stars, the Blue firework gets 3 white and 3 red and the White firework gets 2 red and 2 white. Have the kids place glue on the stars and glue them onto the fireworks.  

Mom gets to poke a small hole in the middle of the top with a metal skewer.  This is where the pipe cleaner or "fuse" goes.  Put some hot glue on the bottom of the pipe cleaner and insert it into the hole.  You can trim it if it looks too long.

Curly Q time: Put a little dab of hot glue on the end of each curly piece and attached it close to the pipe cleaner.

Yay, you are done and have a cute decoration that the kids helped out with. 

I put a link to this on Made By You Monday over at Skip to My Lou.