Creative 4th of July Activities for Little Kids
The 4th of July is just around the corner! And around here, we love holidays. We’re always cooking up fun ways that you can spend these special days with your little ones. Creating crafts, recipes, and memories that you’ll cherish for years to come. Honestly, though, we’re always looking for ways to maximize your fun with minimal effort!
From easy outdoor games to coloring pages and movie nights, we know you don’t have a week to prep for a family holiday. That’s why we’ve put together this ultimate list of creative 4th of July activities for little kids.
This year we want to be part of your family celebration! We recently launched a special 4th of July collection that is cuter than ever, oh, and did we mention the whole collection is currently 40% off?
Make sure to shop your favorite styles before they sell out.
Now, let’s jump into our favorite creative 4th of July activities for little kids.
At the end of this post, we’re also sharing some tried and tested tricks for little ones who are afraid of fireworks.
Creative 4th of July Activities for Little Kids
4th of July-Themed Coloring Pages
Coloring pages are one of our favorite go-to activities for little kids. We love how easy it is to print off coloring pages from home. Even if you’re kids don’t love coloring, having some Independence Day-themed coloring pages can help spark their imaginations. Plus a lot of our favorite free coloring page websites also have activity pages!
Pull some chairs up to the counter and let the kids color while you prep for the neighborhood block party or family get-together. Download some free coloring pages and activity pages for the 4th of July here.
4th of July Scavenger Hunt
A scavenger hunt is a great way to keep the kids entertained while the adults get to relax and have an Independence Day cocktail together. We found the perfect scavenger hunt for kids of all ages. Heather from Simple Designs has created a red, white, and blue scavenger hunt that you can download for free here.
4th of July Fluffy Slime
We know a lot of parents who have a love-hate relationship with slime…and whether you love it or hate it… Slime is a great sensory activity for little kids! It’s also so easy to make slime with a specific ‘theme’ in mind (yup, like the 4th of July!)
This recipe uses shaving cream to make the slime extra fluffy! As always, just monitor your kids while they’re playing, If you’d like to add a sensory play element to your slime, grab a bag of giant star beads and stick them in the slime for your little one to pull out.
And if you need help getting slime out of clothes… this will help!
Patriotic Firework Handprint Craft
Handprint crafts are the best way to memorialize your little ones, while they’re little! We really think that handprint crafts make for some of the cutest memories. Katie from a ‘Little Pinch of Perfect’ has created the perfect handprint craft for this 4th of July. They’re adorable handprint fireworks!
Read Books Together
Independence Day is a day full of history and that history is intertwined with immigrants and refugees. We recommend choosing a few books that can help your family learn more about the history of America and what it means to be American.
Here are some that we love:
- Dreamers by Yuyi Morales
- My Two Blankets by Irena Kobald
- The Night Before the Fourth of July by Natasha Wing
- Fourth of July by Emma Carlson Berne
- Apple Pie 4th of July by Janet S. Wong
- Blue Sky White Stars by Sarvinder Naberhaus
Paint Salt Fireworks
There are so many ways that you can create fun firework art this 4th of July. But we especially love these fireworks painted with salt paint! If you’ve never done a salt painting before, we found an easy tutorial for you. Just follow along with Kim from The Best Ideas for Kids. She even has a free fireworks template that you can print out.
Candy Flag Brownies
Of course, it wouldn’t be the 4th of July without treats. Last year we shared some easy (and healthy) Independence Day recipes for kids, but this year we’re going full-out chocolate! We love these candy flag brownies because you can let your Birdies do all the decorating.
Plus you definitely don’t need to make the brownies from scratch, your favorite Betty Crocker is perfect for the 4th of July. We got this adorable idea from Sara at Mom Endeavors. Make sure to follow along with her instructions here.
4th of July Baseball (with water balloons)
July is always hot, so having a fun way to cool off is always a good idea! This game is perfect for antsy kids and dads who need to run off some energy. Get some red, white, and blue water balloons. Set up a home base and line your kids up to bat. Have Dad toss them a water balloon and they’ll hit it with a wiffleball bat.
The idea is that the water balloon will burst when they hit it, but you can still have them run to home base before getting tagged by their friends.
Tips for kids who are scared of fireworks
Growing up, we lived in a rural part of Texas where people would set fireworks off for just about anything. Usually, unexpected fireworks in the night would send me running into my parent’s room and they always knew it was better if I wasn’t outside when the 4th of July Fireworks started. It took me a long time to get used to the noise.
For little ones, you might just have to skip the fireworks display for now! But if the fear persists, here are some tips that will hopefully help:
Headphones/Earplugs
These days there are so many kinds of earplugs that you can get for noise-sensitive Birdies. While there are the normal noise-canceling headphones that you usually see on kids at concerts, there are also new earplugs designed to minimize noise for those of us who are more sensitive. They even have a kid-friendly version.
Talk it out
We don’t believe that you should force your kids to ‘face their fears’. Instead, talk to them about fireworks and help them understand what they are and why they’re so loud. We always recommend preparing them ahead of time for what they’re going to hear and see.
Use a sound machine
If you’re at home and the kids are already in bed, make sure to use a sound machine. The calming noises from the sound machine can help them sleep right through the fireworks display. Make sure they’re tucked in long before the show starts, create a special and comfortable environment for them, and keep the sound machine on all night.
We can’t believe that the 4th of July is just around the corner! Make sure your family celebrates in style. Our entire 4th of July collection is on sale right now. Grab your favorite prints and styles before they sell out.
