Uncle Sam Hats (for the 4th of July)

On July 4th, 1776, thirteen colonies declared their independence from Great Britain (England) and became the United States of America.  Technically this holiday is called Independence Day, but everyone usually just calls it the 4th of July (or, if you’re my little cousins, “America Day”).

In the 1800′s, people started using a character named Uncle Sam to represent the USA. (England has had a character called John Bull since the 1700′s, so we needed one too!) Uncle Sam’s top hat usually looks like an American flag.

Age: 5+*     Topic: holiday crafts   Duration: 1 hour     Supervision: high*

* Children under age 10 do better with this project if an adult completes or helps with Step 3 – 12  so that the base hat is already made.

Materials:

• large sheet of white watercolor paper or posterboard
• blue construction paper
• red construction paper
• silver paper or aluminum foil
• 8″ coffee filters
• 10″ dinner plate
• 6″ desert plate
• red and blue washable markers
• spray bottle (filled with water)
• ruler
• pencil
• scissors
• clear tape
• white glue or gluestick

Step 1: Use red and blue washable markers to make firework patterns on a couple of coffee filters.

Step 2: Have someone hold each coffee filter by the edges while you spritz it with water until the whole thing is damp. The marker will immediately start to bleed. Set the coffee filters aside to dry (on top of a piece of plastic or some blank printer paper!).

Step 3: Cut a strip of heavy paper that is exactly 7 inches wide and around 23 inches long.

Step 4: On the long sides of the strip, measure and draw a line half an inch in from the cut edges. Make a series of small slits from the edge to this line so that you have a fringe of tabs on both sides of the strip.

Step 5: Fold one set of tabs upwards. Fold the other set of tabs down.

Step 6: Trace around a large dinner plate to make a circle about 10″ across on heavy paper.  In the middle of this circle, trace around a small plate to make another circle about 6″ across.

Step 7: Cut out the small circle. See if the hole fits your head.

*If the hole is too small, use a ruler to make marks half an inch from the edge of the circle all the way around the hole. Cut along these marks to make the hole 7″ wide instead. To make sure that the brim stays the same size now that the hole is bigger, measure half an inch out from the edge of the outside circle and sketch along those marks to make a new 11″ circle.

Step 8: Cut out the outside circle. You should have a ring of paper. This is the brim of your hat.  (Trace this ring on to some scrap paper and cut a second hat brim to use as a pattern for cutting out construction paper later.)

Step 9: Trace around the hole in your hat brim to make another circle on heavy paper. This will be the top of your hat, so cut it out.

Step 10: Roll up your long strip of paper small enough to fit inside the hole in your hat brim. Slide it inside the brim and let it unroll until the tube it makes fits perfectly inside the hole. Tape the inside and the outside of the tube.

Step 11: Your tube should have one set of tabs pointing inside the tube, and one set of tabs sticking out from the tube. Slide your hat brim down so that it sits on top of the tabs that stick out. Tape or glue (or both!) the tabs to the brim.

Step 12: Set your hat upright. Make sure that the tabs pointing inside the tube are parallel with the table, then tape or glue the top of your hat to the tabs.  (To make your hat really sturdy, flip the hat over and tape the tabs on the inside too.)

Step 13: Cut strips out of red construction paper that are about 2 inches wide and 6 inches long.  You’ll need 6 to 8 strips.  Glue these in a pattern around the tube of your hat to make red and white flag stripes.

Step 14: Cut a copy of your hat brim out of blue construction paper. (If your blue paper isn’t big enough for a full circle, just cut two ring halves out of two sheets of paper.) Cut a second ring if you want to cover the underside of the brim.  Glue these rings to the brim of your hat.

Step 15: Cut a blue circle the same size as the top of your hat. Glue it on.

Step 16: Cut some stars (or fireworks, or hearts, or dinosaurs!) out of silver paper or aluminum foil. Glue them to the blue parts of your hat.

Step 17: The coffee filters should be dry (or at least not as wet) by now. Pinch the center of each one and twist to make a “flower”. Tape these flowers to the brim of your hat.

Step 18: Grab a flag, put on your awesome Uncle Sam hat, and head out to go see some fireworks on Independence Day!

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