Thursday, November 7, 2013

Veteran's Day flag craft

My grandfather was a marine in WWII and for most of my life that's something he has been very proud of.  Only in talking to my mom did I find out that it wasn't until I was a kid, around 40 years after the war,  that she had ever heard about his experiences.

No matter when or where they served, military service has deep effects on service people and I'm glad to honor them on Veteran's day.  I don't always agree with the US or other countries' reasons for going to war, but I respect those who choose to serve their country.

Because of that I decided to do a US flag craft with Chiquita that we could mail to my grandpa.
We started off with some tape paint resist.  I just lined masking tape up for the white stripes and let Chiquita get red paint all over it with a foam paint brush (helps avoid globs of paint that we get with paint brushes).  It took a lot of convincing to only use red paint - she's very into "every" color right now.

I had her draw "stars" with white crayon on a piece of blue paper.  When the red paint was dry I took off the masking tape.  *Note to self* I think the longer masking tape is on paper the harder it is to get off without ripping said paper.  We glued the blue paper in the corner and our flag was finished.  I wrote my grandpa a letter on the back and mailed it off in time for Veteran's Day!

5 comments:

  1. I found your post at Show and Share Saturday. What a great idea for a gift for a veteran and for a great opportunity to involve your child in a Veteran's Day project! Thank you for sharing!

    Missy @ Dot-to-Dot Connections
    www.dottodotconnections.weebly.com

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  2. I bet your grandfather loved this!! My grandfather is also a veteran, and I am very grateful for the sacrifices he made. I know the flag has special meaning for him, so I bet he would love this, too. And great tips about how to make it!

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    1. He really did love it. I was his only grandchild to send him anything unfortunately. Vets can often feel forgotten.

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  3. This is so sweet- I love that even the little ones can create one!

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    1. Thanks! I'm always extra excited to find a craft that looks good at the end and is still fun for Chiquita to do. Nothing crushes her crafting spirit faster than me micro managing!

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