4 Easy Independence Day Learning Activities

Thank you to my guest Melanie for sharing some fun Independence Day Learning Activities. Melanie is a mom of nine ranging in age from 20 months to 22 years. She enjoys encouraging and inspiring homeschool moms, as well as blogging about all things large family homeschooling at Educating Campbells.

If you’re looking for some activities for Independence Day fun, but still want your kids to learn why we celebrate July 4th, I totally understand.

Don’t get me wrong, the cookouts, barbecues, pool parties, and campouts are great. However, having fun and learning about the holiday you’re celebrating brings the celebration into perspective for your kids and maybe even some adults.

Independence Day Learning Activities

A great game to play with a group or with just a couple of willing victims, ahem, volunteers, is water balloon trivia. Of course, the participants need to be aware they may get wet! 

Water Balloon Trivia

1. Designate one person to read the trivia question and give the answers. 
2. Select two teams of four people, two teams of two people, or two people can play against each other.
3. Establish rules. Will teams be allowed to use their smartphones to answer questions or ask other family members not in the game?
4. Fill the same number of water balloons as questions per person. So, if there’s eight questions and two people playing, you’ll need to fill 16 water balloons. 
5. Flip a coin to see who goes first.
6. Have teams or people stand about 4 to 6 feet apart. You could go further if you only have adults playing.
7. Ask the team that gets to go first the first question.
8. If they get the answer correct, they get to stand where they are and both teams move on to the next question. If they get it wrong, they take one small step forward and the other team throws one water balloon. Then, the other team gets to answer the same question, if they get it wrong, they take one small step forward and the other team throws a water balloon at them. 
9. The team that answers the most correct questions wins.

You could also play this game with silly string or you could add food coloring to the water balloons to make this a really ruthless trivia game. Just make sure everyone is ok with being pummeled with colored water, it might stain clothing.

You could use the task cards in the July 4^th Activity Pack for your trivia questions. The activity pack has fun and historical learning activities for all kids, big or small. It includes a map activity, coloring sheets, a writing project, as well as the task cards. 

If you’d like to have access to the activity pack, click here.

Sparkler Photo Art

What’s Independence Day without fireworks? Kids love to play with sparklers. If you have a camera with a shutter, you can do sparkler photo art. 

With adult supervision sparklers can be a great way to let your kids get in on the firework action. If you’re worried about sparks touching your child’s skin, push the end of the sparkler through the center of a paper plate. The plate will keep the hot sparks from touching their hands while still allowing them to hold the sparkler.

By playing with the shutter speed and exposure on your camera you can take some awesome photos. We’ve done this a few times and the kids love to see the outcome as the photo picks up the light track. 

This would make a great lesson about light or about camera shutter speed, the history of fireworks, the history of gunpowder, how gunpowder was used in the war for our country’s independence. Any of those could be discussion options, depending on the age of your kids.

U.S Flag Coloring Pages

Need something quiet to do inside? How about using crayons or watercolors to make these free U.S. Flag Coloring Pages beautiful pieces of artwork?

Point out to your children how and why the flag from our very first Independence Day looks different from the flag we fly now. 

They could be used for a quick lesson on the progress of our country, how it’s grown, and lessons we learned along the way.

Get your free United State Flags by clicking here! This 4th of July Printable Activity Pack is also a great resource to grab.

U.S. Flag Cookie Cake

Cookies are great for any occasion and especially when you’re a kid, if you get to help make them.
You can make homemade cookie dough if you prefer, but you could also use store-bought. Your cookie baking time will depend on the flavor cookie you prefer, pan size, and thickness of your cookie.

Want to see how we make quick cookie cakes? Click here.

Making memories is really what’s important in the grand scheme of things. I hope you enjoy these Independence Day learning activities and make some amazing memories with your children during your holiday.  

This guest post is part of the Homeschool Summer Fun Series. Make sure to check out the series landing page to learn more about the series and find all of the posts in one place!