Crafts & Activities for Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a day to remember all who have died in service to the United States during wartime. It is celebrated on national and local levels with ceremonies at cemeteries and war memorial sites. Create craft projects that commemorate the holiday and take part in activities with your family and community.
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Wreaths
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Make a patriotic wreath to display on your front door. Make a wreath base by tracing a paper plate onto heavy cardboard and cutting out the circle and a small circle inside to create an opening about 2 inches wide. Hot glue various sizes of red, white and blue wood or craft foam stars onto the base, layering and overlapping the stars to fill in the shape. Glue a red, white or blue button to the center of some of the stars. As an alternative, let kids trace star shapes onto construction paper using cookie cutters. Cut them out and glue them onto a paper plate with the center removed.
Wearable Items
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Wear red, white and blue star sunglasses to a Memorial Day parade. Use dollar store sunglasses as the base and glue precut foam stars in a variety of small sizes around the frame with tacky glue. Layer and glue three sizes of red, white and blue stars together and punch a hole in the top to string a piece of yarn through for a decorative necklace to wear with your sunglasses. As an alternative, let kids cut out the stars from foam or construction paper for both the sunglasses and the pendant. Make sets for all members of the family to wear to a parade.
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Windsocks
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Make windsocks to hang from your front porch or trees in your yard. Use a cardboard oatmeal box as the base, cutting the bottom off to create an open cylinder. Wrap and glue blue construction paper onto the box. Cut out and glue white stars around the box. Cut long, narrow streamers from white crepe paper and glue to the bottom edge of the box. Punch four holes around the top of the box and thread two long strings through opposite holes. Tie the two strings together at the top and hang outdoors to catch a breeze. Make several to decorate your front porch or yard.
Games and Activities
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Write some patriotic words on paper and help your kids write acrostic poems starting each sentence with a letter in the word. Use America, Freedom and Patriotic as the start of your poetry writing and teach kids about the holiday through the process. Additionally, tell short stories about people you know who have served in the military, whether during wartime or not. Describe what their duties were, where they served, the sacrifices they made and what they did after their service ended. Share pictures and family histories through this learning process.
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References
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