America the Beautiful – 4th of July Banner

America the Beautiful – 4th of July Banner

Ready to decorate for the 4th of July?  This garland with the words from “America the Beautiful” helps children to learn about the U.S. while using their creativity to illustrate the lyrics.

O beautiful for spacious skies
For amber waves of grain
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

You can find our printable for the “America the Beautiful” Star Garland on Etsy, or you can use the idea to create your own – keep reading for instructions below.  The garland is part of our 4th of July Party Bundle on Etsy.  The 4th of July Party Bundle includes the garland, cupcake, toppers, as well as a trivia quiz and scavenger hunt, all based on “America the Beautiful.”

“America the Beautiful” 4th of July Party Bundle – on Etsy

4th of July star banner

Star Banner

4th of July Cupcake toppers America the beautiful

Cupcake Toppers

4th of July games America the Beautiful

Scavenger Hunt and Trivia Games

We found it helpful to learn a little about the song before doing the garland project.  While the chilren made their illustrations on the stars, we listened to “America the Beautiful” too!  A fun way to squeeze a little “school” into the summer… shhh!

To inspire your drawings of the lyrics to the song, you could pull out photo albums from family trips, or check out some of the books and videos below that show depictions of the lyrics.  Simply click on the book images to find them on Amazon.

Let’s make a garland!

4th of july banner garland

Print and Cut Stars

Print the stars on white cardstock, then carefully cut them out.  (You can find the garland printable on Etsy.)

4th of july banner garland

Decorate the Stars

Use colored pencils, markers, or crayons to decorate the blank stars to illustrate the words of the song.

Punch holes and string onto ribbon

Punch a hole on the top left point and the top right point of each star.  Cut about 10 ft. of ribbon (1/8” or 1/4” width works well).  String the stars onto the ribbon.  For each star, push the ribbon from the front into the left hole of the star, pull it along the back, and then pull it through the right hole to the front again.   Alternate stars with lyrics and blank stars (or stars with your images).  Or for a shorter banner, just use the stars with lyrics.

Decorate your home or yard.  Some variations include using skewer sticks to decorate your garden or walkway, or using only the lyric stars for a shorter garland.  Weather permitting, the garland could be hung outside for the day.

If you are looking for other 4th of July party supplies, we also have “America the Beautiful” themed cupcake toppers and games.  You can find our 4th of July “America the Beautiful” Party Bundle  in our Etsy shop.

Looking for a delicious AND nourishing gluten-free cupcake recipe?  Try our gluten-free almond flour cupcakes!

4th of July Cupcake toppers America the beautiful

Happy 4th of July!

Note:  Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links.  Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links.  We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

EASY Origami Corner Bookmarks

EASY Origami Corner Bookmarks

EASY ORIGAMI CORNER BOOKMARKS

Springtime makes us think of the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C.  (For a little history about that, check out the National Park Service site.)  The beautiful cherry trees that bloom in our nation’s capital were a gift to our country from Japan. 

Inspired by the cherry blossoms blooming this spring, we have a YouTube tutorial for you on how to make origami corner bookmarks.  You can make them with origami paper with a cherry blossom print if you like.  The paper we used in our video is made in Japan and has a lovely texture for origami.  Also, read below about a sweet picture book about origami.

Even a beginner can make these super easy origami corner bookmarks.  Check out our easy-to-follow YouTube tutorial.  Then make a bookmark… or ten!  Origami bookmarks can make a great gift too!

The Origami Master

Looking for a sweet story about origami?

We enjoyed reading The Origami Master by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer… it reminds us of The Elves and the Shoemaker, with a Japanese twist.

origami paper

Try authentic origami paper from Japan

We found this paper folded nicely and was easy to work with.  However, if you do not have origami paper, you can cut a regular piece of printer paper into a square shape and use that as well.

Note:  Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links.  Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links.  We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

April showers bring May flowers

April showers bring May flowers

We have a bouquet of flower-themed crafts, gifts and games for you for the month of May…

I often say that really every day is Mother’s Day for me because it is truly such an amazing gift to be a mom!  Some beautiful bouquets of flowers came early this Mother’s Day weekend and reminded me how much joy flowers can bring, even when life is already overflowing with so many blessings.

We wish we could send a bouquet of flowers to all of the moms reading this post today, but since we can’t, we are sending you a bouquet of ideas you can enjoy with your children… and a bouquet of prayers for you too!

hand print flower

Hand Print Flower - Fun for Toddlers!

Simply use a wide paint brush to paint your child’s palm and fingers with washable paint.  (We used Crayola Washable Project Paint.  It has a nice consistency.)  Help your child to place his or her hand towards the middle of a piece of cardstock or other thick paper.  Then allow your child to finger paint a stem on the flower and other decorations on the page.  Just have some wet wipes ready to wipe the paint from your little one’s hands after the painting is complete!

perler bead flowers

Perler Bead Flowers - Fun for Bigger Kids!

These are so simple, yet surprisingly fun!  You can use them as game pieces (see our Flower Bingo game below), as table decorations, or just play with them.  It’s amazing what a little imagination can do!

Use perler beads with any cicular perler bead form.  Place one perler bead in the center, and surround the center with one ring of perler beads.  Iron according to package instructions (remember the parchment paper!).

If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.

– Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Do you want to go on a spring flower scavenger hunt?  This can be a fun way to learn about the names of flowers while enjoying the beauty of God’s creation in the springtime. 

We have a free printable for you!  It comes in 2 versions that can be made into a card to invite someone on a flower scavenger hunt.  One says “Happy Mother’s Day!” on the front.  The other has a blank front that could be decorated for Mother’s Day or any celebration for someone who loves flowers.  To make these printables into cards, print them doubled sided (flip on the short side), and fold in half.  You could also simply print the first page to have a flower scavenger hunt without making it into a card.

We are in growing zone 7, so these are some flowers that tend to be in bloom in mid spring around our home.  If you are in a different growing zone or want to make a flower scavenger hunt for a different time of year, simply copy and paste flower images and names into a Word document.  We often use www.pixabay.com to find free images.  If flower seed catalogues or magazines arrive at your home, having children cut and paste images from such publications could also be fun.

You could go on the flower scavenger hunt in your neighborhood or visit a nearby public garden, or even a garden center.

 

flower scavenger hunt
flower scavenger hunt

The back of the card has some fun questions about flowers you can talk about and some quotes about flowers to consider as well. 

  Sweet April showers do spring May flowers.

– Thomas Tusser

marsh blue violet
lily of the vallet

When I was a little girl we would sometimes go searching for what we called “May flowers” in the woods around our house (it turns out these dainty purple flowers are actually called wild violets, but they are one of the first flowers to bloom in the springtime woodlands).  We would then make little construction paper packages tied with yarn, and hang them on our neighbors’ door handles.  I loved this idea of spreading a little joy and a happy surprise to neighbors.  While living in France during college, I was delighted to see that this is not simply a childhood pleasure.  On the first of May in France, there are lily of the valley flowers (they call them “muguets”) for sale all around, and people offer them to friends to wish them a happy day.  Here is a link about the history of this French tradition.

 

Offering flower seeds or a small potted flower can be a sweet gift to bring a smile to someone’s day… for May Day, for Mother’s Day or any springtime day!

 For this little gift, we placed a package of seeds (with directions for planting) in a 3″ round Jiffy pot.  We punched a hole at the top, and used a narrow ribbon to tie on a gift tag.  Then we topped it off with some tissue paper.  Our free printable tags come with three different options – one for May Day (“May God bless you abundantly today and every Day!”), one for Mother’s Day (“Happy Mother’s Day!”), and one blank to write your own message.

jiffy pot flower gift
jiffy pot tags
jiffy pot gift
jfffy pot flower gift
jiffy pot gift

Earth laughs in flowers.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

How about a game to bring even more joy and smiles to springtime?  If you are looking for a flower-themed game, you could try our flower BINGO game, available on Etsy.  The game features beautiful photos of real flowers.  There are 10 unique cards (but if you have more players, players could play in pairs or small groups).  The game comes with printable bingo chips, but you could also use perler bead flowers (see above in this post), or other chips of your choice.

This could be a fun game for a tea party, a Mother’s Day brunch, a bridal shower, or a garden-themed birthday party. 

We recently used this BINGO game for a science lesson with our homeschool group to learn the names of the flowers that surround us.

flower bingo
flower bingo
flower bingo

What are your favorite flowers and why do you love them? 

Where have you seen the most beautiful flowers?

We would love to hear from you!  Please comment below to share what you love about flowers.

hydrangea

My favorite flowers are hydrangeas. They became my favorite flower when I saw them growing in an abundance of colors along the Atlantic Coast in a little French town called Biarritz.

Sparkles and Sprinkles Dad brought home this beautiful bouquet the other day for Sparkles and Sprinkles Mom He knows my favorite flowers well!

hydrangea

Note:  Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links.  Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links.  We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

Easter Egg Garland Craft

Easter Egg Garland Craft

It seems we’ve started a little tradition at Sparkles and Sprinkes…holiday garlands to remind us of God’s love.  (Perhaps you made the “Love is” garland or the “Saint Patrick’s Prayer” garland?)  For this Easter season, we made an Easter hymn garland!  Would you like to make one too?

Catholic Easter Garland

This Easter garland has words from the Easter hymn, “Jesus Christ is Risen Today.”  For us, this song brings back sweet memories of meeting with our Making Music Praying Twice group when our oldest children were toddlers.  Making Music Praying Twice has a beautiful version of this song that young children love to sing…and children naturally have so much sweet Easter joy!

Let’s make an Easter egg garland!

These instructions show making a printable version of the garland, available in our Etsy shop.  Our garland is hand-lettered and ready to color!  The garland on Etsy has illustrations to go along with the song verses, plus blank eggs so that you can be creative and add your own drawings.  However, you can make your own in a similar way.  Simply cut egg shapes from cardstock, write verses from the song on some eggs and decorate some eggs with your own drawings.

Print the pdf or draw your own eggs

Print the eggs from our Etsy shop on white cardstock, or pastel cardstock in colors of your choice.  We used white Astrobrights cardtock.

easter garland coloring page

Color the eggs

Color your eggs with colored-pencils, or crayons, or markers.  We think the Botanical Garden colored-pencil set from Prismacolor has a perfect palette for this Easter garland.

Easter egg garland

Cut out the eggs

You can cut slightly outside the black line if you want to have the outline in your garland (our pictures show this option).  If you do not want the egg outline, simply cut slightly inside the egg outline line.

Punch 2 holes at the top of each egg

Punch two holes next to each other at the top of each egg.  We used a standard 1/4″ hole punch.  It is important to punch two holes so that the eggs will face forward when strung on the ribbon or yarn.

String the eggs onto ribbon or yarn

To determine the length of ribbon or yarn, decide on the length you would like the garland to be and add some extra (keep in mind it is easier to cut off extra than to have to restring a garland that is not long enough).   If you are using all the decorated eggs (a total of 18 eggs), the garland nicely spans a fireplace mantel.  If you used a standard ¼” hole punch, we recommend ¼” wide ribbon, or chunky yarn.  This size fits nicely in the holes and allows the eggs to stay in place with the spacing of your choosing along the ribbon or yarn.

Catholic Easter Garland

Decorate your home

Hang the garland in a place in your home to add some extra Easter joy and reminders of God’s love!

HAPPY EASTER!

If you are looking for some Easter basket treat ideas, scroll down for some books we love that might also make nice Easter gifts…

Do you want to do your own hand-lettering?  We love practicing hand-lettering with this beautiful book:  Pretty Simple Lettering by Whitney Farnsworth.  It is such a joy, and brings so much calmness to the day to spend some time with this book.

If you are still looking for Easter basket treats, we wanted to share with you some of our favorite Easter-themed books…

Jan Brett’s The Easter Egg is full of beautiful illustrations, and the story has a sweet message that everyone has unique talents.  Wonderful for your budding artists!

Our children love Rechenka’s Eggs by Patricia Polacco.  Lovely Easter egg art, and a beautiful message of friendship and the importance of caring for others.

Margaret Wise Brown’s The Golden Egg Book is just so fun!  Little children love reading this over and over again.

We love Maite Roche’s books with such sweet illustrations!  The Beautiful Story of the Bible is of course for any time of year, including Easter. 

Note:  Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links.  Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links.  We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

ADORABLE Hatching Chick Easter Card

ADORABLE Hatching Chick Easter Card

Are you looking for a sweet way to say Happy Easter to your friends and relatives?  Come watch our easy-to-follow Youtube tutorial for this adorable card. The front of the card shows an Easter egg, and when the card is opened, there is an adorable hatching chick!

Supplies

 

Click on the video to find out how to make this sweet Easter card for your friends and family. Enjoy!

Do you want to learn to make Youtube videos? Our 12-year-old makes the videos for Sparkles and Sprinkles. She learned how to start a Youtube channel through a great class from Film School 4 Teens. They are a Christian family who offers a number of online film classes.

Note: Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links. Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links. We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.