How To Turn Ordinary Games Into 4th Of July Fun

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I love the Fourth of  July! Unfortunately, as a kid I paid little attention as to the fact that we were celebrating our countries freedom. It was more about the hotdogs straight off the grill, ripened watermelon, and sweet peach ice cream with the night ending in beautiful fireworks.

Don’t get me wrong, I want all of those same fond memories for my children. As a homeschooling momma  feel the need to bring in some patriotism while they run wild in the backyard. I came up with a little list of games to play at our Fourth of July get-together. I am hoping this will encourage them to ask questions and will be a great way for me to sneak in some awesome history lessons.

How To Turn Ordinary Games Into Fourth Of July Fun!

1)Instead of an Easter egg hunt do an “American Flag hunt.” You can buy them pretty cheap at the dollar store right now. This gives us an opportunity to talk about the importance of our flag and what it resembles. The kids can go inside for a few moments while the grown ups hide them all over the yard. The kid who collects the most flags is the winner.

2)Let them divide into two teams each with a bucket of water balloons. Let them pretend they are at war for our freedom and throw water balloons back and forth at each other. This is bound to get rowdy so whatever talking you want to do, be sure to say it before they see the buckets of water balloons:)

3) Capture the flag is perfect! Instead of using someones hat or shoe like we did as kids, you can use a real American flag:)

4) Have a, “Soldier’s obstacle course.” They can army crawl, march, roll, salute, hop in a potato sack and jump, then run through a sprinkler to the finish line! (I might even do that)

5) Dye some eggs red and blue for a relay race of, “Egg on a spoon.”

6)Play “I Spy” with only the colors red, white, and blue.

7)Let them be creative and find objects in nature to recreate the American flag in the yard.

8)Have a sidewalk chalk contest to see who can draw and color the most beautiful American flag. (My girls will love this)

9) Provide a fun Scavenger hunt to find things in nature that are anything patriotic.

10) This last one isn’t really a game but it is something I would love to implement. I want to have a table full of pencils and crayons for them to write letters or draw pictures to our troops. I want them to see that fighting for our freedom isn’t something that just happened a long time ago, but that there are sacrifices being made today to keep it that way.

I want to start more traditions this year as my kids are getting older and give them even more to be excited about. I want to keep it as fun and simple as possible, yet give them a new found appreciation for how blessed we are.

It’s great to be a kid!

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