Cold drinks go hand in hand with warm weather but when it’s hot outside, that coolness can melt away quickly! Cup holders are the perfect way to keep that drink icy and refreshing, so why not have your child make her very own patriotic cup hugger to celebrate the Fourth of July. Each person can have their own personalized cup holder to make it easy to keep track of everyone drink. Make this project fun for the whole family and invite everyone to join in!
What You Need:
- Foam cup huggers in blue and red
- Stick-on foam stars in white (and red or blue depending on the color of the cup holder)
- Squeezable acrylic craft paint (silver glitter paint works especially well for this project, but your child can choose any color she likes)
What You Do:
- Here's one way your child can decorate her patriotic cup holder: Have your child begin with a plain blue cup holder. Let her decorate the cup holder with red and white stick-on foam stars in various sizes, placing the stars in any design she likes. With the different sizes and colors of foam stars, she can layer them in different ways on her cup holder to make different designs. For example, she can place small red stars on top of larger white ones, and vice versa, and then stick them to the cup holder.
- Make sure she leaves room for extra decorations, like dots and swirls and family members' names. Invite her to to use the squeezable paint to sign her name on her own cup hugger. She can also make one as a gift to someone else. (Note: squeeze paints are great practice for young developing hands, but don't be surprised if your child needs some help squeezing the bottles. They require hand strength and coordination that may be easier for some than it is others.)
- When your child is done decorating, allow the cup holder to dry until the paint has set. Once it has dried, she can use it to hug her favorite iced drink this Fourth of July.
What’s Going On:
For younger children, this simple activity provides good, solid practice in handling shapes and developing fine motor skills. Older kids still get a kick out of designing these cup huggers too! You can cater this activity to any holiday or special occasion by using different colors and decorations. This activity is especially fun for a group of kids hanging out on a hot afternoon. Lay out a selection of materials and invite them to explore!
By Julie Williams
Julie Williams, M.A. Education, taught middle and high school history and English for seventeen years. Since then, she has volunteered in elementary classrooms while raising her two sons and earning a master's in school administration. She has also been a leader in her local PTA.
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