This is one of those toddler themes that is made easier by exploiting community activities and store offerings. And in all honesty, I stuck to just those things for our explorations this week. Keeping it real simple over here! We celebrated our independence by watching our local fireworks and learned the Pledge of Allegiance during that dreaded wait time between snagging a good seat and the start of the show.
Our friends live in a suburb of Denver and they invited us out to watch their Independence Day parade with them. The Target Dollar Spot is loaded with all kinds of red, white, and blue goodies and I found a 3-pack of mini American flags (KISS Tip: Pick up a bunch of glow sticks and light up toys from the Dollar Spot and then pull them out when you are at parades and fireworks shows so you don't end up paying 10x the price there). On our drive to the parade, Mia and I examined the flags -- counting the stripes and some of the stars, discussing colors and shapes, etc. We also talked about flag etiquette and why it's so important to honor the flag.
I'd say Mia is pretty familiar with life as a kid growing up in America, but I also used this week to focus on the U.S.A. as part of our ongoing Children of the World series. We pulled out our beloved copy of the book Maps and studied our own country's page. We also watercolored our own flag using our miniature versions as a model. And we cheered for our ladies in the red, white & blue in the World Cup Semi-Finals & Finals. U.S.A! U.S.A!
A summary of all U.S.A. & Independence Day week activities with links:
ACTIVITIES: Learned the Pledge of Allegiance, Learned a little about our flag & etiquette, Played a Red, White & Blue color-sorting game
ART PROJECTS: Painted a watercolor of our flag
OUTINGS: Watched our local Fourth of July fireworks, Went to see an Independence Day parade
BIBLE STORY: Moses freeing the Hebrews from Egypt
If you'd like to share a photo of your kid doing theme week activities, you can email it to me (email button in the left menu) or tag me on your Facebook photo or use the hashtag #weeklytoddlerthemes on Instagram (if you are private, just make sure I'm following you or tag me in the photo).
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