Make these colorful and patriotic craft stick star wands with your kids in 30 minutes or less. These are inexpensive to make using products from your local dollar store.
These are a fun decoration for the 4th of July and other patriotic occasions, but can also be used as a jumping off point to talk about how the US became a country and what the meaning behind the parts of the American flag are.
DOLLAR STORE CRAFT STICK STAR WANDS
Materials needed:
- Craft Sticks, Jumbo
- Wooden Dowels
- Assorted Ribbons, Red, White, Blue
- Glitter Glue, Silver
- Glue Gun and Glue Sticks – You can use liquid craft glue for this project instead, but you will have to wait for it to dry.
- Acrylic Craft Paint
- Paintbrush
- Scissors
- Pencil with New Eraser
Instructions:
STEP ONE
To create each star base, line up five jumbo craft sticks on your work surface. Attach two craft sticks in an upside down “V” shape with a glue gun and glue sticks.
Glue a craft stick at a diagonal from the bottom right-hand side of the “V” shape.
Glue a craft stick at a diagonal from the bottom left-hand side of the “V” shape. This creates an “X” shape.
Attach the final craft stick horizontally from the top right and left-hand side of the “X” shape.
STEP TWO
Repeat two more times to make three stars total.
Base coat the front and sides of the first star with white acrylic craft paint, the second with blue acrylic craft paint, and the third with red acrylic craft paint. Let dry, and apply a second coat, if necessary.
STEP THREE
Base coat the first of three wooden dowels with white acrylic craft paint, the second with blue acrylic craft paint, and the third with red acrylic craft paint. Let dry, and apply a second coat, if necessary.
STEP FOUR
Create a polka dot pattern on each star by dipping a new pencil eraser into acrylic craft paint.
Accent the blue star with white polka dots. Accent the white star with red polka dots.
Add blue polka dots to the red star.
STEP FIVE
Once dry, embellish the painted polka dots with smaller dots of silver glitter glue. This is where you can get creative with the kiddos and have them make their own patterns and color combinations!
STEP SIX
Attach the coordinating painted dowels with a glue gun and glue sticks. Glue the blue dowel to the white star, the red dowel to the blue star, and the white dowel to the red star.
STEP SEVEN
Measure and cut assorted ribbons in red, white and blue into 12” lengths. To finish, gather each set of ribbons together and tie around the wooden dowel, securing with a knot.
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