Canada Day Preschool Crafts
Simple Ideas for Preschoolers and Toddlers to Make For July 1 Event
The marking of Canada’s birthday on July 1st is a terrific opportunity to teach young children about their country. From singing “Oh Canada” in two languages to counting the number of flags waving from buildings, kids love learning about the country they live in. Make some of these crafts to start discussions with young kids about what it means to be Canadian and it may be surprising what kids already know about Canada.
Handprint Flag
Using a ruler, draw two vertical lines about five inches in from each end of a piece of finger painting paper. Let the child paint the two rectangles at each end of the paper with red paint, leaving the middle section white. To make the maple leaf in the middle of the flag, paint one of the child’s hands with red paint and make a hand print on the white section with the fingers pointing up.
Coin Rubbings
With all the different colours, shapes and sizes, Canadian currency is very interesting to look at. By doing crayon rubbings of pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, loonies and toonies, kids can see the engravings more clearly. To make the rubbings, have the child place the coins on a table and lay a piece of white paper over top. Show the child how to gently rub a peeled crayon on its side over the coins to make the raised surfaces of the coins show up. Crayon rubbings of the other side of the coins will show that all of them have a picture of Queen Elizabeth II.
- Penny – Maples Leaves
- Nickel – Beaver
- Dime – Bluenose Schooner
- Quarter – Caribou
- Loonie – Loon
- Toonie – Polar Bear
To mark special celebrations, the Royal Canadian Mint changes the design of the coins which makes the crayon rubbings even more interesting.
For another variation of crayon rubbings, have the children do rubbings of a maple leaf in the middle of the flag instead of a painted hand print for the Handprint Flag craft above.
Beaver Paper Bag Puppet
A playful version of this Canadian symbol, the beaver puppet is easy for both toddlers and preschoolers to make. Simply cut out the following shapes from construction paper:
- Two white circles for eyes
- Two black circles for eyes
- Two brown circles for ears
- Two white rectangles for teeth
- One brown oval shape for the tail
Glue the paper shapes onto the paper bag, with the facial features on the head of the puppet and the tail on the back.
Whether for a theme on Canada or as an activity on a rainy Canada Day, these crafts are easily made from materials around the house and combine learning with fun. Great to do with a group, these ideas are also portable enough to do outside.
