To go along with all of our patriotic activities this week, we made a very simple Veterans Day craft. I love that the kids did almost all of it by themselves, and they had a lot of fun playing with their mini veterans when they were done.
Beforehand I cut a 9 x 12 inch piece of brown construction paper in half. One half was enough paper for each child. I drew lines as shown below so that the kids could cut only a few lines to make their veterans.
For each child I also cut out one large circle for the head, two small ovals for the hands, and two small ovals for the boots.
Before making the craft, we read Hero Dad and discussed:
- the characteristics of a hero,
- what it means to be a soldier,
- what it is like for kids of soldiers,
- veterans that we know, and
- how we can show respect for veterans.
Then we got started on our craft. My kids love dot painting, so I thought it would be a great way to make the camouflage for our veteran craft. We used bingo dotters from the Dollar Tree, but Do-A-Dot markers would be an excellent choice. They tend not to splatter.
Once the paint dried, we turned over the paper and the kids began cutting. After cutting along the lines the kids ended up with one large rectangle, four small rectangles, one trapezoid, and two small triangles. The two small triangles can be recycled. This worked out very well, and didn’t result in a lot of waste.
Then the kids glued the pieces on and added facial features to finish up our veterans.
Soon those mini veterans were marching around in parades and parachuting out of planes. I loved to see the kids remembering and acting out parts of our story discussion.
Continue your Veterans’ Day lessons with this free printable Veteran’s Day easy reader.
Christine @MomsNCharge
I absolutely love this! I’m sharing it on my blog so I hope it’s okay to use your adorable photo (with credit of course). Please reach out to me with any questions or concerns.
Shaunna Evans
Thank you for sharing!
Shannan Rozenberg
I love the idea. I need an idea for my kindergarten class to do as a tribute for our local veterans. As a kindergarten teacher and a wife, mother, and mother-in-law of soldiers, I think this is great and it is very appropriate to teach our little ones to honor our soldiers. Jane Wilson is a nitwit.
Shaunna Evans
I hope your kindergarteners have fun making these little soldiers. I know mine would have if I were still in the classroom. And I appreciate your feedback.
jane wilson
i am suprised to see camoflaged soldiers being made to seem “cute” ,and a suitable craft item for preschoolers. It seems incongruous to me.
Shaunna
Thank you for your comments. With close friends and family who are in the military, we did this as an activity to show respect for others. We recognize soldiers as community helpers just as we would police officers or fire fighters.
Susan Evans
Cute craft. My sons always loved camouflage.
Shaunna
Thanks! If we had some camouflage, I bet the kids would have loved to use it for dress-up this week. I will have to remember that for next year.