September 3rd is Uncle Sam Day: Lesson and Craft for K-3

Background:

Uncle Sam was an image created back in the 1800's when the country was at war. Uncle Sam has a white goatee and white hair. He wears a big, tall hat that has the colors of the American flag on it. He also wears red and white shirt, pants, and jacket. The name Uncle Sam came from some soldiers in New York. They received shipments of meat with the U.S. stamp on it. The soldiers had a butcher named Samuel and laughed that the U.S. stood for Uncle Sam (their butcher). Uncle Sam's image was created on September third which is the day that some children return to school for a new year. You can see Uncle Sam's picture on many Army recruiting posters.

Basically, Uncle Sam is a symbol of our patriotism and our love for our country.

The Uncle Sam's Day Craft:

Gather together the following items: styrofoam cups, red, white, and blue paint, paintbrushes, red felt, scissors, glue, silver glitter, twizzlers.

Follow these steps:

1. Paint a blue section going across and around the top 1/3 of the styrofoam cup. Then paint red and white stripes going down all the way around the cup, alternating red and white as you go around.
2. Let the paint dry.
3. Use your glue to draw stars around the blue strip you painted.
4. Sprinkle silver glitter on the stars and then shake any excess off in to a trash can.
5. Draw a cicle in your red felt that is bigger than your styrofoam cup. Cut it out and then cut a hole in the middle.
6. Place glue on the top inside of your cup and gently add the felt in to the middle of the cup, but having it hang out over the sides to form the bottom part of a Uncle Sam hat. Push the middle part in the cup.
7. Add twizzlers in to the cup.
8. Allow the glue to dry.
9. Let the kids take them home and tell their parents what they learned about Uncle Sam.