DIY Rocket for July 4th
Got your materials together? Just in case you didn’t jot down what you needed, here’s the materials list again:
- 1 toilet paper tube or a paper towel tube cut in half
- red, white, and/or blue paint and a paint brush
- a brown paper bag
- scissors and pinking shears
- fabric scraps
- hot glue gun and a glue stick
Directions
1. Paint your tube red, white, or blue. Set the tube aside to dry. You want it totally dry before you handle it again. Once the tube is dry, let your kids decorate the outside, if they want. They can use stencils, stickers, washi tape – there are so many possiblities! I used gold washi tape to make stripes on my finished rocket body.
2. Make your “ribbon.” Use your pinking shears to cut skinny pieces of fabric. You can do any lengths or number that you want – it really depends on how you and the kids want the finished product to look and how into pinking they get.
3. Make your rocket’s cone. To make the cone, use a pint glass or something else that’s round, and trace a circle onto your paper grocery bag. Cut out the circle, then make a cut from one edge to the circle’s center, like this:
4. That cut you made in the circle will allow you to create a cone shape from that circle. To do that, just overlap the two cut parts of the circle and use the glue stick to secure them in place. Paint your cone, if you want to. I painted mine red.
5. Use your embroidery needle to slide a looped piece of the “ribbon” you made (or yarn or embroidery thread) into the tiny hole at the top of the cone, so you can hang your finished rocket. Tie whatever hanging medium you chose into a knot on the underside of the cone, so it won’t slide out. When you’re done, it will look like this:
6. With your hot glue gun, glue the cone onto the top of the rocket, glue the “ribbon” pieces around the bottom inner lip of the tube, and you’re ready to hang!
