Firecracker Hat

Total Time Needed:: 1 Hour

It's hard to improve on Independence Day traditions like barbecues, flags, and patriotic parades. Still, we couldn't resist coming up with a wearable, and of course safe, variation on the tradition that often leaves kids the most wide-eyed: fireworks.

Materials

Pencil
Yardstick
Scissors
1 18- by 24-inch sheet of red poster board
Red, white, and blue curling gift-wrap ribbon, ¾ inch wide

Masking tape and Scotch tape
Glue stick
Yellow and orange crepe paper
1 white or silver pipe cleaner
Pushpin

Instructions

Cut a 7- by 24-inch rectangle from red poster board. Using the yardstick, draw a line across the long end of the rectangle, 2 inches beneath the top edge. Draw vertical lines at 2-inch intervals across the top edge, as shown below in 1. Cut along each vertical line to form tabs. Place the yardstick across the bottom of the tabs and bend the tabs over the stick.
Cut 20 lengths of ribbon, each 20 inches long. On a table, lay a 12-inch piece of masking tape sticky-side up. Press 10 of the ribbons onto the tape, as shown in 2. Repeat with a second 12-inch piece of masking tape.
With the ribbons hanging down, press the 2 ribbon/tape strips along the tabless edge of the red rectangle, leaving 5 inches between the strips for your child's forehead, as shown in 3. Roll the rectangle into a tube. Scotch-tape the edges to form a cylinder that will fit comfortably.
Place the cylinder, with the tabs folded in, onto the remaining poster board. Trace around it and cut out the circle. Coat the outer 2 inches of the circle with glue. Press the tabs of the hat down onto the glue-coated portion of the circle and hold in place for a few seconds. Turn the hat right-side up to dry. If necessary, lay a magazine across the top to flatten the hat as it dries.
Cut five strips of crepe paper, each 8 to 10 inches long. Stack the strips and wrap them with a pipe cleaner, as shown in 5. Pull tight and arrange the crepe paper to form a flower shape.
With a pushpin, poke a hole in the center of the hat top. Thread the bottom 1 inches of the pipe cleaner through the hole. On the inside of the hat, bend the tip against the underside of the hat and masking-tape it in place.