Celebrate the country's birthday with the fanfare it's due--waving a handmade fan that looks like the American flag. Here's what you'll need to make one: a 17-by-5 1/2-inch piece of white paper, a ruler, a pencil, red and blue markers, a pushpin, three plastic drinking straws, a paper fastener and tape.

In the upper left-hand corner of the paper, measure and mark a rectangle that's 8 1/2 inches wide and 3 inches high. Have your child draw a bunch of stars within the rectangle and then color around them with blue marker. Divide the rest of the paper into stripes and color every other one red. Now fold the paper accordion style.

Next, create a frame for the fan. Use the pushpin to poke a hole through each straw, 1 inch from the bottom. Then, join the three straws with the paper fastener. Finally, spread apart the top of the straw frame, fit the flag onto the frame, and tape it in place.

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