Patriotic Star Jars {July 4th Craft for Kids}

Here’s a fun July 4th craft for kids that also makes a fantastic decoration! Make some lovely patriotic star jars. Light them up with a real candle or a battery powered tea light if you don’t want to deal with a flame.

This craft is fun for older kids and teens, but even preschoolers will enjoy doing the Mod Podge part if you cut out the stars for them.

Use your star jars as luminaries at a cookout! Or, skip the candle and use them to hold plastic forks or spoons. You can also use them as gift jars for wrapped candies.

They’re not the best for holding drinks or unwrapped food since they can’t be washed because of the water soluble Mod Podge.

You could consider using dishwasher-safe Mod Podge if you want to be able to wash your jars, but interestingly enough it’s not food-safe even though it contains nontoxic ingredients. You can put your dishwasher-safe Mod Podge items in the top rack of your dishwasher, but it hasn’t been tested and approved for contact with food and lips.

Supplies Needed for Star Jars:

Plain, smooth glass jars – we’ve found these at both Walmart and Hobby Lobby
Red, blue, and white construction paper
Printable star template (below)
Mod Podge
Paint brush
Scissors
Pencil

Click here to print the star template: PRINTABLE STAR TEMPLATE

NOTE: This star file contains three pages, including some larger stars that go with our crayon resist star art.

Patriotic Star Jars Instructions:

Start by cutting out your stars.

There are two ways to do this. One option is to print our star templates on card stock and cut them out to make patterns. Trace the card stock patterns onto construction paper and then cut them out. This is what we did.

Another option is to just print our page of star templates on red, white, and blue copy paper! Then you can skip the tracing step and just cut them out.

Tissue paper also works for this project, but it’s hard to cut, especially for younger kids. It’s also harder to trace on, and you can’t print on it either! So that’s why I’m recommending copy paper or construction paper, but tissue paper is always an option if you prefer the more translucent look.

Once you have your stars, it’s time to Mod Podge!

Paint some Mod Podge onto the jar BEFORE you add a star. Then paint another layer on top of the paper.