Uncle Sam Craft for Kids

This is a super simple and super cute way to decorate for the 4th. Uncle Sam here is made of toilet paper rolls (yes, really), cotton balls, and a few printables that you can get below. There are two options – I showed you the kids craft version, where you allow your kids to color the printables to make their own Uncle Sam. There is also a version where the color is there for you, so all you have to do it print it out and assemble. 

This project works great as a centerpiece, hearth decoration, or for something to put by your front door (just be sure it’s not going to rain!). He works up quickly, taking only about 15 minutes to assemble, and one of the lovely things I enjoy about this project is that he can be disassembled later and the toilet paper rolls can be used for their primary purpose. Recycling your home decor!

The printables are below. There are six printables for the project – pants, jacket, face, hat, brim and shoes, and hands. 

Printables

Coloring pages: 

Pants

Jacket

Face

Hat

Hat Brim and Shoes

Arms

Pre-colored:

Pants

Jacket

Face

Hat

Hat Brim and Shoes

Arms

 

Assembling Your Uncle Sam, Step-by-Step

To put your project together, you’ll need your printables, scotch tape, cotton balls, Elmers glue, 4 rolls of toilet paper, and scissors. 

Start by taping together the long strips for the hat, pants, jacket, and face. They’re meant to overlap a little.

Next, take one of your rolls of toilet paper and wrap the pants printable around it tightly. Secure it with some tape. 

Do the same for the face, the jacket, and the hat printables. Now, turn the pants layer over and tape the shoes to the bottom so they stick out a little. 

Turn your roll back over. Now you’re going to tape the jacket to the pants. I used four little loops of tape to hold them together. 

And here’s what they look like once they’ve been stacked. 

Now you’ll do the same to stack the face on top of the jacket. In between the face and the hat, you’ll need to tape the brim, like so: 

Add the hat, and stacking is done! Your last taping thing is the arms. Use little loops of tape to secure them to the sides of the jacket layer. 

Yay! All done with the tape. Now we get to use the cotton balls and glue. I pull the cotton balls a little bit to make them sort of wispy. Dab a little glue onto Uncle Sam and press your cotton wisps onto it to make eyebrows, a beard, and some hair. 

And voila! You’ve got a lovely 4th of July decoration!