Patriotism: Day One

F is For Flag

Adapted from lessons from First School.


Purpose: Introduce young children to the importance of a national symbol, the United States flag.

Read a book about flags such as: Stars and Stripes: The Story of the American Flag by Sarah L. Thompson.


Activity #1: What is a flag? What does a National Flag represent?
Display a flag picture of point out pictures from books.

*Ask the children: "What is a flag?"
A flag is a piece of cloth, in the shape of a rectangle or triangle, with colors, and designs. Flags are used for signaling or as symbols of a country or organization.

*Every country has a national flag. A national flag represents a country’s citizens. When you are the citizen of a country is like being part of a team and you work together to take care of the country. A country is like a big home with many rooms and in each room are families and individuals living in communities. You can expand on how "the big rooms" are states, with "smaller rooms" called counties and sections called towns and cities.

*Sing: "You're a Grand Old Flag"


Alphabet Activity: Alphabet Letter F is for Flag

Print the F flag coloring page.

* Finger and Pencil Tracing:
Trace letter F's in upper and lower case with your finger as you also sound out the letter. Invite the children to do the same on their coloring page (first presentation) or handwriting practice worksheet.
Encourage the children to trace the dotted letters with your choice of sharpened crayon, fine tip marker, coloring or regular pencil and demonstrate the direction of the arrows and numbers that help them trace the letter correctly. During the demonstration, you may want to count out loud as you trace so children become aware of how the number order aids them in the writing process.

*Find the letter F's: Have the children find all the letter F's in upper and lower case on the page and encourage them to circle or trace/shade them first. Visit each child to make sure they have identified the letter F's and then discuss the locations with the poster.

Coloring Activity: Encourage the children to color the image in the coloring page or worksheet.

Print this American Flag Coloring Page.

Here are some important facts about the American flag that children should understand. Discuss these facts while children color the flag pages:

1. Shapes > Identify that the flag is a rectangle. Two long sides and two short sides. Have children trace with their finger the long sides and short sides in the template.
2. Colors and counting > Discuss that red, white and blue are the national colors. Have children count the thirteen stripes. Identify that seven are red and six are white.
3. The blue rectangle houses 50 white stars for each state. Show a map of the states and locate the state where you live.
4. Tell the children they will decorate and add the stars > choose painted fingerprints or star stickers (silver stars are easy to locate). Add only 13 fingerprints for the first colonies or add up to 20 to fill up the blue space.




Additional Activities:

• Pull out a real American Flag for children to look at/play with. Talk about the colors, the stripes, the stars, the shape, etc.
• Make a "flag" by tying a piece of cloth or a towel to a dowel or wooden spoon. Have children wave the flag as you sing "You're a Grand Old Flag."