Looking for fun patriotic craft ideas for kids? They will love getting festive making their own popsicle stick Uncle Sam.

It’s an easy and affordable craft project that can be completed in about 30 minutes. You just need some popsicle sticks, paint, and a few other materials. (Popsicle sticks are also known as craft sticks or ice cream treat sticks.)

The kids will love getting creative and it’s a great extension activity for teaching an American history unit study. Plus, it makes a nice decoration!

Red and blue text outlined in black at top of photo says Popsicle Stick Uncle Sam. Hand holding up Uncle Sam head made out of popsicle craft sticks and handprint beard.

Table of Contents

More Uncle Sam Craft Ideas

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What Age is This Uncle Sam Craft For?

This is a good project to work on with kids of all ages; especially preschoolers, kindergartners, and early elementary school aged children.

While there are multiple steps to complete it, overall it is an easy craft to make at home or school.

As children get older and participate in projects like this, they will be able to work more independently.

Benefits of Making This Uncle Sam Fourth of July Craft

Making this craft stick uncle sam with a handprint beard provides kids with plenty of learning opportunities and a chance to practice and develop their skills.

They will practice reading and following directions as well as have fun working on it.

Tracing their hands to make his beard, cutting, painting, and gluing are all fine motor activities.

Fine motor skills are important because they help children develop the muscles in their hands. These are needed for doing tasks like writing and fastening buttons.

Uncle Sam popsicle stick craft completed finished and leaning up against the wall by a wooden frame and small plant. Craft made with red, white, and blue painted popsicle sticks and two white handprint pieces of craft foam for a beard.

Kids can work on some early math skills while creating this Uncle Sam, too. For example, younger children can count out the number of popsicle craft sticks needed.

It’s also an opportunity to work on teaching younger kids how to read a ruler. Children in 1st and 2nd grade can practice using a ruler to measure how far to paint on the craft sticks.

You can extend this activity by reading books about the 4th of July and discuss who Uncle Sam is and why he was created.

As you can see, there are a lot of benefits to kids working on this craft project! Most of all, they will enjoy crafting for fun and feel a sense of pride and accomplishment when they complete it.

Uncle Sam Popsicle Stick Craft Supplies

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Jumbo Craft Sticks
White Craft Foam
Silver Glitter Craft Foam
Googly Eyes
Low Temp Glue Gun or Tacky Craft Glue
Red, White, Blue Craft Paints
Paintbrush
Scissors
Pencil
Ruler

When painting, it’s always a good idea to have the kids in play clothes or an art smock. If you don’t have any craft foam on hand, you can use craft felt, construction paper, or cardstock.

For the stars, you could use glitter star stickers instead of cutting out star shapes.

How to Make a Popsicle Stick Uncle Sam

You will need six jumbo craft sticks to make Uncle Sam and an additional stick or two to secure the back of his hat and head.

Five jumbo craft sticks laying next to each other and a ruler to measure how far to paint for project.

Start by lining up five jumbo craft sticks to create his head. Use a ruler to measure 3.5 inches from the end of the popsicle sticks. Draw a line across all five craft sticks.

You will be painting the 3.5 inches section only. Less than half of each stick will be left unpainted. Paint the front section and sides of three craft sticks red.

Paint the front section and sides of two craft sticks white. Paint one craft stick blue along the entire front and sides. Set them aside to dry and apply another coat if needed.

Five jumbo craft sticks laying next to each other vertically. Top half painted in alternating red and white. One full blue painted craft stick lays over them. Paint bottles and paintbrush next to craft sticks.

Line up the craft sticks with the red and white painted sections at the top and the unpainted section pointed down. Place them so there is red, white, red, white, and red. This will create Uncle Sam’s hat. The unpainted section will be his face.

Glue the blue popsicle stick across where the paint stops to create the brim of his hat.

Glue gun next to project after attaching blue painted craft stick across the other ones to create a blue brim on Uncle Sam's hat.

If using liquid glue instead of a glue gun, please allow glue to dry in between steps.

Showing the back of the craft stick Uncle Sam head and where to glue a trimmed craft stick across the back to keep it all assembled.

Now flip Uncle Sam over. Use scissors to cut additional craft sticks to fit across the back. Glue 1-2 down to keep all the craft sticks in place.

Once dry, flip back over to finish creating Uncle Sam’s face.

Attach two googly eyes below the blue brim of the hat, near the center of his face.

Trace your child’s hand (or have them trace their own hand) twice onto white craft foam. Cut them out.

Popsicle stick Uncle Sam with red, white, and blue painted hat. Two googly eyes have been glued onto his face. One white craft foam handprint has been glued on with glue gun. Other handprint off to the side.

Flip them around so any tracing lines aren’t visible. Glue them onto Uncle Sam’s face, leaving a little bit of room below the eyes.

Measure and cut off a one inch piece from the rounded end of a jumbo craft stick. This piece is his nose. Glue it directly under the eyes and a little over the top of the beard.

Uncle Sam craft made with painted popsicle sticks and two white handprints cut out of craft foam. Rounded end of a craft stick cut off and glued on for nose. Silver glittery stars being glued on above hat brim.

Cut out three mini stars using silver glitter craft foam or use three sparkly star stickers. Attach them to Uncle Sam’s hat along the top of the blue brim.

Hand holding up finished craft stick Uncle Sam in right front of picture. Small green plant is blurred in the background.

Set aside to dry completely before displaying. To hang your Uncle Sam popsicle stick craft as a decoration, you can hot glue a 12 inch loop of ribbon or twine to the back.

More 4th of July Crafts for Kids

Popsicle Stick Uncle Sam Craft

Yield: 1

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Active Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Estimated Cost: $10 or less

Make this adorable popsicle stick Uncle Sam craft to celebrate 4th of July with the kids.

Materials

7 Jumbo Craft Sticks
White Craft Foam
Silver Glitter Craft Foam
2 Googly Eyes
Low Temp Glue Gun or Tacky Craft Glue
Red, White, Blue Craft Paints

Tools

Paintbrush
Scissors
Pencil
Ruler

Instructions

You will need six jumbo craft sticks to make Uncle Sam and an additional stick or two to secure the back of his hat and head.
Start by lining up five jumbo craft sticks to create his head. Use a ruler to measure 3.5 inches from the end of the popsicle sticks. Draw a line across all five craft sticks.
You will be painting the 3.5 inches section only. Less than half of each stick will be left unpainted.
Paint the front section and sides of three craft sticks red.
Paint the front section and sides of two craft sticks white.
Paint one craft stick blue along the entire front and sides.
Set them aside to dry and apply another coat if needed.
Line up the craft sticks with the red and white painted sections at the top and the unpainted section pointed down. Place them so there is red, white, red, white, and red. This will create Uncle Sam’s hat. The unpainted section will be his face.
Glue the blue popsicle stick across where the paint stops to create the brim of his hat.
If using liquid glue instead of a glue gun, please allow glue to dry in between steps.
Now flip Uncle Sam over. Use scissors to cut additional craft sticks to fit across the back. Glue 1-2 down to keep all the craft sticks in place.
Once dry, flip back over to finish creating Uncle Sam’s face.
Attach two googly eyes below the blue brim of the hat, near the center of his face.
Trace your child’s hand (or have them trace their own hand) twice onto white craft foam. Cut them out.
Flip them around so any tracing lines aren’t visible. Glue them onto Uncle Sam’s face, leaving a little bit of room below the eyes.
Measure and cut off a one inch piece from the rounded end of a jumbo craft stick. This piece is his nose. Glue it directly under the eyes and a little over the top of the beard.
Cut out three mini stars using silver glitter craft foam or use three sparkly star stickers. Attach them to Uncle Sam’s hat along the top of the blue brim.
Set aside to dry completely before displaying. To hang your Uncle Sam popsicle stick craft as a decoration, you can hot glue a 12 inch loop of ribbon or twine to the back.

Notes

Drying time will vary.

If you don’t have any craft foam on hand, you can use craft felt, construction paper, or cardstock.

Darcy Zalewski

Darcy is the founder of “Life With Darcy and Brian,” where she combines her love for education, board games, and crafting to create engaging learning experiences for kids. Her creative projects and writing have been featured in outlets like The Toy Insider, CafeMom, Mom.com, Parents.com, Country Living, and The Pioneer Woman.