Uncle Sam Wooden Spatula Craft

Looking for patriotic craft ideas for kids? Create this fun Uncle Sam craft using a wooden spatula to use as a festive decoration or even as a puppet.

Uncle Sam is an iconic American symbol, making this an ideal project in honor of the 4th of July or Memorial Day. Working on this as a family provides an excellent opportunity to discuss national symbols as well as the history of Uncle Sam and Independence Day. 

Make sure to grab the free printable craft template available at the end of this post. It will help you complete this project easier.

Patriotic Crafts for Kids

Here are a few projects you can make for Presidents Day, Memorial Day, or Independence Day. They are easy to do at home or in a classroom art center. Another idea is to include one or more of these in a unit study.

• Bald Eagle Craft
• Paper Firecracker Craft
• Popsicle Stick Flag
• Patriotic Sensory Bottle
• Toilet Paper Roll Fireworks

Who Is Uncle Sam?

The character Uncle Sam has become a symbol representing the United States government as well as the people of the United States of America (USA). His origin is linked to a man named Samuel Wilson, a meat packer in New York. 

He supplied rations to the troops during the War of 1812. Samuel Wilson marked his supply barrels with “U.S.” meaning United States. The soldiers began referring to the food as “Uncle Sam’s.” This led to the United States being nicknamed Uncle Sam. 

He is generally depicted as an older white man with a white beard and wearing red, white, and blue stars and stripes like the USA flag.

Uncle Sam Craft Supplies

To help make sure you have the materials you need, I’m including my affiliate links to some of the materials below so you can easily order them.

• Uncle Sam Spatula Craft Template (available for download at the bottom of post)
• Wooden Flat Spatula
• 1 Popsicle Craft Stick 
• Red, White, Blue, and Pink Acrylic Craft Paint 
• Googly Eyes
• 3 Red Buttons
• Clear Rhinestone
• Silver Glitter Cardstock
• White Craft Foam
• Low Temp Glue Gun or Tacky Craft Glue
• Paintbrush
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Ruler

While we used a flat bamboo spatula in this tutorial, you could also create him using a wooden spoon. The hat section will be rounded and need a little tweaking, but the finished result would still look great!

How to Make a Wooden Spatula Uncle Sam

Start by printing out the Uncle Sam Spatula Craft Template (it’s a free printable available at the bottom of this post). 

Take one regular popsicle stick and place it about two inches down from the top of the spatula. Draw a line across using a pencil. You can use the tutorial photos and the printable template as a guide while you paint.

Optional: You can also block off the section between the pencil line and the neck of the spatula with painters tape or cardstock to keep the face area unpainted.

Paint the top third of the flat wooden spatula white. (From the flat top down to the pencil line.) After the white paint has dried, apply another coat if needed.

With a small flat paintbrush, paint red vertical stripes over the white section. Then paint the craft stick blue on the front and sides.

Once the paint dries, secure the craft stick along the edge of the white and red painted stripes to create the hat brim. You can use a glue gun or tacky craft glue. If using liquid glue, please wait for the glue to dry in between steps.

You can cut off about half an inch from each end of the blue popsicle stick using scissors or you may choose to leave it as is.

Next paint the spatula blue from the neck down to the end of the handle. Allow time to dry.

If you covered the face section during painting, remove that now.

Glue two googly eyes to the unpainted section for Uncle Sam’s face. Position the eyes aligned with the center just below the hat brim. To give him rosy cheeks, dip an unused pencil eraser into pink paint and stamp them on either side of his face underneath the eyes.

Now cut out the beard, mustache, and star templates if you haven’t already. Trace the beard and mustache on white craft foam. Trace the star on silver glitter cardstock. Cut everything out.

Glue on the beard and then glue on the mustache over the beard. To make a nose you can cut the rounded end off of a popsicle stick, a small piece of light colored craft foam or even a pom pom. Glue it in place.

Glue three red buttons onto the handle below the beard.

To embellish his hat, add a clear rhinestone or another type of self-adhesive gem to the center of the star. Finally, glue the star to his hat.

Once your Uncle Sam craft is completely dry and assembled, you can use him as a puppet, a 4th of July decoration, or even a hostess gift!

More Uncle Sam Crafts

Kids often make Uncle Sam crafts for the Fourth of July, but did you know he has his own holiday too? In 1989, President Bush proclaimed September 13 to be Uncle Sam Day in honor of Samuel Wilson’s birthday. Here are a few more craft ideas inspired by Uncle Sam.

• Popsicle Stick Uncle Sam
• Uncle Sam Chip Can
• Uncle Sam Puppet
• 4th of July Clay Pot Craft