Arts-N-Crafts: The Philippine Flag

This was a post that I started June 12th of last year. I was only starting to be active with blogging again that time and I never had the confidence to just go ahead and publish my posts. I always had to proofread then edit then proofread and edit again, it went on and on till I totally just lose confidence and eventually abandon my post in my drafts folder. Now, I've just come to realize that firstly, I own this blog. It's my account of Maia's day to day experiences so I am actually only accountable to her (and of course to myself). So there's really no need to hold back (unless I'm oversharing and eventually endangering her and our family, right?)

So anyways, as part of my resolve to bring my drafts folder down to zero (0), I am publishing this post a year after I started writing it. It still is apt to the day since it was after all the first time that I introduced the little girl to the symbol of our 'freedom' and that is the Philippine flag. I will leave the historical background of how this day came to be to Wiki's expert hands. Let me just share with you this simple activity that you too can enjoy doing with your toddler on this lazy Tuesday (and it's a holiday, yipee!).

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Yesterday was a welcomed break from the wet, rainy days that we've been experiencing for almost the entire week. So I took hold of this great opportunity to enjoy some outdoor fun with the little girl. I checked my arts and crafts stash. I'm still starting to build it so I don't have much to go on. I realized though glancing at my basic poster paint colors that the little girl and I can paint the Philippine flag so I excitedly brought out the paints, diluted them with water in unused small medicine measuring cups, laid down our buri mat in the garden, gathered our paintbrushes and invited the little girl for a free painting activity. Maia helped me set up our outdoor activity area for day. I noticed that recently seeing me prepare for an activity excites her in a jumping, clapping way. I get more inspired to come up with weekly activities each time I see that positive response from her.

I was initially aiming for more elaborate crafts projects but at the last minute decided to just go with the free painting activity. After all, Maia still has a limited attention span on most sit-down activities so I was sure that activity was just perfect for now. Plus, we can put up whatever project we would complete after since Tibs and I were able to score some barbecue sticks for P10/bundle at the nearby market when we dropped by earlier after our morning run.

Basic Poster Paint Colors and the Philippine Flag Project by Mommy + Maia

Anyways, here's what you will need to create your own Philippine flag:


- 2 pcs of large sketch/drawing paper (we painted the flag back-to-back)
- poster paint (red, yellow and blue)
- paint brushes (best if you can spare a brush for each color so you won't have to worry about one color being mixed to a different color)
- thick barbecue sticks, blunt end trimmed (we used just one actually since we made only one flag) to avoid accidents
- glue
- double-sided tape

I glued the 2 paper together first then taped the ends with the double sided tape and (rolled) wrapped it unto the barbecue stick. Then outlined the flag and instructed the little girl to what colors to use. She painted freely for a good 3-5 mins for both the blue and red but as expected, I did most of the painting job. After thoroughly painting both sides (and draw 3 stars and a sun on the triangle part of the flag), we stuck the stick unto our garden and let it air-dry. I may have done 90% of the activity but I'm happy that through this I was able to teach the little girl something today. She learned to say 'flag' too! How nice is that? 
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I was trying to think of another project to make today since we've decided to stay home and enjoy a quite holiday again today especially since Maia's grandparents (my mom and dad) are with us. We'll probably leave later for a small family get together but the rest of the day, we planned to be lazy once again. We're done with Maia's homework already so we have plenty of time for play. I'm also asking my dad to tell Maia an independence day-themed story. They'll probably do that before nap time later. 


How's you Independence Day going?