Fireworks almost as fun...

as the real thing:
First, you will need some acrylic paint in a colorful and patriotic assortment. (I love Claudine Hellmuth's Studio paints, though any acrylic paint will work.) You will also need water, paper, paintbrushes, and drinking straws.
Pour a small amount of paint into a container and dilute slightly with water. (Make sure to stir!) You want the paint to drip off the paintbrush...think splatter-painting. (I love saving our leftover gelato cups...I use them all the time for crafts and snacks!)
Using the paintbrush, drop paint onto the paper in all different sizes of drops. You could also use a medicine dropper to do this.

Then, place one end of the straw a couple inches above the paint drop. Blow gently until you achieve your desired look. The next three pictures shows how the drops spread. (Pay attention to the dark blue drop.)



The angle at which you hold your straw will determine the direction the paint spreads, so to achieve a "sunburst" you should hold the straw at a 90 degree angle above the drop. Holding the straw at an angle will direct the paint on a more narrow path, as seen above.

You can see a variety of patterns above. (Kind of reminds me of my spin-art days!)

We made ours on some cardstock ready to assemble into cards. We kept it simple and just included a greeting on the front...but I think it would be fun to embellish the fireworks with glitter for some extra sparkle!

Enjoy! (Idea originally found in Family Fun.)