Celebrate the 4th of July with this fork painted fireworks craft! Use forks to stamp paint on paper, creating beautiful red, white, and blue fireworks. Then sprinkle on some glitter for a little extra sparkle!
Have you ever used a fork to paint?! It’s so fun to use an everyday household item to create art! Gather up a few simple craft supplies and spend a fun afternoon with the kids painting these beautiful and easy patriotic fireworks.
This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something we may earn a small commission which helps us run this website.
How to Paint Fireworks with a Fork
Materials:
- Red paint
- Blue paint
- White paint
- Black cardstock (or construction paper)
- Fine silver glitter
Equipment:
- Paper plate (to use as paint palette)
- 3 Plastic forks (or regular dinner forks)
Check Out The Video Tutorial:
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
- Gather your supplies and materials.
Step 2: Prepare for stamping
- Add red, white, and blue paint to a paper plate, making sure the colors aren't touching.
- Dip the bottom of a fork into your first paint color (we chose blue). Rock the fork back and forth to make sure the back of the tines are completely covered in paint.
Step 3: Make the first layer of the fireworks
- Stamp the bottom of the fork onto the paper. Re-dip the fork as needed and continue stamping the fork at different angles, around an imaginary circle in the center.
- Using the same color of paint, add fork marks in-between the last stamps you made. This time, drag your fork outwards to make the firework larger.You may need to dip your fork in the paint a couple of times to make these lines.
- Fill in the rest of the paper with fireworks. We were able to fit 4 fireworks total on our page, 2 with a blue base and 2 with a red base.
Step 4: Add the second and third layers of paint
- Wait about 15 minutes for the first layer of paint to dry, and then stamp a layer of white fireworks overtop of the blue and red ones.Do not drag your fork for this layer. Allow to dry.
- Add a third and final layer of paint to the fireworks. Stamp a blue layer on the red and white fireworks, and a red layer to the blue and white ones.
Step 5: Sprinkle glitter on the fireworks
- While the final layer of paint is still wet, sprinkle glitter over the fireworks.
- Shake off the excess glitter and allow your fireworks to dry.
- Your fork painted fireworks craft is complete!
Helpful Tips:
- If you’re painting your fireworks on white paper there’s no need to use white paint, since it won’t show up very well. Just leave it off, or try using silver paint instead!
- If you don’t want to wait for the paint to dry between layers, that’s okay. The paint colors will mix a little bit, but the fireworks will still look great.
What paint is best for making this fireworks craft?
Any thicker liquid paint will work to make these fork painted fireworks. We used acrylic paint, but you can also use tempera. Tempera paint is a great choice when working with kids, since it’s non-toxic and washable.
What paper is best for making these fork stamped fireworks?
We recommend using a thicker paper, like cardstock or drawing paper, that can hold the paint without wrinkling or rolling up. You can also use printer paper or construction paper, but it might warp a little bit as the paint dries.
You can use any color of paper, but we prefer using black paper for this craft since it looks like the night sky!
Do I have to use plastic forks for this fork painted fireworks craft?
No, you can definitely use your every day metal forks if you feel comfortable getting a little paint on them. We prefer washing plastic forks after a picnic or BBQ and then re-using them for crafts.
If you’re using plastic forks, make sure that they’re sturdy. We had some thinner forks snap off when we pressed them on the paper!
Fireworks are so beautiful, lighting up the night sky, and this glittery 4th of July craft is such a fun representation of that!
Stick with the red, white, and blue theme for Independence Day, or try making colorful fork stamped fireworks. This fireworks craft would also be perfect for Canada Day, Bonfire Night, New Year’s Eve, Diwali, Chinese New Year, or any other fun fireworks holiday!
Here’s even more fun 4th of July ideas:
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon |  Barnes and Noble | Books-A-Million | Indiebound |  Amazon Canada
I have seen a picture of what looks like a birdbath or hummingbird bath made with what looks like a cookie sheet (sheet pan). I cannot find the instructions on your site, but it was pictured with your 20 garden crafts. Can you send me the instructions?
Hi Kim, did you see it on Facebook or Pinterest? It might be a link to another site. We haven’t made a cookie sheet feeder, though we do have a pine cone bird feeder.