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Canada Paper Quilt - National Symbols - Canada Day Preschool Lesson Plan Printable Activities

Materials for craft:

• printer
• white paper
• scissors
• glue stick
• yarn or thin ribbon
• Optional: crafts sticks

Tell the children they are going to have fun learning about a beautiful and large country: Canada. The activities will culminate with making a Canada paper quilt that reflects some of their national symbols, and it honors an important community helper: the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Canada was one of the first countries in the world to adopt an official multiculturalism policy. That is also reflected in one of the images of the quilt. Canada has recognized that multiculturalism (respect, equality and diversity) is an asset to the growth and future of their country.

There are two options to make the quilt - small craft version and large. The large option is a great way to make an educational display to help discuss all the elements of the quilt for home or classroom use.

Activity 1 > Geography > Canada is Big

Young children can start learning a little geography by comparing land masses and their size. Canada is the second biggest country (area) in the world.

If you have a world globe or map, show the children the location of Canada and show how big it is compared to other countries. Show the children the country where they are and compare again.

Here are printable maps in black and white to help you with the demonstration.

World map* - shade the Canada area with red crayon.

Canada map* - Tell the children Canada has ten provinces and three territories

* Credit: Maps courtesy National Geographic. National Geographic does not review or endorse content added to the maps by others.

Activity 2 > What does Canada mean?
Discuss that Canada means village. A village is a small town or community. The word comes from an aboriginal word: Kanata.

Activity 3 > Official Symbols of Canada >
Why do countries have a flag? A flag represents a country’s people. When you are the citizen of a country is like being part of a team and you work together to take care of the country. The flag represents all the citizens from that country.

The national flag of Canada has two red rectangles and a white square in the center with a red maple leaf in the white portion.

The maple tree and leaf have had a lot of significance since the aboriginal people discovered the food properties of the maple sap and it was later adopted as a national symbol.

The beaver is also a national symbol for it help Canada financially by the use of its fur.

Community helper > The Royal Canadian Mounted Police >

When the children are making the quilt, show them the image of the Canadian Mounted Policeman and explain that they are very important community helpers and protect and serve the Canadian country. The RCMP is an enduring symbol of Canada and are also known as The Mounties.

Activity 4 > Craft > Canada Paper Quilt Options: Choose the size of quilt - large or small images or make a large classroom quilt for the demonstration and use it to illustrate the small version.

After discussing the national symbols, making the paper quilt will make more sense to the children because they will have some understanding of the images.

Activity > Alphabet > Letter Q Quilt lesson plan printable activities >

What is a quilt? A quilt is usually a bed covering consisting of two layers of material, sewn together in often decorative panels and filled with feathers, wool, cotton, or the like. Often times a quilt is made with remnant materials or pieces from worn clothes to preserve a family's history or communities history. Many quilts are made only for the purpose of being works of art.

The children are going to "sew" together the important components of Canada's national symbols and their ground breaking policy of multiculturalism with "paper quilt blocks." Explain that the Canadian people work together and respect each other's differences even when they disagree. It is important to work together to take care of our communities and to live in peace.

There are a couple of ways to assemble the quilt:

Instructions:

Print & cut templates. Have the children glue the images to a white piece of paper as shown in the illustration.

Cut excess paper on the border and then glue to the quilt holder piece on the area indicated. Fold the holder piece on the dotted line, insert a piece of yarn and glue over. Another method is to glue two to three craft stick/Popsicle stick with a little sticking out on each side inside the fold of the holder template, and tie the yarn to the sticks.

Challenging: For children age 5+

Print & cut template templates.

Cut a combination of red and white paper into quarters slightly larger than the template cards. Glue the template cards to the paper quarters and then assemble the pieces gluing together by applying a little glue on the borders to form the quilt. Children may need assistance along the process. Once all six images have been "sewn" proceed as above. Note the quilt will be wider than the holder in this case, so the quilt needs to be centered on the holder template.

Templates:

Small quilt    template 1   and   template 1

Canada color posters for a large quilt

July the 1st is Canada Day! Let's honor Canada by displaying this quilt on that day!

Additional activities >

Online jigsaw puzzle - Canada Day Ages 2.5+
The default puzzle is 6 pieces and can be adapted to more pieces. The puzzle features a matching coloring page:
> Beaver, Canada map, and flag

Canada theme coloring pages

For great crafts, games, coloring pages and more for all ages visit DLTK's Canada Day for Kids!

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