When you begin decorating for your Kwanzaa celebrations this year, be sure to include this adorable flag garland using the symbolic colors of the holiday – red, green, and black.

Discover more about Kwanzaa and create more fantastic decorations. As well, get printable learning tools about Kwanzaa to share with your kids.

What you'll need:

How to make it:

1. Fold black construction paper in half lengthwise, crease and unfold (see image). Cut along crease so that you now have two pieces.
2. Starting at the short end, measure and mark with a pencil, every 1.5". Fold paper at the pencil mark and make a crease. The object here is to get seven 1.5" wide pieces of black paper (reference the pattern); the eighth piece will be a little short (see image).
3. Repeat step 2 for the other half of the black sheet. Do not cut anything yet, except for removing the last piece that did not quite measure 1.5".
4. Using a ruler on the green sheet of construction paper, measure and cut out four strips that are the full length of the paper and ¾" high. Repeat this for the red paper as well. You should have 4 strips of each color (red and green).
5. Glue one of the green strips to the black folded paper, lining it up along the bottom. Glue a red strip directly above the green one. Turn the black paper around and repeat at the other end. Repeat these steps for the other black folded paper as well (see image).
6. Turn black paper over and trim the excess red and green paper that is hanging over the edge (see image). 
7. Cut along the folds, you should end up with fourteen pieces of black paper with red and green stripes (see image).
8. Fold each of these in half, crease and open again (see image).
9. Lay yarn on work surface in front of you. Apply glue all over the back side of one of the folded flags. Place a piece of yarn so that the yarn rests in the crease. Fold the flag together and press closed. Repeat this step every couple of inches until all the flags are on the yarn (see image).

Tips:

1. To simplify this project for younger kids, you can have them color pieces of paper instead of cutting and pasting the construction paper.
2. You should always have construction paper on hand -- it makes for hours of fun!
3. Talk to kids about the significance of each color in these flags.