Uncle Sam's Hat Project

Uncle Sam's Hat is red, white, blue, and fun to make! Show your patriotic spirit with a boldly striped and star-spangled Uncle Sam's hat.
What You'll Need:
·    2 white paper plates, 9 inches wide
·    Card stock, or poster board paper 12 by 12 inches each of white, red, and blue
Dark blue posterboard
Red posterboard
White posterboard
·    White plastic lid, approximately 6-1/2 inches
·    Scissors
·    Ruler
·    Pencil
·    Craft glue
·    Cellophane tape and double-stick tape

How to Make an Uncle Sam's Hat:

Step 1: Cut the white card stock into two 6 by 12-inch pieces. Glue these pieces together to form one long strip. Bend the strip into a tube shape, and set it inside the rim of the plastic lid (with the lid upside down). Mark the overlap with a pencil, and trim away the excess paper from the end so the paper overlaps itself by about a 1/2 inch. Lay the white paper flat.
Step 2: From the red paper, cut seven 1-1/2 by 6-inch strips and one 1- by 6-inch strip. Glue the 1-1/2-inch strips onto the white piece, creating stripes. (Tip: As you place the red stripes, use another strip as a guide to keep the space between them consistent.) Glue the 1-inch strip on last, at the edge.

Step 3: Place a piece of red card stock on top of the lid; run your finger around the inside rim to make an impression of the circle, and cut this circle out. Glue the red circle onto the top of the lid; let dry. Turn the lid upside down.
Step 4: Re-roll the striped paper into a tube, overlapping the ends; set inside the lid, and glue the overlap closed. Tape it together on the inside as well. Tape the tube to the lid in several places, and run a bead of glue all around the edge. Let dry.

Step 5: Cut a 2-1/2-inch strip of blue card stock to fit around the tube. (If needed, splice two pieces of paper together to make it long enough.) Trace the star pattern onto white card stock six times; cut out. Glue the stars evenly spaced along the blue strip.

Step 6: Glue two plates together facing the same direction; let dry. With the plates right side up, set the tube in the center, and trace around it. Poke a hole in the center of the plates, and cut a small circle (about 2-inch diameter). Make about 25 cuts around the plate starting at this hole and radiating out to the pencil line.

Step 7: Turn the plate upside down, and center the tube over the inner rim. Fold back the tabs formed in step 6 to the inside of the tube, and glue them in place. Let dry.

Step 8: Wrap the star hat band around the hat; glue in place.