Happy Birthday, Colorado! On this day in 1876, Colorado officially became the 38th state, and garnered the nickname the Centennial State, due to the fact that statehood was achieved the very same year that the United States celebrated 100 years of independence and freedom. To celebrate our beautiful home state, we made a Colorado State Flag Craft!
I figured I would also take this opportunity to share a few fun facts about Colorful Colorado!
- Colorado has the highest elevation of any state, with more than 1,000 peaks breaching the 10,000 feet mark. Fifty-four of those peaks tower above 14,000 feet in elevation (14ers).
- The 13th step in the capital building is exactly one mile above sea level – earning Denver the nickname, the Mile High City.
- The tallest Sand Dune in America is located in Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve, just outside of Alamosa, CO.
- The Dwight Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel is the highest auto tunnel in the world, at 11,000 feet. It runs a total of 8,960 feet through the mountains of the Continental Divide, and has an average of 26,000 motor vehicles driven through it, on a daily basis.
- Fruita, CO is famous for Mike the Headless Chicken – a chicken who miraculously lived for four years, after a farmer chopped his head off in 1945.
- Colorado is the only U.S. state to turn down a bid to host the Olympics, when voters chose not to host the 1976 Winter Olympics. Though, there are now talks that Colorado will attempt to win another bid in the near future.
- The state flower is the Columbine.
- Other things Colorado is famous for include: Rocky Mountain National Park, world-class skiing, Mesa Verde National Park, Rocky Mountain Oysters (no, I’ve never tried one), The Stanley Hotel, wildlife, microbreweries…the list goes on!
Colorado State Flag Craft
Supplies:
- 9 Popsicle Sticks
- Blue and White Paint
- Paintbrush
- Red and Yellow Construction Paper
- 1 Piece of Card Stock (or other heavy paper)
- Glue
- Scissors
Instructions:
- Start by painting six of the Popsicle sticks blue. Paint the remaining three white, and set them all aside to dry completely.
- While the sticks are drying, cut a small circle out of the yellow construction paper.
- Cut a larger letter “C” out of the red construction paper. You want the yellow circle to nest inside the red “C”.
- Once the paint has dried on the Popsicle sticks, cut your piece of card stock (or heavy paper) into a rectangle, making sure that it is slightly smaller than all of the Popsicle sticks when they are all lined up.
- Glue the Popsicle sticks onto the card stock, with three blue sticks on top, the three white sticks in the middle, and the three remaining blue sticks on the bottom.
- Lastly, glue the small yellow circle onto the white Popsicle sticks. Glue the red “C” around the yellow circle, and set aside, until all of the glue dries completely. You may want to cover the flag with a couple of heavy books, while it dries, so that the flag dries flat.
Colorado holds wonders that even I have yet to explore and experience. Adventure and natural beauty are waiting around every corner. I’m blessed to have been born and raised in this state, surrounded by snow-capped mountains, colorful wildflowers, rumbling rivers, and wonderful people. And I’m grateful to still call Colorado my home. I couldn’t think of a better place to raise my little nugget!
