15 UAE Flag Day Activities 2026: For School, Kindergarten, Home

UAE Flag Day Activities 2026

In this guide you will find:

• Six activities for school,
• Five for kindergarten,
• and Four for home

... each with the age, the time it takes and what you need.

Please note that we will publish a separate guide for craft activities. So we have not listed many craft based activities for the day here.

UAE Flag Day Activities for School

These six work for whole classes or the whole school. The flag raising is the centre of the day, so plan the others around it.

1. Whole-school flag raising

The whole school gathers to raise the UAE flag together at the official Flag Day time, so your flag goes up at the same moment as flags across the country.

How to do it

1. Choose the spot: a flagpole in the playground, or a wall or balcony in the hall.
2. Gather everyone there about 10 minutes before the official time.
3. Ask one pupil from each year group to help raise or unfold the flag.
4. When the flag is up, play the national anthem and ask everyone to stand still until it ends.

This is the one activity every school does, so plan the rest of the morning around it.

2. Flag Day assembly with speeches

Pupils from different classes stand up at the assembly and each read a short speech about Flag Day and what the flag means.

How to do it

1. Pick one speaker from a younger class and one or two from older classes.
2. Give each a speech that suits their age: about 1 minute for younger pupils, up to 3 minutes for older ones.
3. Let them practise aloud at least twice in the days before.
4. Hold the speeches just before the flag raising, so the assembly leads into it.

Our UAE Flag Day speeches for students are written for each age and can be read out as they are.

3. Class Flag Day quiz

The class splits into teams and answers questions about the UAE flag, from its colours to who designed it, and the team with the most right answers wins.

How to do it

1. Split the class into two to four teams.
2. Read out one question at a time and give each team a few seconds to answer.
3. Give a point for every right answer and write the score on the board.
4. Read the short fact under each answer, so pupils learn something even when they get it wrong.

Younger pupils can answer by holding up a card in the right colour. Our UAE Flag Day quiz and flashcards has 26 questions with answers.

4. Flag colours poster

Each group makes a poster about one colour of the UAE flag and what it stands for, and the four posters are put up together to make the flag.

How to do it

1. Split the class into four groups and give each one colour: red, green, white or black.
2. Tell each group what its colour means: red for the sacrifices of earlier generations, green for growth and prosperity, white for good deeds and generosity, black for strength and courage.
3. Each group fills its sheet with drawings and one sentence about its colour.
4. Put the posters up on the wall in the flag's layout: red down the side, then green, white and black across.

For drawing and poster ideas, see our UAE Flag Day drawing and poster ideas.

5. Act out the story of the flag

Pupils act out the true story of how the UAE flag was designed in 1971 by Abdullah Mohammed Al Maainah, who was 19 when he entered a newspaper competition.

How to do it

1. Tell the class the story: he saw a competition in the newspaper, made his design with coloured paper and scissors, and only found out he had won when he saw his flag go up on 2 December 1971.
2. Split the class into small groups and give each group the three scenes: seeing the advert, making the design, and watching the flag go up.
3. Give them 15 minutes to practise, using the coloured paper as the design.
4. Each group performs its short play for the class.

6. Human flag photo

Pupils stand together on the playground in the shape of the UAE flag, dressed in its colours, and a teacher takes a photo from above.

How to do it

1. The day before, send a note home telling each class which colour to wear.
2. On the day, mark out the flag shape on the playground with chalk or cones.
3. Place the red group down the side and the green, white and black groups in three rows across.
4. Take the photo from a balcony, a roof or the top of the stairs.

It takes planning, but it is the photo parents share most.

UAE Flag Day Activities for Kindergarten

Young children learn through play, so these focus on colours, songs and movement. Keep each one short, around 10 to 15 minutes.

7. Colour sorting game

Children sort small objects into four bowls by the colours of the UAE flag, then use them to build the flag on the floor.

How to do it

1. Mix the objects together in a big pile.
2. Put out four bowls and say one flag colour for each.
3. Ask the children to put each object in the bowl of the same colour.
4. Then build the flag together on the floor with the sorted objects.

8. Flag puzzle

Children put a cut-up picture of the UAE flag back together, saying each colour out loud as they place it.

How to do it

1. Print the flag and glue it onto card so it does not tear.
2. Cut it into four large pieces for the youngest children, or eight for older ones.
3. Mix up the pieces and ask the children to rebuild the flag.
4. As each piece goes in, ask them to name its colour.

9. Learn the national anthem

Children learn to stand still and tall while the national anthem plays, and practise singing its first line.

How to do it

1. Show the children how to stand: feet together, hands by their sides, eyes on the flag.
2. Play the anthem and practise standing still until it ends.
3. Teach the first line slowly: "Eeshi biladi", which means "Long live my country".
4. Play it again and let them sing that line together.

Our guide to the UAE national anthem lyrics has every line in easy English letters.

10. Flag colour hunt

Children walk around the classroom or garden to find one thing in each of the flag's four colours and bring it back to the right basket.

How to do it

1. Put out four baskets and label each with one colour.
2. Send the children off to find one thing of each colour.
3. When they come back, ask each child to put their things in the right baskets.
4. Count the things in each basket together.

11. Flag Day dress-up parade

Children come to kindergarten dressed in the flag's colours or traditional clothes and walk in a short parade with small flags.

How to do it

1. A few days before, ask families to send their child in red, green, white or black, or in traditional clothes.
2. On the day, give each child a small hand flag.
3. Lead a short parade around the playground or hall, with music if you have it.
4. Take photos to share with the parents.

For outfit ideas, see our guide to the UAE National Day dress.

UAE Flag Day Activities at Home

Flag Day is not a holiday, but families can still mark it before school, in the evening or on the weekend after.

12. Raise the flag at home

The family hangs a UAE flag at home and steps outside together at the official time, when flags go up across the country.

How to do it

1. Hang the flag before the official time on a balcony, a window or a garden wall.
2. Check it hangs the right way: when it hangs down, the red band goes at the top.
3. At the official time, step outside together and look at the flags around you.
4. Take a family photo with your flag.

Our guide on how to hang the UAE flag shows exactly which way it goes.

13. Make a fruit flag

Children make the UAE flag from fruit on a plate, then the family eats it.

How to do it

1. Lay a strip of watermelon or strawberries down the left side of the plate for the red band.
2. Next to it, make a row of kiwi or green grapes along the top for green.
3. Make a row of banana slices in the middle for white.
4. Finish with a row of blackberries or dates along the bottom for black.

14. Family Flag Day quiz

One person reads quiz questions about the UAE flag and the rest of the family answers.

How to do it

1. Open the quiz on a phone.
2. Take turns reading the questions, so everyone gets a go.
3. Mix easy and hard questions, so younger children can answer too.
4. Give a small prize to the person with the most right answers.

15. Write Flag Day cards

Children make small cards in the flag's colours and write a Flag Day wish inside, to give to neighbours, teachers or the building staff.

How to do it

1. Fold a piece of card in half.
2. Decorate the front in red, green, white and black.
3. Write a short Flag Day wish inside.
4. Hand the cards out on the day.

If you need words, our UAE Flag Day wishes and messages has 38 to choose from.