Paper Chains

You can do this activity in preparation for a special event, or for no reason other than to have fun together. Playing music while doing this adds to the fun.

Materials

  • Lots of construction paper (actually almost any kind of paper is fine, except newspaper. You’d get inky. Wrapping paper gives an interesting look to this activity.)
  • Scissors
  • An adhesive; either glue sticks or scotch tape. Enough for each adult and child to have their own. Tape is better for most paper.
    Preparation: Anyone old enough to use scissors can do the prep work.

Preparation

  • Starting at the long side of the paper, cut strips one to two inches wide. Make a lot. Tons. As many as you can stand to make. The more paper strips, the longer the chain.
  • Lay the pieces out on the table
  • Get your glue or tape ready!
  •  

Make the Chains

  • Choose your first strip and glue or tape the ends together.
  • If gluing, hold it a few seconds until the glue dries and the shape holds.
  • Add another strip by looping it through the first and gluing its ends together. Now you have two links in your chain.
  • Continue adding strips.
  • When the chain is long enough, hang it up!
  • You can all work on one big chain, or can each make your own chains. You can even link individual chains together if desired.

Variation: use different colored paper and make patterns with the chain links.