We marked the beginning of the Christmas season by putting up our Christmas tree and making a paper chain. I originally intended the chain to be long enough to go around our tree, but the kids lost interest. We embellished it a little with our heart-shaped hole punch. We only own this one hole punch, but if you own more I’m sure you could ,ake all sorts of fun designs. We’ll probably add on to our chain as the days go by.
There are plenty of educational concepts you can build into making paper chains: counting, pattern recognition and sequencing, fine motor skills, colors, textures, measuring how many links tall people or objects are…
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Paperchains are fab! Your heart-shaped hole punch embellishment is a great idea. :)
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I love Christmas Crafts! We did a Thanksgiving Chain like this. Well, I did it and my son helped me for 10 minutes ;)
I just posted our “creative” advent calendar we are doing on my blog! Total shout out to you because I LOVE cheapo craft things to do with the kids!
That is beautiful. I love it. I bet your kids had fun making it.
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Pretty! I like the colors and heart embellishments. Funny, because our only shaped hole punch is a heart, too. :)
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Awwww… I love how the paper chain turned out! You have your tree up already? I’m impressed!
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Yeah, Conner didn’t have the patience to make it through 25 either. Oh well. He did make sure to tell me “red, green, red, green…”!
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I love how colorful your garland is – very pretty! Such a great idea to see how many links it takes to get as tall as something or someone – I’ll definitely be keeping that in mind for my little measure-er. :)
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I love paper garland! Using left over gift wrap makes colorful links also.
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A paper chain was our day after thanksgiving tradition when I was a kid. Each link was for a day in December and every morning we would tear off a piece until there was just one left on Christmas morning. Ah, that brings back memories!
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I am definitely going to make one too – I like the idea of Tired, Need Sleep about fastening the loops with stickers. I think that might hold Anna’s attention a little longer, but I am impressed with how long and how pretty your chain got.
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You’re so right something as simple as paper chains can be so educational!
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So cute! I was just thinking about having Abby make one of these!
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I made a paper garland, too – it’s fun, isn’t it? I love that kids can get involved with that project. :-) Looks pretty! Thanks for linking up to Creative Mamas Monday!
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I remember making these chains when I was little. I definitely need to make them this year with my daughters.
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very cute garland. I think we might try making one too.
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