Skip to content
PlayOwl
A rainbow paper chain of seven linked rings, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and pink, hanging in a gentle curve.
The finished project.

Paper craft

Paper Chain

  • Starter (level 1 of 5)
  • 15 min
  • 6 steps
  • Ages 4–9 (a guide, not a rule)
  • Uses scissors
  • Uses glue
  • Adult help suggested
Start Making Print with template

A paper chain is quick, cheerful and as long as you want to make it. Each strip becomes a ring, and each new ring loops through the one before. Print the strip sheet (or cut your own strips), use a glue stick, and hang your chain across a window, a shelf or a doorway.

Before you start

You need

Decorating (optional): Color or decorate the strips with dots, zigzags or names before you cut them.

No strip sheet, printed? A small piece of clear tape holds a ring closed if the glue is slow to dry. Old magazine pages or wrapping paper make bright strips.

For the grown-up: Help with cutting the long straight lines. An adult can cut the strips ahead of time so young children only glue and link.

Use blunt-tip scissors and cut away from your fingers.

How to place the paper before the first step
Your paper: Print the strip sheet at 100% on white or colored paper. Lay it printed side up.
  • Cut: a thick solid line with scissors.
  • Glue: a yellow area marked "glue".

Step by step

Each step shows what to do (left) and how it should look after (right).

  1. Step 1: cut, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 1 result Result
    Step 1 of 6 Cut Cut along the lines to make seven long strips.
  2. Step 2: glue, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 2 result Result
    Step 2 of 6 Glue Take one strip. Rub glue on the box at one end. (One strip, shown bigger.)
  3. Step 3: curl, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 3 result Result
    Step 3 of 6 Curl Bend the strip into a ring and press the other end onto the glue. Hold it for a few seconds.
  4. Step 4: place, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 4 result Result
    Step 4 of 6 Place Slide the next strip through the ring. (The next strip is beside the ring.)
  5. Step 5: glue, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 5 result Result
    Step 5 of 6 Glue Bend the new strip into a ring too, and glue its ends together. Now the two rings hold each other.
  6. Step 6: put together, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 6 result Result
    Step 6 of 6 Put together Keep going: slide each new strip through the last ring and glue it. Make the chain as long as you like.
A rainbow paper chain of seven linked rings, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and pink, hanging in a gentle curve.

You made it!

Yours may look a little different. That is part of making things by hand.

Print the steps

Template

Print the template at 100% (Actual size), not "Fit to page". Then measure the check bar with a ruler: it must be 5 cm (2 in) long.

  • Seven strips for a paper chain (preview, not to scale) Seven strips for a paper chain · 175 × 200 mm. Each strip is 25 x 200 mm (1 x 8 in). Print at 100% so every ring is the same size.
Print the template

If something goes wrong

A ring pops open.

Overlap the ends more, add a little more glue and hold the join for ten seconds before you add the next strip.

The rings are different sizes.

Always overlap the ends on the glue box only. That keeps every ring the same.

The chain tears when you hang it.

Hang it from both ends with tape, and let the glue dry for a few minutes first.

Helpful hints

  • Use a pattern of colors, like a rainbow, and repeat it.
  • Glue the colored or printed side outward.
  • Make a countdown chain: take off one ring each day.

The traditional paper chain, a widely made decoration. Diagrams drawn for PlayOwl.

  • A 3D paper rainbow on light blue paper: six arches from red on the outside to purple on the inside, with a white paper cloud at each end.

    Paper-Strip Rainbow

    Starter (level 1 of 5) 20 min Ages 4–9 Paper craft Rainbow strip template, printed Scissors Glue Adult help suggested
  • A blue folded greeting card with a red, a yellow and a green paper balloon glued on the front, with drawn strings tied in a bow.

    Folded Greeting Card

    Starter (level 1 of 5) 15 min Ages 4–9 Paper craft Card stock or construction paper Scissors Glue Adult help suggested
  • A paper collage of a tree on light blue paper: a torn brown trunk with two branches, a bushy top of torn green pieces with red apples, crayon grass and a yellow sun.

    Torn-Paper Tree Collage

    Starter (level 1 of 5) 20 min Ages 3–8 Paper craft Sheet of paper for the background No scissors Glue