Paper craft · Starter · about 15 minutes
Paper Chain
Uses scissors · Uses glue · Adult help suggested
- 2 × Strip sheet, printed, 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 in (Letter) or A4)
- 14 × Or paper strips you cut yourself, 25 x 200 mm (1 x 8 in)
- Blunt-tip scissors
- Glue stick
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.
Safety: Use blunt-tip scissors and cut away from your fingers.
Blue dashes: valley fold (toward you). Pink dash-dot: mountain fold (away from you). Thick line with scissors: cut. Yellow: glue.
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Start. Print the strip sheet at 100% on white or colored paper. Lay it printed side up.
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1. Cut: Cut along the lines to make seven long strips.
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2. Glue: Take one strip. Rub glue on the box at one end.
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3. Curl: Bend the strip into a ring and press the other end onto the glue. Hold it for a few seconds.
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4. Place: Slide the next strip through the ring.
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5. Glue: Bend the new strip into a ring too, and glue its ends together. Now the two rings hold each other.
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6. Put together: Keep going: slide each new strip through the last ring and glue it. Make the chain as long as you like.
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.