The Twelve Days of Craft-mas: Day Three

On the third day of craft-mas, i made this for my tree…

a paper chain!

Today’s craft is by far the simplest of them all and is great to do with kids! The writers of Demorest’s Family Magazine (1890) seem to agree, as they’ve shared the directions for this craft under the “Kindergarten Work and Play for the Home” section (1). These directions say to use “gilt or silver papers” (1), but I thought that I would be a bit more frugal and use some of the many paper scraps accumulating in the Dalnavert office space (fig. 1)

Fig. 1. The overflowing scrap bin in the Dalnavert office space.

Difficulty: Easy

Time: ~20 minutes

What you will need

• Scrap paper (or new paper if you have a specific look you’re going for!)

• Scissors

• Glue stick

Instructions

Cut your paper into 1”-2” strands.

Take a strand and rub glue onto one end of the side you wish to be the inside.

Overlap the glued end with the outside of the other end to form a loop. 

Take the next strand of paper and slip it through the loop of the last strand.

Depending on what your paper looks like, you can get creative with the pattern! I chose to alternate between strands with dark colours and strands with light colours. 

Once again, rub glue onto the inside end of the new strand and glue it to the other end. 

Continue until you run out of paper.

Now your paper chain is ready to hang from your tree, doorway, or anywhere else you would like!

Fig. 2. My lovely paper chain on my chaos tree! Whoops, I mean Christmas tree!

What i enjoyed

This craft is SUPER duper easy and fun. Plus, it’s a great use of scrap paper that would otherwise end up in the recycling bin!

what i found difficult

Honestly, with this craft, everything was super simple. No complaints!

Feel free to get creative with your paper chains, and if you feel like sharing your creations, reach out to us on Facebook or Instagram @dalnavertmuseum !

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Sources

1. Hennessey, Kate H. “Kindergarten Work and Play for the Home”, Demorest's Family Magazine, Vol. 27, No. 2, December 1890, p. 103.