Recommended Age: 3y+
Level of Parent Involvement: Low, once modelled
Prerequisites
- Can use a glue-stick effectively
Materials
- Construction paper, cut into strips
- Glue stick
Steps
- Show your child how to place one strip of construction paper flat on the table.
- Open the glue-stick and apply glue to one end of the strip.
- Show your child how to stick the other end of the strip to the glued end by creating a circle, like a bracelet.
- Take another strip of construction paper, lay it flat on the table and apply glue to one end.
- Show your child how to thread the second strip through the first circle and stick the other end of the second strip to the glued end, creating two interlocking circles and the start of your paper chain.
- Invite your child to continue making the paper chain for as long as she wants to.
Variations
- Show your child how to make a pattern with the coloured strips of construction paper. E.g. “Red, blue, green. Red, blue, green. What comes next?”
- Older children that have well developed cutting skills, can cut the construction paper into strips themselves. Provide them with pieces of construction paper with ruled lines and a pair of scissors.
- Good quality wrapping paper can be used as an alternative to construction paper.
- Older children that can count with confidence and write numbers, can number their strips of construction paper and see how many long they can make their paper chain.
