How to Make a Chain for Your Christmas Tree with the Kids

All kids like making crafts and especially decorations for holidays. It keeps them busy and it is also a good learning process for them. It also makes them feel good to know they helped you and it makes them feel even better to see that you show off their work by hanging it up. There are quite a few kinds of Christmas chains you can make for your tree but this one is the cheapest and is easy for kids. You might have all the supplies at home already.

All you are going to need is construction paper, staples, stapler, a ruler and scissors. Standard construction paper is 9 inches by 12 inches and this is the size paper I used, you can really use any size though. Hold the paper so the dimensions are 12 inches high by 9 inches wide. Place a ruler along the bottom of the page and make a mark at every half inch. You are going to be cutting half inch strips. This will give you 18 strips of paper that are 12 inches long. Cut the strips in half once so your strips are now a half inch by 6 inches. Each piece of construction paper should give you 36 strips. Depending on the size of your tree; you should need 6 to 8 pieces of paper cut into strips. This year we did each color in the package, I call it our crayola tree, but you can pick and choose the colors you would like to use.

After getting all of your strips cut, you will begin to assemble the chain. Take a strip and make a circle with it bringing both ends together. Staple both ends together. Take a strip of your next color and make a circle bringing the ends together. Only this time you will want to put the second strip into the circle of the first chain before stapling both ends together. Keep repeating the chain links until you have the desired length for the chain to fit your tree.

Have your kids help by having them pick the colors of the chain, helping you cut the strips, or if they are old enough they can help by stapling the chain links together. If your child is not old enough to cut the strips or use a stapler, have them help pick out the colors and hand you the strips as you build the chain. Once the chain is made have the kids help you drape it on the tree. They will be proud of the chain they helped you make.

I have been making decorations for the tree for a few years now. This is the kind of chain we decided to make this year. This is the first time I made it out of paper and it turned out to be a great experiment. You can also use ribbon if you choose instead of construction paper, but it is a little harder for younger kids to work with ribbon.