This activity has been at the top of our family’s Advent Activity Calendar since my children were very small. Now that they are bigger, they still enjoy creating these chains, in fact we made our chains just last night!  It is a fun activity that turns into a festive decoration for the dining area, den, or even their own bedrooms. All that’s required is about 4 sheets of colorful construction paper for each chain, a roll of tape, scissors, and willing helpers.  Here is a list of simple steps.

• Choose your colors.  We chose 4 colors for our 2 chains:  red/green, blue/white.

• Cut strips of paper (I cut the short way).  An adult should do this step unless your children are old enough to cut safely.  Strips should be about 1 1/2 inches.

• To make tape handling cleaner and easier, I gather a cup for each person making the chain, cut small pieces of tape, and stick the tape around the rim of a cup.  This way, a child only needs to pull each piece off when they have a chain link ready.  I replenish as the pieces begin to run low.

• Divide up the strips so that each person has at least 2 different colors.  Be sure to reserve a couple of strips so that you can combine 2 chains to make 1 long one, if desired.

• Put on your favorite holiday CD or tune your Pandora station to some holiday music.  Have some herbal tea or hot cocoa.  Make it an event.

• Hang your chain with thumbtacks over window or door frames.

When was the last time you made a holiday chain?   Take a photo of your family making a paper chain and post them on ListPlanIt’s Facebook page.