My name is Missy, artist and guest blogger. I’m back today with another fun craft project to keep you busy this summer. I remember my Mom teaching me to make these paper chain friends when I was about 4 years old. I’d sit at my child-sized table in my play kitchen and create dozens of these friends. Then I’d tape them all together to make huge chains of people holding hands. Here’s how you can make your own paper chain friends.
Supplies:
- White copy paper
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Colored pencils or crayons or markers
Instructions:
- Fold your paper in half hotdog-style, and use your scissors to cut it in half along the fold line.
- With one of these long halves of paper, fold it in half hamburger-style.
- Fold it in half again, and in half again. All the folds parallel to each other.
- Lay your folded paper down with the top-most fold on the left side. On the right side, should be the ends of the paper (with folds between).
- With your pencil, draw the shape of half of a body. Start with a half circle for the head, remember the neck, an arm that crosses all the way over to the other edge of the paper, a torso line, and a leg just like the arm that crosses all the way over to the other edge of the paper. (See diagram)
- Use your scissors to cut out your half body shape. Cut all the way through all the layers of paper you created by folding.
- Unfold the paper.
- Now you have four paper chain friends holding hands! Color the friends using colored pencils, crayons or markers.
Wrap-up:
You can use this technique to create all sorts of paper chain friends. You just have to make sure to draw friends that connect at both sides of the paper when you are drawing. You could make girls in dresses, or monsters with tentacles, or even dogs and cats! Get creative and have fun!
