Count Down To Christmas Paper Chain

Six, years ago, God gave us a special gift on Christmas Eve. So, while most children are looking forward to Christmas, my daughter is counting down the days until her birthday. Since she is an extremely eager learner with an inner drive to know absolutely everything about anything that interests her, she began to develop a keen interest in calendars this past summer as she sought to understand exactly how long it was until her special day. (Last year she learned to count backwards during the weeks leading up to her birthday.) As I watched her frequent trips to the wall where my calendar was hanging, I remembered the Christmas countdown chains I used to make as a child.

Time can be a difficult concept for children to grasp, and creating a way for them to visualize "how many days" makes waiting a little easier. It is fun to watch the chain shorten as they remove a link each day and they might be surprised how quickly the time passes. Paper chains also make nice decorations and are super easy to make.

Take a sheet of colored construction paper (we used red and green) and fold it in half so that the fold line goes across the width of the paper.

Fold in half two more times. Open the paper back up and cut along the fold lines. You should have eight strips. Do this with as many pieces of paper as needed to make the right number of strips. You should have one strip for every day leading up to (but not including) Christmas Day.

Now take one strip and make it into a circle with the ends slightly overlapped and staple the ends together. (You can also use glue for a neater look, but it takes longer and is more difficult for young children.) Place a second strip through the first one, form it into a circle, and repeat the stapling process. Repeat with the remaining strips to form a long paper chain.

Take an additional piece of construction paper and fold it in quarters. Unfold, and cut out one of the quarters. This will form the top of your countdown and represents Christmas Day. Use crayons, markers, scraps of construction paper, or other craft supplies to decorate this piece. Staple the chain to it and hang on the wall or fridge. Allow the child to remove one loop from the chain each day until Christmas.

The Lilliput Station Online Christmas Party is being held from now through December 19th. Visit the Online Christmas Party for more Christmas ideas; and if you have a fun Christmas craft, recipe, or tradition that you've blogged about, please consider adding it.