We love events in our house! Whether it’s a birthday, a guest coming to stay, a recital, or even Grammy’s upcoming retirement, we like to count the days until the event. We decided to make a paper chain countdown, which turned out to be a great counting activity, as well as nice practice using scissors to cut lines. It was also a great lesson for my 5 ½ year old to learn to use the stapler independently– she was thrilled!
Any paper will work, but the kids were excited to use this cardstock I had on hand. It also made some sturdy chains! They chose the colors, and I traced lines on the cardstock, about 1 inch wide.
They began cutting away and when they needed a break, it was on to decorating the strips of paper!
I pulled out stickers, crayons and markers and they had a blast! They made patterns on some using stickers, others they drew pictures, or we wrote messages, depending on what event the chain was for.
We spent time counting the number of links we created. We also measured things around the house. Example: The stool is 12 chain links high, the rug is 26 chain links long.
This chain was a birthday countdown chain and having it at the foot of my daughter’s bed was so much fun as we prepared for her birthday. She didn’t need to ask how many days until her birthday, but each morning would count on her own and then proudly announce the number.
Written by Anne
Uplifting Families
Tuesday 8th of July 2014
Very cute idea. This is a great way to countdown a birthday, Christmas, or other important event. It also helps them learn how to count too.