This is my first craft post so I wanted it about something that I do ALL the time with my kids! I don't know about you but my son is ALWAYS asking "When are we going...?" or "How many days till...?" The paper chain will help your child get a sense of time so they wont always have to rely on you!!!
It is a visual way for children to count down days! This could be used for EVERYTHING!!!! This is our chain right now, obviously counting down the days to Halloween. However, we have some other special things going on before that, like my Daughter will be 3 on the 22nd, so for that link in the chain we used pink paper and wrote on it "Kiki turns 3!"
This is kind of like two crafts in one! The halloween pumpkin patch poster is lots of fun too! All you do is get a long piece of white paper and watercolors. You or your children can paint big orange circles and stems above them in any color. After it dries, let your kids make up the faces on the pumpkins, we used a fine point sharpie. This poster was made last year and I couldn't throw it away because the faces on the pumpkins turned out so cute, drawn by my then 4 year old son! So for the past two years we have integrated this poster into our Halloween countdown paper chain.
Here is a close up of one of the links. I'm sure most of you know how to make a paper chain but for those of you who haven't it is just a strip of colored paper which is stapled, taped, or glued together. so each link will equal a day, counting down to your special event. This could also be used as a counting activity on a daily basis. Have your child remove a link in the morning and then count together how many days are left! If your child is over three, it is also a great opportunity for fine motor development. Buy some child friendly scissors and have them help you cut the long paper strips!
Let the countdown begin!!!
Those faces are reeeeally good for a 4-year old!
ReplyDeleteI know!!! I couldn't believe how cute it turned out!!! I had to save it! =]
ReplyDeletethis is great! We always do this for Christmas (and sometimes up till before thanksgiving, and sometimes till Bailey's b-day). When Reese was born, we made a Christmas chain with Red and Green, then a Pink Loop, the day she was scheduled to be born. We also did one for days before he started Kindergarten.
ReplyDeleteBrian, we do the chain for everything!!! There is hardly a time when we don't have one up! It's kind of like our visual calendar.... We change that loop colors for special events.... And I write things on the loops.... When I rip off the loop that morning we read what is happening that day. brenden really needs it! He has a lot going on and if I didn't have on up he would be asking me everyday when something is happening. Now that he is in school, he is always asking, "how many more days of school do I have left this week?"
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