Christmas Countdown Paper Chains {Free Printables}

We love making our annual Christmas countdown paper chain craft so much so that we made two this year – one from the traditional red and green construction paper and another using our new free printable. If you don’t have any construction paper on hand, or want to try out something a little bit different, check out this fun Christmas countdown paper chain craft for the kids this year. To download these paper chains for free, please continue reading below.

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What You’ll Need

• Christmas paper chains (Sign up for our newsletter here to gain access to our library of printables which includes this activity sheet.) Already a subscriber? Login to our resource library to download them.
• Printer paper
• Scissors
• Glue stick

Related: Christmas Gift Tags {Free Printable}

What to Do

Begin by downloading and printing the Christmas countdown paper chain printable. We recently signed up for the HP Instant Ink program and are loving it! They offer several different plans (such as $4.99 for 100 pages a month) and will automatically send you new cartridges before you even need them. We are now saving SO MUCH money (and time) on ink and I don’t feel guilty printing out new printables and playdough mats each day. If you want to check it out, ordering through our link here will give you one free month of service. You can use just about any HP printer but we’ve been using this compact one and absolutely love it! The color is gorgeous and matches my decor (we’ll call that a win!) and the size is smaller than any printer I’ve ever owned which is great for small spaces (or living room/dining room offices). Between HP Instant Ink and our compact printer, my printing life truly has become so much easier to print all these fun playdough mats and activity sheets we’ve been making lately.

Related: Fingerprint Christmas Tree Craft {Simple!}

Once you’ve printed your Christmas paper chains, cut them out.

Now it’s time to glue!

Begin by gluing the end of one paper chain and press it together to make a link.

Then, add another strip of paper through the link you just glued and glue it closed just as you did with the first link.

Continue adding strips until you have the desired number of links on your Christmas countdown chain. You could also make this for decoration, or make a second for decoration and use one as a countdown and the other as Christmas decor.

Related: Christmas tree scented slime

Does this activity sound like something you’d like to try? If so, please share it on social media. Or, pin it to save for later.

Looking for more simple + fun activities? Be sure to check out our other creative ideas:

• Christmas Christmas lights banner {printable}
• Christmas donut counting cards {free printables}
• Christmas stockings color sorting {free printable} 
• Arctic playdough recipe + play activities
• Mini Christmas wreaths {simple DIY gift idea}
• Scented Christmas tree playdough recipe for kids

What else would you like to see from The Art Kit? Let us know in the comment section below.

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