Paper chains are a really fun way to reinforce what the kids are learning and a great visual reminder to have around the house. Shelly explains more in this guest blog post...
Paper Chain Ideas
By Shelly
I have always liked having visual reminders of what the kids are learning pinned up around the house. I think when they see something on a regular basis it helps to reinforce what they have been learning (could be number bonds, spellings, a science chart, anything really). And I have also always been a fan of paper chains. Since the kids first started using their scissors we started cutting out strips for paper chains – I love this for a scissor activity, as they just need to cut straight lines and even if their straight lines are not that straight to begin with you can normally use it in a paper chain – then they get that satisfaction of seeing something they cut hanging up
Cutting out number word cards
So I thought I would give some examples of how we have combined my love for visual aids together with some paper chains.
Number Paper Chains
When the kids were very little we actually had a number line paper chain hanging up but these days we have changed to a number word paper chain. If the kids are learning about Odd and Even numbers paper chains work really well as all the odd numbers would be facing one direction and all the even would be facing the other. (We did an Odd and Even paper chain a few years ago and alternated the colours – so even numbers were on the red links and odd numbers were on the blue links).
Our number words paper chain
Number words up to 20 paper chain
For younger kids you could always add some stickers next to each word to represent the number. Or you could add some additional paper chains after each word to represent the number.
Number chain with extra links
Days of the Week
This is something we are actively working on at the moment with my youngest (the spellings). We used the Days of the Week Word Cards and then alternated them with a plain link – we did this so all the words would be clear when we hung it up on the notice board.
Days of the Week paper chain
Months of the Year
Our initial idea was to do the exact same thing for months of the year but then I spotted these Months of the Year colouring bookmarks and I thought they looked fun. For each month of the year there are 4 different options so the kids can choose which style they like.
Colouring in the black and white Months of the Year bookmarks
The only thing with months of the year bookmarks is that a number of the words are longer and take up the whole strip of paper, leaving no room for joining. So we tried a different paper chain idea – my daughter pinned each month of the year to the back of a plain paper chain and they stuck that up onto the notice board. It worked quite effectively.
Months of the year paper chain idea
But then we got talking about months of the year being a never-ending circle that just continues and the kids wanted to change the word cards into a circle – we came up with this – which I think is actually really cool.
Months of the year colouring bookmarks displayed in a circle on the notice board
Also we decided to add the number of days in each month at the bottom of each Month of the Year strip. 30 days in June, 31 days in July and so on.
Colour Words
OK, I know this isn't a paper chain - but we were thinking in the same way when we did this! Our last set of spelling words was the colour words. Whenever we do anything linked to colours the kids always want to link it back to the colour wheel. So this time we ordered the colour words in a pile – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. Then we punched a hole in the top and the bottom of the pile of words and attached a paper fastener at end end. As long as the words are in order once you fan out the strips of paper you will get a colour wheel ball.
Making a colour word sphere with Activity Village colour word cards
This is a guest post from Shelly. Shelly is a home educating parent of two children aged 6 and 9. She blogs at ofamily learning together where she shares ideas on the different learning activities that they do including lots of hand-on Maths, arts and crafts and anything else that is part of their home educating lifestyle.
You can find more guest posts by Shelly, and a list of all our guest posts, here.
