You may remember cutting a chain of paper dolls from your childhood, but may not remember the exact procedure. These directions will help stir your memory and get you crafting.
A few months back, I wrote about “Crafts for Kids with Scrap Fabric”. These paper dolls are a great extension or variation to that project.
And before I get to the tutorial part of this post, I wanted to make an announcement. At Craft Lake City this Saturday, I will be hosting a craft booth where kids can make these paper doll chains. Come on by!
DIY Paper Doll Chain
Things You’ll Need:
• Construction paper or card-stock (old file folders also work great)
• Pen or pencil
• Scissors and glue
• Doll Template
• Craft supplies such as scrap fabric, markers, crayons, yarn, etc.
Instructions:
1. Fold paper into an accordion with equal parts. (Note: 9×12 construction paper gets folded in half, 12×18 construction paper gets folded in thirds, old file folders get folded in fourths, etc)
2. Take the accordion folded paper, and using the doll template, draw a doll shape on to the top panel of the paper. Make sure to touch side to side with arms/hands and additional points if desired, such as the skirt and/or feet.
3. Cut along the drawn outline, making sure not to cut into the linking arms/hands.
4. Open the chain of paper dolls and color or decorate the dolls with scrap fabric, yarn, crayons, markers, etc.
5. Consider drawing non-traditional forms, such as animals or aliens, for additional creativity.
Happy crafting!
Where did you get your templates from? I would like to use something like them for a preschool art project. I just can’t think what to call them.
I bought a package of the paper doll templates at Michaels. They have a great selection, including a boy, girl, horse, bunny, flower, etc. They are made of cardboard, and so easily traceable. Good luck finding them–I looked online and was unsuccessful.