Tear & Thread Cardboard Chain
Steps:
- Adult Prep: Secure a piece of construction paper onto a stable piece of cardboard. Use the hole puncher to create 8 to 10 holes evenly around the edges of the board.
- Give your child strips of sturdy cardboard. Encourage them to use both hands to tear the strips and crumple the pieces into tight, dense balls. Drop the finished balls into the container.
- Pick up one colorful pipe cleaner. Help your child push the stiff pipe cleaner straight through the center of one dense cardboard ball. This creates a ‘loaded pin’.
- Challenge your child to hold the cardboard frame steady with their helper hand. Thread the loaded pin through one punched hole in the frame. Pull the pipe cleaner through.
- Weave the pin back through the next open hole, linking the crumpled cardboard ball to the frame. Repeat this process until all the crumpled pieces create a colorful chain around the border.
Safety Tip:
Constant and direct adult supervision is required. Small pieces of torn cardboard and cut pipe cleaners are small objects and pose a significant choking hazard for children who still place items in their mouths.





