How to make chain paper dolls

Its the school holidays or its bad weather outdoors? What do you do with the kids? You do some fun and easy crafts. You can make some chain paper dolls. These are dolls cut of paper that look like they are holding hands.

I wanted to do some chain paper dolls with the kids but I didn't know how. I knew it was easy but I didn't know how to cut so that the dolls look like they are holding hands. I did some googling and was pleased to find this site with adorable chain paper dolls.

Based on the idea from that site, we came up with our very own chain paper dolls. This craft is very, very easy and the pictures are self explanatory.

These are what you need to make your chain paper dolls.

First, you fold a length of paper like a fan or accordian, then you draw in the doll making sure the hands touch the sides, then you cut out the doll but remember not to cut out the sides so they are joined together making them look like they are holding hands. You can make as many dolls as you like by the number of folds you make on the paper.

Tadaa! This batch of paper dolls is for my boy. After cutting, we drew the faces with color pencils and painted the trousers with paint or water colors. Then we cut and paste an old shorts of his so that the t-shirts look more real and 3-D like. Hahaha. After that we drew in the decorations for the T-shirt using marker pens.


Tadaa! This batch of cute ballerina cut out dolls are for my girl. This time we painted the tops and used staplers to clip on the little tutus or ballerina skirts. Our paper doll supplies or materials came from left over christmas hamper ribbons. I'm a hoarder so I kept these silly items to use for crafts.

Tips: Your dolls need not be so elaborate if you don't have the time. Just fold, cut and get the kids to decorate the dolls by drawing in with color pencils. It will be just as much fun and easier to do for the younger kids. Older kids can do the entire craft themselves, whereas younger ones may need some help with the folding and cutting.