Remember back when you were a little kid in school and you made those paper chains to countdown for Christmas? Well, I do. It was so fun to tear off a link of the chain each day in anticipation of Christmas, and then counting down how many days until Santa Claus would come. Sometimes I even got a little too excited and would rip off more than one. Then even though my chain may have said there were only 5 days left, it really was 6 or 7.
I decided this would be a great craft for my kids to do. I am normally not one to do crafts because I can be a {bit} controlling. It takes almost super human strength for me to sit back and let my kids do their thing. Its one of my major faults. If point A should connect to point B, I like for that to happen....not point A to point B,C, and/or D even though that is just letting my kids be creative.
I got out the paper and cut the strips myself and put them in a pattern so I had some control, but I gave them their own glue sticks (even Ryder, the 2 year old!) and let them get to work.
Ryder really could only put the glue on the strips and I had to link the chains for him, but he was in heaven! He created his countdown in true Ryder fashion. It was fast, a little all over the place, and of course without an ounce of patience he would shout as I put the link together, "Nuh-er one!" Meaning another one. If I ever dared try to guide him, he would get angry with me and say, "No! I do it!"
Brody could glue his links and put them together all by himself. He worked at his countdown just typical to his personality as well. Meticulous, patient, and long. Ryder was finished way ahead of Brody.
Once they were finished each boy had their Christmas countdown hung up on their door. Each day, the boys remind me that they need to cut a link off and then afterwards we count how many days are left. I think we'll make a chain every year now.
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