A few years ago, my(Jennifer) son asked me “How long is summer, Mommy?” The poor child was shocked to find out that, at the end of preschool, he had to wait an entire summer for kindergarten to start. These days, he’s thrilled to be separated from the beginning of school by a long summer. It’s tricky for kids to understand how long summer vacation really is. Summer has a way of distorting time for all of us!
His original question began an end of school tradition in our family. Each year we make a paper chain to help us visualize just how long summer really is. It helps us lean into summer!
Stretching Out Summer
To make your own summer paper chain, you need…
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construction paper
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scissors
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stapler
Start by cutting your construction paper into strips. We always go a little color code crazy on our chain. For our family, blue = no plans, orange = VBS, red= family vacation, yellow = baseball, and green = camping. I love the color code because it means I don’t have to answer the “how long until we…” questions!
Next, (this is the only tricky part) determine how many days you actually have left until school starts. Lay out the correct number of strips using colors to represent your family’s plans.
Finally, interlock the paper strips using your stapler to create a chain.
Color code it!
I hope your family enjoys ripping off each day of summer as much as we do!
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I love that its color coded! Fantastic idea.
I am going to add this to my craft list this week.
What fun!!! I love it!