How to Make a Paper Chain Skeleton Craft
Create a spooky friend with this fun and easy Paper Chain Skeleton Craft! 💀 Kids will love turning simple paper strips into a silly skeleton that’s perfect for Halloween, Day of the Dead, or classroom decorating.
Materials
- Skeleton template
- White cardstock or white paper (for printing the template)
- White paper strips (for the paper chain body, arms, and legs)
- Scissors
- Glue stick or tape
Instructions
- Print and Cut Out the Skeleton Pieces: Start by printing out the free skeleton template at the end of this post! You'll get a skull head, a ribcage chest piece, two arm and hand pieces, and two leg and foot pieces. Carefully cut each one out — older kids can do this themselves, and little ones might need a helping hand.Cut Your Paper Strips: Next, cut a bunch of strips of white paper. You'll need quite a few — these strips are going to become the looped chain that forms your skeleton's body, arms, and legs, so don't be shy about cutting extras! We cut ours all from plain white copy paper, which worked perfectly. Make Your First Two Loops: Take one strip of paper and form it into a loop, securing the ends together with glue or tape. Then thread a second strip through that first loop before closing it up the same way. Those first two interlocked loops are the start of your skeleton's chain — you're on your way!Keep Building the Chain: Continue adding strips one at a time, threading each new strip through the last loop before sealing it closed. Keep building outward in both directions to form the torso, then branch out to create the arms and legs. We just kept going until the chain felt the right length for each body part — there's no exact science to it! Finish the Full Chain Body: Keep looping and linking until you are satisfied with your skeleton and it has a complete chain body with two arms and two legs. We did one at the top, 5 across for the arms, 2 down with 2 loops handing off of each side for the legs. The best part about this craft is that there isn't a 'right' way to put it together — if your skeleton is tall and lanky or short and silly, that's what makes it perfectly unique! Assemble Your Skeleton: Now it's time to put your skeleton together! Attach the printed skull head to the top of the chain body, and glue or tape the hand and foot cutouts to the ends of the arms and legs. We attached ours with a little dab of glue, but tape works great too. Have fun and enjoy your Halloween skeleton!