It’s March 2020 and we’re in the midst of something strange. Something unnerving. Something very hard to understand. The buzzword for the year 2020 is “unprecedented”.

The experience of coping with COVID-19 is changing the way we live our lives, and we are making it up as we go along. We are navigating a world that seems new to us. If you’re feeling anxious or overwhelmed rest assured that you’re not alone. This is very much a shared experience. We are facing this together.

It’s seems so ironic that in a time when we, as a global community, have never been more interconnected by technology and travel that we are now being asked to disconnect. To physically separate ourselves. To isolate.

But humans are inventive. We are creative. We are problem solvers, and so to get through these challenging months we will find new ways to connect, and we will re-visit old ways to occupy ourselves and our children while we isolate.

When pondering a simple craft activity for this blog, Paper Doll Chains came to mind. With just a few folds and some simple snips a sheet of paper becomes a group of people holding hands - they feel to me like a sweet reminder of the very connectedness we’re missing.

Paper doll chains really are ‘old school’ - they’re a low-tech activity that can be made easily by you with your children using materials you have at home. Have you made them before? Do you remember how to make them? Here’s how…

1. Find some paper – use an A4 sheet or whatever you have on hand. It can be printed or blank, an old piece of artwork from kinder or childcare or even a page from a magazine or catalogue.

2. Fold the paper – an A4 page can be folded into thirds to make a chain of 3 dolls. Takeaway menus and brochures are often already neatly folded into thirds for you.
   Then fold the the third into half again (see my photos below).
   Note: if you don’t have an A4 page use whatever paper you can find, experiment and adjust your folding to suit the size of paper.

3. Draw half a figure onto the front section, making sure that at least the arms extend to the paper’s edge. See my diagram below for some character ideas. My favourite paper doll is drawn in a way that creates a heart-shaped space between each person. Look carefully at the pics attached to see how that one’s done.

4. Cut along the outline. Depending on the age and scissor skills of your child you might enlist them to cut out the dolls, while for younger ones the cutting job is yours.

5. Carefully unfold the dolls to make a chain of paper people. Then they can be decorated and personalised with whatever materials you have on hand… textas, pencils, paint or collage. Encourage your child to draw onto them to show individual people, and watch them come alive.

Use the paper doll chain to start a conversation.

Ask “Who have you made?”
Is it parents with a child? Grandparents? Siblings? Is it a string of kindergarten friends? Is it the 3 little pigs?

Use them to let loved ones know that you feel connected to them.

Take a photo of your chain and send it to those you are unable to visit. Pop them in an envelope and post them.

Use them to brighten up your home.

Make lots! Use tape to connect a few trios of dolls together, then hang them on your wall or display in your front window.

These are simple shapes, with real heart. In such unprecedented and complicated times it may be the very simple things that touch us most x