How to Make a Chain of Hearts

Use colored paper to give your paper heart chain more character.

Making a chain of paper hearts can be a fun and easy craft for kids. It doesn't have to be limited to the young, however. These chains can also serve as the perfect decoration for Valentine's Day, a romantic dinner or a variety of other events. Until you learn how to make them, these chains look complicated -- as if someone individually cut out each heart and then somehow stuck them together. The truth, however, is that you don't need to go to nearly that much work to achieve a chain of hearts.

Things You'll Need

• Paper
• Sharp scissors
• Pencil

Instructions

1. Lay a sheet of paper down on a flat surface. You can use a full sheet if you wish, or a strip if you prefer. The paper must be at least as tall as the hearts you wish to create, and wide enough that you can fold it several times.

2. Fold one side of the paper over. This fold should be half as wide as you wish your hearts to be. For example, if you wish each heart to be approximately 2 inches wide, fold over 1 inch of paper.

3. Turn the piece of paper over, and then fold the folded section again. Because you turned the paper over, this new fold -- while still only an inch wide -- should be in the opposite direction. Continue folding the paper back and forth like this until you reach the other side. If there is any excess paper sticking out beyond the folded section, trim it off with scissors.

4. Draw the shape of half a heart on the folded paper. The edge of the heart should point toward the cut edge of the folded paper, while the side of the half heart that will form the center of the full heart should point toward the folded edge of the folded paper. Both sides of the half heart must touch the edges of the folded paper. If they do not, you will end up with loose hearts instead of a heart chain. Your half heart can be tall and slender or fat and wide, as long as both sides touch the edges of the folded paper.

5. Cut along the lines you drew. Allow the edge of the paper to serve as the edge of the heart on both sides. You should now have a half-heart-shaped piece of folded paper.

6. Unfold the paper to reveal your chain of hearts.

Tips & Warnings

• Use colored paper to create red or pink hearts. Alternatively, use white paper and decorate it in any way you wish. You can add glitter, for example, or write a different person's name on each heart.

References

• Origami Resource Center: Heart Paper Chain
• Kabubble; Heart Chain Paper Craft Project; Suzy Smith

Resources

• Origami Resource Center: Origami: the Art of Paper Folding