DIY Modern Paper Dolls

Post by MJ from Pars Caeli

Hello, friends! This is MJ from Pars Caeli popping in to share an easy and modern take on an old favorite childhood craft. Remember the joy of a fresh pack of construction paper? I can still get the smell of the dyed paper in my nose when I think of it! My paper pack could never have enough red and pink because – Valentine’s Day!!! Oh, the paper hearts and strings of paper dolls that I taped to my bedroom walls (sorry, Mom, about all the tears in the wallpaper!).

Let’s bring back the simple joy of paper crafting with our kids and the surprise of the accordion fold. My children and I created these strings of modern paper dolls using items we already had around the house. Grab some paper, scissors, pencil, and glue stick. Also, do you have any old Christmas photo cards around? Either of your family or others? Bring those along, too!

1. First, place your doll template on the edge of the paper as shown. Mark the width of the pattern; this is how wide your fold should be. Now, accordion fold. Fold back and forth with the same width until the entire paper is folded.
2. Trace the pattern. On a letter-sized paper, you should have room to put two of these, one above the other. Next, you may need to jump in and assist your child, depending on their skill level. Cut out the doll out, making sure that the hands are on the fold and can connect the accordion. We added a heart in the center for this special Valentine edition.
3. Unfold! We created a pattern that has a thicker leg so that a skirt or shorts can still be trimmed out from the original design, should you want to create more original looks for each doll like we did.
4. Next up, grab old Christmas cards or other photos that you’re willing to cut for this project. We had extra photo cards that we wanted to use so I carefully cut out each person’s head for my son’s garland. This is also a fun way to add friend photos to your Valentine’s decor and bring them into the celebrations.
5. Glue the new heads onto the dolls and personalize. My son had one distinct way that he wanted to create and my daughter had a different so we created a garland for both of them.

Keep in mind that you will only be able to fit 3-4 dolls in each strand. Consider connecting garland with heart strings, fun striped straws, or simply continue the look of a long garland by gluing one strand to another.

These garlands bring a smile and might even inspire some imaginative play with your littles! Enjoy a fun Valentine’s Day, friends, and dig into the red and pink construction paper.

xoxo, MJ

MJ is a graphic and product designer, wife, and proud momma to three. She founded Pars Caeli (meaning a piece of heaven), a delightful blog and shop, to add more creative to the everyday. MJ worked with our team to bring her lunchbox jokes to life in our product Lunchtime LOL Notes, now available at The Land of Nod to bring on a case of the giggles!