Recommended for 1-year-olds! Craft play ideas and fun crafting techniques
Creative activities are not only great for developing fine motor skills; they also let children touch a variety of materials, enjoy different textures, and express their own ideas—making them an essential part of healthy growth.
In this article, we’ll introduce craft ideas recommended for one-year-olds.
From projects that use various techniques to ones you can play with after making, it’s packed with fun, sensory-rich ideas.
We’ve gathered lots of activities that one-year-olds can enjoy, like crumpling paper and touching paint with their fingers.
Watch over the children’s expressions and creative gestures, and try making them together!
Because the children’s creations are regarded as works (art pieces), we use the term “seisaku” (制作) in the text to refer to them.
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Recommended for 1-year-olds! Craft play ideas and fun crafting techniques (21–30)
Fun to draw! Snow globe
@tensaikids1031 January craft activity for the 1-year-old class ⛄️Genius Kids ClubNursery teacher / Childcare workerNursery teacher / Childcare workerProductionAspiring childcare workerChildcare Ideas
♬ My Binky – Baby Version – HeyKids Nursery Rhymes
This is a recommended craft activity for infants.
They’re making snow globes.
On circles cut from construction paper, children draw spiral circles with crayons and add shiny round stickers to represent the snow globes.
Showing them a real snow globe before starting can help spark their imagination.
Provide crayons and stickers in various colors and let them freely create their own snow globe worlds.
Crafts that use stickers are also perfect for practicing fine motor skills!
Fun with black construction paper! Making snowmen
https://www.tiktok.com/@hekimen_25/video/7312804209915694354Here’s a craft idea: paint a snowman with white paint on black construction paper, then finish by adding a paper bucket and mittens, plus face stickers.
For the snowman, draw a circular outline and fill it in with paint.
Because it’s surprisingly hard not to paint outside the lines, if infants are doing this activity, it’s better to either prepare pre-painted pieces or have an adult cut a snowman shape from the child’s white-painted paper and glue it onto the background.
If you put double-sided tape on the back of the bucket and mittens, kids can use them like stickers, making them easier for little hands to handle.
Once the snowman is done, use cotton swab stamping to add a snowy landscape in the empty space to complete the project.
Fukuwarai from a one-year-old!
Here are some craft ideas for making Fukuwarai with construction paper.
Just cut out the parts from the paper, glue them together, and draw patterns with a pen to finish.
With a bit of adult help—such as pre-cutting the pieces—even young children can take part.
Put double-sided tape on the facial features and let the kids enjoy sticking them on while playing Fukuwarai.
The classics are Hyottoko and Okame, but a daruma or the zodiac animal of the year also make great motifs.
Enjoy a winter craft session to your heart’s content, with a playful spirit.
A craft spinning top that 1-year-olds can enjoy!
Here’s an idea for making a spinning top that even infants can enjoy.
You’ll need a milk carton, a plastic bottle cap, and round stickers.
First, snip the four corners and open the milk carton into a cross shape.
From the edge of the square base, measure 11 cm and cut all four opened sides at that line.
Next, round off the corners and use a craft knife to make round holes near the top of each side.
Decorate with stickers, then glue a plastic bottle cap to the center, and you’re done! If it’s hard to spin using the cap, try hooking a finger through one of the side holes to spin it.
Let’s roll and make a snowman!
Crumpling tissue paper and sticking on stickers is so much fun! How about making a snowman craft that’s perfect for winter? First, have the children crumple white tissue paper into balls in whatever size they like.
You’ll also use tissue paper torn into strips; if that step is tricky, an adult can prepare it in advance.
Put the crumpled tissue paper and the torn strips together into a clear plastic bag, then shape it into an oval.
Tie the middle with a chenille stem (pipe cleaner) to form a snowman shape.
Use round stickers for the face, make a bucket hat from construction paper, and attach it with double-sided tape.
If you want to hang it, punch a hole in the bucket, and thread a string through.
Make it with paper plates! Cute snowman
This is a snowman craft idea that also lets kids enjoy sticking stickers.
Stack and glue two paper plates vertically to make the base, then finish the snowman using round stickers and parts cut from construction paper.
If infants are doing this activity, it may help to put double-sided tape on the back of the parts to turn them into stickers.
Also, pre-cut the pipe cleaners to use as arms and assist with attaching them using tape.
Changing the colors of the construction paper and stickers will change the snowman’s look, so let the children choose the ones they like.
Let’s make a big Christmas tree!
This is an idea where you put a big Christmas tree made from construction paper on the wall and let the children freely decorate it with ornaments.
Since it’s for infants (0-year-olds), please prepare the ornament bases in advance by cutting them out of construction paper.
Let the children draw on the bases with crayons or stick on stickers to create lovely ornaments.
Once the ornaments are finished, decorate the tree with them! If you prepare bases in a variety of motifs, the tree will look even more festive.