Lovely childcare

Recommended for 1-year-olds! Craft play ideas and fun crafting techniques

10 years as a kindergarten teacher / elementary school teacher / junior and senior high school teacher / childminderkepiko
Graduated from Kunitachi College of Music, Faculty of Music (now: Department of Music Culture and Education, Early Childhood Music Education major). In elementary school, my homeroom teacher was Jun Kusaba, a game researcher. After graduating from university, I worked as a kindergarten teacher for 10 years and as an after-school childcare instructor for 7 years, then took a position as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I engaged in activities that introduced Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational activities, working with many children. Later, through freelance writing, planning, and editing at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and sharing. Drawing on the perspective cultivated in the field of education and my experience as an editor, I provide practical information with an emphasis on both input and output, mainly in areas related to music and children. My hobbies include instruments, singing, handicrafts, toys, drawing, traditional games, the outdoors, and books. My special skill is spinning-top tricks.
Deputy Editor of RAG MUSICsasashina
Deputy Editor of RAG MUSIC. JFC-certified fact-checker. I’m Sasashina, a mom currently raising an elementary schooler and a preschooler. During my student years at Kyoto College of Science and Technology, I studied a wide range of fields including sound, lighting, and video technology, building a foundation in comprehensive stage production and creative expression. After graduation, I joined a music production company, where I still work, consistently building experience in production and engaging in a variety of music-centered tasks. Currently, I mainly handle articles for children, drawing on what I’ve learned about parenting and what I feel and discover through daily interactions with my kids. I hope my work can be of help to you, even in a small way!

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.

Recommended for 1-year-olds! Craft play ideas and fun crafting techniques (51–60)

Strawberries made with torn-paper collage

[Something to make in spring] Tingly Stick-on Strawberry Torn-Paper Collage 🍓 #preschoolcraft #nurseryteacher #teachingideas #withkids #origami #origamicraft #tornpapercollage #strawberry #easycraft #shorts

Strawberries made with torn-paper collage

Let’s create using our fingertips! Here are some ideas for making strawberries with torn-paper collage.

You’ll need red origami paper, patterned origami paper, a backing sheet, glue or double-sided tape, scissors, flower-shaped cut paper, and strawberry calyx-shaped cut paper.

Use your fingertips to boldly tear the origami! It’s fun that the sound changes depending on how fast you tear.

Even things that seem obvious to adults can deepen the activity when you enjoy children’s discoveries as you work together.

Paste the torn pieces onto the backing sheet, then have a caregiver or teacher cut the sheet into a strawberry shape with scissors to finish.

It’s also great if the children can glue on the strawberry calyx themselves.

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Fluttering butterfly

[Preschool Craft] Spring Craft! Colorful Paper Butterflies Made with Construction Paper

Fluttering butterfly

Don’t you see yellow and white butterflies in the spring? Children chasing the gently fluttering butterflies are so adorable, aren’t they? This craft project is all about those cute butterflies.

Teachers can prepare butterfly-shaped templates by cutting them out, and let the children freely enjoy decorating them with stickers.

They can make them while recalling the butterflies they met outside, or by looking at picture books and field guides—it sounds fun either way! Once finished, you can display the butterflies on the wall, or attach clear thread and hang them so they look like they’re flying around the room.

The children are sure to love it.

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Easter Bunny made of fluffy cotton

[Easter Craft] Fluffy Bunny Made with a Plastic Bag 🐇 #PreschoolCrafts #NurseryTeacher #TeachingIdeas #TeacherTrainee #TeacherLife #WithKids #Easter #EasyCraft #EasterCraft #Bunny

Easter Bunny made of fluffy cotton

A plastic bag that’s often used for crafts.

This time, let’s use this plastic bag to make a bunny that children love! We’ll also use cotton, so before you start, let the kids enjoy the feel of the cotton.

After they’ve explored the texture, pack the cotton into a white plastic bag with handles, and once it’s filled, tie the handles together.

The tied part will look like bunny ears, so you might hear the kids exclaim, “Bunny!” Hide the knot with a ribbon, draw the eyes and mouth, and it’s complete.

It’s fluffy and looks like a little doll.

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ball

A round and cute ball made by weaving paper – DIY How to Make a Paper Ball / Paper Weaving

ball

Here’s an idea for making a ball out of paper.

First, prepare six strips of paper, each 1 cm by 20 cm.

Connect one of the strips into a loop.

Next, layer the remaining five strips one by one to form a star shape.

If you overlap them so that the center forms a pentagon, you’ll get a neat star.

Once layered, temporarily clip the ends of the strips upright, then pass the loop you made earlier through them.

At this point, only thread the strips that were on the bottom during the layering.

Swap the top and bottom positions of the overlapped strips, connect strips of the same color, and you’re done!

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Recommended for 1-year-olds! Craft play ideas and fun crafting techniques (61–70)

Crumpled-origami Karaage Bento

Crumpled Origami: How to Make a Fried Chicken Bento [Easy Craft] Fun at Home

Crumpled-origami Karaage Bento

Speaking of autumn, it’s the excursion season, isn’t it? One of the things we bring during excursion season is a packed lunch, right? So, let’s try making a cute bento that you can create by crumpling and squeezing origami paper.

For the bento box, use any empty box or can you like, and fill it with items you’ve shaped by hand, like cabbage, fried chicken, pickled plum, and rice.

Using your imagination to make your favorite side dishes sounds like a lot of fun.

Making hamburger patties or rolled omelets would look delicious, too.

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Hirakawa Masako (Bōkarisuto: Sakata Mizumako)

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Shirokuma-chan’s Hotcakes

Here’s an introduction to making a craft inspired by the popular children’s picture book, Shirokuma-chan’s Pancakes.

Prepare construction paper, paint, brushes, scissors, and glue.

Cut out and assemble a plate and pancakes from the construction paper ahead of time.

If you prepare plates in several colors, children may enjoy choosing their favorite.

Use paint to represent butter and add color to the pancakes with a brush.

Form butter shapes from cellophane or origami paper, then glue them on top to complete a delicious-looking pancake.

For Shirokuma-chan’s eyes, we recommend using round stickers.

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Dandelions Made with Sponge Stamps

@hoiku.labo
For toddler classes♪ Let’s make dandelions bloom with sponge stamping 🌼Childcare Nursery teacher / Childcare worker Kindergarten Teacher Childcare job openings Childcare Column #NurseryTeacherThings #IWantToConnectWithChildcareWorkers #Nursery School Craft #DaycarePreparation Nursery School Practicum Childcare student Aspiring childcare worker Childcare Job Lab Nursery teacher skills Job change activities #JobChange #nursery_teacher_job_change Nursery teacher employment Production #Craft work Production #Sponge stamp Sponge Stamp Craft Sponge Stamp Production
♪ Original song – Craft ideas for childcare ♪ Nursery Job Labo – Nursery Job Lab | Preschool teachers’ career changes and useful information

Have fun stamping with a pop-pop rhythm! Here are some dandelion craft ideas you can make with sponge stamps.

Many kids don’t like getting their hands dirty, but these sponge stamps are perfect even for them.

Attach a piece of sponge to the tip of a disposable chopstick with a rubber band, soak it in paint, and pop-pop stamp onto construction paper! The dandelion flowers you make from paper will look even more vibrant.

Be sure to try this for your spring crafts!

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