![[Childcare] Playful craft ideas to enjoy with 5-year-olds](https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/Bto_z4DiHOs/maxresdefault.webp)
[Childcare] Playful craft ideas to enjoy with 5-year-olds
I want to enjoy crafts with a five-year-old, but they get bored with flat, two-dimensional projects…
Does that sound familiar?
Here are some craft ideas perfect for five-year-olds, whose thinking skills and ability to work on tasks are really blossoming—plus, they double as toys you can play with.
Enjoy the crafting process, and then try playing with the toys you made, both indoors and outdoors.
It’s also fine to lend and borrow toys with friends.
Kids tend to cherish toys they made themselves, so they’ll likely play with them carefully.
Teachers, why not make and play together too?
[Childcare] Playful craft ideas to enjoy with 5-year-olds (1–10)
Fishing game
It’s a fishing game using handmade fish and fishing rods! Prepare crabs and turtles made by covering yogurt cups with construction paper, fish made by stuffing crumpled paper into plastic bags, and jellyfish made by cutting slits into toilet paper rolls, and attach magnets in spots that aren’t easily visible on the surface.
Stick a string to a chopstick and attach a magnet to the other end to complete your fishing rod! Arrange the sea creatures on blue paper or a plastic sheet and enjoy the feeling of going fishing.
Let’s make a sugoroku (board) game
This is a handmade sugoroku board game that combines prompts the children came up with.
Write each prompt on a card and stick it onto the board.
Using words or drawings, you can create a unique, original sugoroku.
Arrange the cards on the board, glue them down, and connect each card with lines—then it’s complete! With unique prompts on each space, such as “sing a song,” “jump,” “rock-paper-scissors with the teacher,” or “do an impression,” this original sugoroku will make time at the preschool lively and fun.
windmill
This is a pinwheel you can enjoy by spinning it with your hand or taking it outside in the wind.
Cut construction paper into ring shapes and connect four rings to make the pinwheel.
Make small cuts at the end of a straw and spread them open, then attach the pinwheel to finish! Besides this method, you can also enjoy making pinwheels by folding origami, or by cutting slits into paper cups or paper plates.
It might be fun to try various designs and compare which pinwheel spins the best.
Paper cup kendama
This is a handmade kendama made by connecting paper cups.
Attach colored construction paper to the sides of the paper cups, and decorate freely with pens, crayons, stickers, or washi tape.
Next, attach a crumpled ball of paper to one end of a string, and fix the other end to the bottom of one paper cup.
Join the bottoms of the two cups together and secure them with tape, and your kendama is complete! If the ball keeps missing because you’re swinging too hard, practice with the ball placed inside the cup and make small up-and-down motions—this will help you adjust your strength.
And when it goes in, be sure to celebrate together wholeheartedly!
Animals walking with paper cups
These are animal paper cups that are super cute when they toddle along.
Cut two slits on opposite sides of the rim of a paper cup and fold the cut sections outward.
Attach a rubber band to a used battery, hook it onto the folded parts, and secure it with tape.
Twist the battery around and place the cup upside down—now you’ve got a toddling cup that walks! Finish it by gluing colored paper to the sides, adding ears, and drawing eyes and a mouth.
It’s so adorable you’ll want to make all kinds of animals.
Wavy 3D butterfly with fluttering wings
The wings sway gently, making it look like a real butterfly is flying.
As March brings warmer weather, it seems like something you could enjoy taking outside to play.
Prepare two pieces of colored construction paper measuring 28 cm wide by 3.5 cm tall, and a sheet with a butterfly drawing that is 9 cm across at the center.
Use a paint-dipped plastic bottle cap to stamp patterns, then stick them onto the butterfly’s backing.
It’s best to attach them with the awareness of making the wings three-dimensional.
Add antennae with a pipe cleaner, and it’s complete.
Use your favorite colors of paper and paint to create your own original butterfly.
Flying butterfly toy
How about making a flying butterfly craft that’s fun both to create and to play with afterward? You can just picture the children gleefully jumping around as they watch it move up and down.
Prepare thick paper or cardboard, cut it into a butterfly shape, then glue on colored paper, add patterns, and attach a pipe cleaner to finish the butterfly.
On the back, glue two small pieces of straw and thread twine through them.
Tie straws to both ends of the twine, and you’re done.
Hook the twine that comes out from the top of the butterfly onto a pushpin or similar, and when you move both ends of the twine… the butterfly starts to move! It’s a perfect craft for spring—give it a try.