Lovely childcare

[Childcare] Playful craft ideas to enjoy with 5-year-olds

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!

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 (61–70)

Magnet and fabric sticking play

https://www.tiktok.com/@nagoya_kodomo/video/7119471763578244353

It’s fun how they stick with a snap! Here are some ideas for magnet-and-fabric sticking play.

Let’s make fabric toys that even infants can enjoy! You’ll need fabric or felt, magnets, fabric adhesive, needles, and thread.

If you create popular characters or illustrations from picture books with fabric or felt, children will be captivated! Sew magnets into each piece, and they’ll snap together so kids can play over and over.

Please be very careful to prevent accidental swallowing of magnets.

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Climbing ladybug

Easy magnet craft! A climbing ladybug! Recycle plastic wrap and toilet paper cores! #crafts #handmadeToys #summerVacationCrafts #recycledCrafts

Climbing ladybug

Climbing up! Sliding down! A freely moving ladybug is so much fun! Here’s an idea for a climbing ladybug.

For children, ladybugs are familiar insects they see in picture books or on walks, right? This unique idea makes it look like the ladybug is playfully roaming around.

What you’ll need: round magnets, a toilet paper tube, a plastic wrap tube, a half-sphere of Styrofoam, wooden sticks or chopsticks, construction paper, pens, scissors, and double-sided tape.

Give it a try!

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Candy Magnet

How about doing this with your child over spring break? Candy magnets made from plastic bottle caps

Candy Magnet

Let’s make something with plastic bottle caps! Here’s an idea for candy magnets.

How about turning materials you’d normally throw away into cute candy magnets? You’ll need two plastic bottle caps, double-sided tape, masking tape, magnets, fabric scraps, and embroidery thread.

By using leftover fabric from home or school, you can create something with even more sentimental value.

Give it a try with the kids!

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Magnetic Fukuwarai

Magnet Fukuwarai #shorts #children #childcare #crafts #handmade #Fukuwarai #NewYear #kidsToys #How to make children’s toys

Magnetic Fukuwarai

Let’s play with magnet sheets and a whiteboard! Here are some ideas for magnetic Fukuwarai.

Fukuwarai is one of Japan’s traditional games, typically enjoyed during New Year’s celebrations.

It’s a unique game where you place facial parts—eyes, nose, mouth, ears, eyebrows—onto a face in the correct spots while keeping your eyes closed.

This time, let’s make a version using magnet sheets.

What you’ll need: magnet sheets, a whiteboard, a pencil, paper, construction paper, scissors, a craft knife, and double-sided tape.

This should also help solve the common problem of pieces shifting out of place while you play!

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Magnetic matching game

Handmade magnetic matching game! A childcare worker explains how to make a 100-yen shop toy (for 1- and 2-year-olds)

Magnetic matching game

Let’s promote fine motor development by sticking magnets on and pulling them off! Here are some ideas for magnet matching games.

These are handmade toys that even infants can enjoy, so take this opportunity to give them a try.

You’ll need a whiteboard, clear tape, magnetic sheets, colored pens, construction paper, and scissors.

For the designs, you can draw motifs that interest the children, or adapt them to focus on colors or numbers.

A nice bonus is that you can get the materials at a 100-yen shop!

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Unbreakable soap bubble

Unbreakable soap bubbles that spin with a magnet!?

Unbreakable soap bubble

Let me introduce unbreakable soap bubbles.

Prepare wire, ring-shaped magnets, round stickers, prism tape, and a hole punch, then let’s get started.

Attach four strips of prism tape to the magnet so they form a dome, making sure not to cover the hole of the ring magnet.

On the side opposite the magnet, stick on a round sticker to secure it, then punch a hole in the center with the hole punch.

Using shorter pieces of prism tape, make another dome in the same way and add a round sticker as before.

Make one more of the same piece.

Curl the tip of the wire and thread the three pieces onto it from smallest to largest.

Finally, thread the one with the magnet so the magnet ends up on top, and you’re done! It will spin around like a soap bubble.

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Space Travel Game

Crafts: A fun game powered by magnets, “Space Travel Game” #shorts #handmadeToys #crafts

Space Travel Game

Let me introduce a handmade space travel game.

Prepare 10 round magnets, round stickers, straws, and construction paper, and let’s make it together.

For the spaceship, attach a straw to a magnet, stick on a round sticker, and draw a rocket illustration.

Next, create a flight course for the spaceship on a base sheet of construction paper.

Cut black construction paper into circles and glue magnets at the center to make black holes.

Stick several of these black holes along the course, and you’re done.

Pilot the spaceship and try to reach the goal without getting swallowed by the black holes.

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