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[April Crafts] Useful for childcare! Spring craft ideas for 1-year-olds

[April Crafts] Useful for childcare! Spring craft ideas for 1-year-olds

Last updated:2026/3/9

[April Crafts] Useful for childcare! Spring craft ideas for 1-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 for 10 years as a kindergarten teacher and for 7 years as an after-school childcare instructor, then took a post as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I also engaged in activities that shared Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational play, working with many children. Afterwards, through freelance writing, planning, and editing work at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and conveying ideas. Leveraging the perspective cultivated in educational settings and my experience as an editor, I aim to deliver practical information—focusing on fields related to music and children—that values both input and output. Hobbies include instruments, singing, handcrafts, toys, drawing, traditional play, the outdoors, books, DIY, and crafts. Special skill: spinning-top tricks.
9 years of experience as a nursery school teacherShibata Risa
I am an active nursery school teacher with 9 years of experience. After graduating from university, I worked at a daycare center. The time I spent happily with children—playing piano, singing songs, and doing finger-play—are priceless memories to me. Currently, while raising three children of my own, I work at an after-school day service, engaging with children and providing individualized developmental support. Drawing on my diverse experiences as a childcare worker and as a mother, I hope to express and convey my thoughts through writing.

Warm spring is a fun season for children, too! Here, we’re sharing craft ideas you can enjoy together with one-year-olds.

Tearing and sticking to make colorful flowers helps develop fine motor skills! For parts that are hard for one-year-olds, have an adult join in and get creative.

If you decorate with lots of colors, you’re sure to see big smiles from the kids! While exploring colors and shapes, they can really feel the spring season.

Let’s all make things together and create lots of wonderful pieces! Get excited and make new spring memories.

[April Crafts] Useful for childcare! Spring craft ideas for 1-year-olds (1–10)

Spring strawberries made of flower paper

[3D Toy] Perfect for pretend play! Easy strawberry craft even toddlers can make 🍓 [Spring Crafts]

Spring strawberries made of flower paper

Roll pink and red flower paper into six balls and pack them into a clear plastic bag so they form three tiers from the bottom up.

Tie the bag opening with a rubber band and trim off the excess, then attach a calyx made from construction paper using double-sided tape.

Finally, stick round dot stickers all over as seeds, and you’re done! Adults should handle the step of tying with the rubber band and cutting out the calyx from construction paper.

Hang the strawberries on the wall and enjoy strawberry picking with the children.

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Fun with tissue paper! Crinkle-crinkle play

https://www.instagram.com/reels/DSTP6VCk_tc/

This is a dynamic, fun activity using colorful tissue paper.

Just crumpling or rolling the tissue paper lets you enjoy its soft texture.

If you spray it with water, the colors bleed onto your hands so you can play with color as if it were paint! Press your colored hands onto drawing paper to make lovely patterns.

The accidental colors and shapes are fascinating, and kids will be completely absorbed.

It’s a perfect spring activity full of excitement, letting children freely express themselves while enjoying the sensations and changes in color.

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Stamps are fun! Cherry blossom tree

https://www.instagram.com/reels/DHkqO4oRleC/

This craft is perfect for spring: making a cherry blossom tree.

Inflate a plastic bag with air, dab it with paint, and stamp it onto drawing paper.

Because the shape changes a little with each stamp, kids can enjoy the excitement of wondering, “What kind of cherry blossoms will bloom?” It requires no complicated prep and easily captivates children.

Use each child’s handprint to create the tree trunk.

While feeling the arrival of spring, why not have everyone joyfully make cherry blossoms together? It also makes a lovely seasonal wall decoration.

It will spread that happy “I did it!” feeling among the children.

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Perfect for walls! A butterfly craft that makes paint play fun

https://www.instagram.com/reels/DVUbcWwk2yl/

Cut an A4 sheet of drawing paper into the shape of a butterfly, then apply paint on just one side.

Once you’re ready, fold it in half and lift the wing—your design will have transferred beautifully to the other side! You can also enjoy the excitement of seeing what pattern appears the moment you open it.

After that, attach the wings to another A4 sheet for the background, and stick a photo of your child in the center.

You’ll have a one-of-a-kind, adorable butterfly! It will look very spring-like on a wall display and become a wonderful, memorable piece.

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stroll bag

https://www.instagram.com/p/CbCjYOtNeBH/

Warm, comfortable spring weather is perfect for going on walks! Hang a handmade bag around your neck and head out together.

Cut a milk carton, shape it into a bag with a lid, then cover the outside with construction paper or origami paper and attach a ribbon to finish your original bag.

Decorate the sides of the bag freely with stickers or markers.

With a bag you made yourself, a walk becomes an even more exciting event! You can collect leaves, nuts, and other finds, and it’s fun to show each other what you gathered when you return to preschool or kindergarten.

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Various kinds of rapeseed flowers

https://www.instagram.com/p/Co7GLsEJgLR/

Rape blossoms are cute with their small yellow flowers.

How about incorporating them into your crafts in various ways? Prepare fluffy yellow construction paper shaped like the whole flower, and try different techniques for the little blossoms: stamp them with a stamper, use finger stamping, apply round stickers, make torn-paper collages, or crumple tissue paper and glue it on—there are many ways to express the look.

Crumpled tissue paper adds a three-dimensional feel, and with finger stamping you can try using various warm colors, too.

They’re perfect for wall decorations.

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Bunny eggs & carrot handprints and footprints

https://www.instagram.com/p/CohanELP1YU/

If you’re making a cute bunny egg, be sure to add its favorite carrots too! Make the carrots using children’s handprints and footprints.

Paint their hands and feet, stamp them onto construction paper, and once dry, cut around the prints.

Use the handprint as the carrot top and the footprint as the carrot, then combine them to complete it.

For the bunny egg, cut construction paper into an egg shape, draw patterns, and attach bunny ear pieces.

Let children decorate freely in ways that suit them—stickers, crayon drawings, or finger painting with paint.

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