Ideas for games and crafts to enjoy on Children’s Day: a roundup of fun activities
As Children’s Day approaches, many of you may be thinking about doing something special to make it exciting for the kids.
Carp streamers, samurai helmets, and kashiwa-mochi—things that evoke Children’s Day—actually make perfect tools for games and crafts, too.
In this article, we’ll introduce a wide range of game and craft ideas that are perfect for Children’s Day and will have parents and kids, as well as friends, completely absorbed.
They’re all easy to incorporate at home, in daycare, or in kindergarten, so use them as tips to make Children’s Day even more fun and colorful!
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Ideas for Games and Crafts to Enjoy on Children's Day: A Roundup of Fun Activities (41–50)
Cute mini-sized craft
Mini crafts made with easily available materials from 100-yen shops, such as origami paper, straws, and stickers.
You can whip up small items like keychains, mini bags, paper flowers, and wind chimes in no time.
They’re perfect for decorating your room or for small gifts to friends.
With a little creativity and ingenuity, you can make all kinds of accessories, so why not use the ideas introduced here as inspiration to create your own original pieces? Turning your own ideas into tangible form can be a very rewarding experience.
How to Make Dazzling Gemstones
Let’s make a toy that looks like a gemstone when you hold it up to the light.
Prepare two toilet paper rolls and decorate the sides with origami paper.
Cut each roll into four equal rings.
Arrange the rings into circular frames and glue them together, then attach a piece of parchment (cooking) paper to the bottom.
Make a strip of aluminum foil the same height as the frame, form it into a ring, and place it inside the frame.
Finally, stick pieces of transparent origami paper on top in a random collage, and you’re done! Be sure to put several aluminum-foil rings of different sizes into each frame.
That way, you can create multiple gem-like colors within a single frame.
paper sumo
Haven’t we all played this at least once when we were kids? You place paper sumo wrestlers on top of a box, tap the edges of the box to make them move, and see who wins.
There are many ways to make the ring, from simple to elaborate, but even just a plain box works fine.
Since it’s Children’s Day, you could draw carp streamers instead of sumo wrestlers, too!
Matching game
Prepare two copies of each picture and paste them onto cardboard.
At first, place the cards face up and memorize where everything is.
Then turn them over and flip them while recalling where the matching pictures are.
The person who collects the most matching pairs wins.
It’s also fun to draw the pictures yourself, so you might choose Children’s Day-themed designs like carp streamers, samurai helmets, warrior dolls, or irises!
Squeeze, squeeze, kashiwa mochi.
Let’s do a hand play activity to the rhythm! Here are some ideas for “Kashiwa Mochi Gyuu-Gyuu.” What comes to mind when you think of Children’s Day? Things like carp streamers swimming in the sky, cool samurai helmets (kabuto) on display, and kashiwa mochi, which people eat to pray for prosperity and good health.
This time, let’s try a hand play themed around kashiwa mochi! The choreography where you squeeze your hands tightly is adorable and easy to learn, so kids will likely imitate it right away.
Be sure to give it a try!
The carp streamer swallowed it.
Let’s all enjoy a panel theater themed around Children’s Day! I’ll introduce an idea called “What Did the Carp Streamer Suck In?” Set it to a fun rhythm and friendly melody, and let’s see what the carp streamer has swallowed! If you give hints and build in a short time for the kids to imagine the answer, they’ll be eager to join in.
There are also clever tricks and plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, so why not present it at an event? Be sure to give it a try!
Koinobori Matryoshka
This is a cute craft activity that makes use of empty candy boxes in various sizes.
Wrap construction paper around paper cups and decorate them with round stickers to create carp streamer patterns.
By combining large and small paper cups, you can make a nesting structure that stacks like matryoshka dolls.
For the smaller cups, cut the sides and bottom, then tuck the cut edges in to make them compact.
You can stack or line up the finished carp streamers and play with your child.
They’re also great as decorations for Children’s Day, and you can fill them with sweets to give as gifts.
