Take-Home Craft Ideas for Winter: Perfect for Day Services for Seniors
Many people enjoy doing crafts at nursing homes and day service centers, don’t they?
This time, we’re introducing craft ideas for seniors to make in winter that they can take home from day service!
We’ve gathered easy-to-prepare projects, including those that use recycled materials and supplies from 100-yen shops.
When it comes to crafts, aside from large decorations to hang on the wall, most items can be taken home.
More intricate projects that require fine motor skills may take several days to complete, but the sense of accomplishment and joy when they’re finished is exceptional.
Of course, there are also cute crafts that can be made in a single day, so please use these ideas as a reference for craft activities at nursing homes and day service centers.
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- [For Seniors] Small craft ideas: for yourself and as gifts!
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- [For Seniors] DIY Strap Craft Ideas. Great as Gifts, Too!
[For Seniors] Take-Home Craft Ideas for Day Services to Make in Winter (21–30)
Oni decorations made of felt
How about some cute ogre decorations that blend nicely with your interior? Use a plate about 18 cm in diameter and some thick paper to make a cone-shaped base.
Apply hot glue to felt and stick it onto the base to create the body and horns.
The hair is made with yarn and a pencil.
Make the ogre’s pants and drum from felt, and finish by making the eyes and mouth with beads and thread.
In addition to red and blue ogres, using colorful options like green or yellow will brighten up the walls of elderly care facilities.
They’re small and don’t take up much space, so they’re also great for decorating a room.
Handmade ogre decoration made of yarn
These are cute, perfectly round oni decorations for Setsubun.
Gather yarn, felt, and egg-shaped foam pieces.
You can buy everything at a 100-yen shop, which makes it nice and easy.
Apply craft glue to the foam piece and start wrapping it with yarn.
The key is to lay the yarn flat so it doesn’t create ridges.
Press it down with your hand from time to time to ensure it adheres firmly.
After making the pants section with yellow yarn, wrap the body with red yarn.
Create the hair using yarns of different thicknesses, then attach the face and horns to finish.
Even though they’re small, these adorable oni have a strong presence and will brighten up the atmosphere of any room.
Tsumami-zaiku: little oni and holly sardines
Speaking of Setsubun, we think of demons (oni) and holly sardines, right? Holly sardines have traditionally been displayed as talismans on Setsubun to keep evil spirits out of the home.
Bean-throwing is performed to drive away oni and pray for good health.
How about making oni and holly sardines perfect for Setsubun decorations using tsumami zaiku (pinching craft)? The process of cutting and gluing chirimen fabric and decorating the tiny faces exercises the fingers and stimulates the brain.
What kind of face should we make? What should they hold? Conversations with those around you are sure to liven up.
It’s a project that lets you enjoy the seasonal feeling of Setsubun while also giving you the sense of accomplishment when it’s finished.
Setsubun wreath made with yarn
In February, the first big event is Setsubun! To get ready for it, how about making a cute, cozy wreath using yarn? First, crumple about three tissues into a ball.
Wrap the ball with yarn in your favorite color to make a sphere.
If you want to make red or blue oni (ogres), use red or blue yarn; if you want to represent beans, use beige-toned yarn.
For the oni spheres, attach felt pieces to create the face and hair.
Make about eight spheres in the same way, arrange them in a wreath shape as you like, and glue them together with a hot glue gun.
Add decorations like plum blossoms if you like, attach a string to hang it on the wall, and you’re done.
Pochi-bukuro (small decorative envelope for gifting money)
A perfect craft for giving New Year’s money to your grandchild: a “pochi-bukuro” (small gift envelope).
Prepare origami paper with a pattern you like and make a small envelope.
Fold the left and right edges of the paper toward the center, overlap them slightly, and glue where they meet.
Fold the bottom and the flap, trimming off any excess with scissors.
If you cut a slight diagonal notch in the flap, it will look more like a real envelope.
Try making your own cute, original pochi-bukuro using origami with pretty patterns or your grandchild’s favorite characters!
New Year’s decoration of Mount Fuji
Imagine a hanging scroll and let’s make a New Year’s decoration featuring Mt.
Fuji.
First, cover the entire surface of the cardboard base with reversible crepe paper, then attach washi-pattern origami to the top and bottom.
Cut a Mt.
Fuji shape from the reversible crepe paper, create the snowcap with white drawing paper, and layer and glue it on.
Cut a circle from gold origami and glue it onto the base, then attach the Mt.
Fuji on top.
Finally, decorate with rabbit, flower, and ribbon parts, attach a hanging string, and you’re done.
Hanging decorations of pine, bamboo, and plum
This is a hanging ornament that represents pine, bamboo, and plum using strips of construction paper.
First, roll the paper from the edge to form a double ring and glue it to secure.
After making several of these parts, reshape them into teardrops or elongated ovals, then combine them to depict pine, bamboo, and plum.
Make some red-and-white circular parts as well, and arrange everything on the base in a balanced way.
A single hanging ornament can look a bit lonely, so it’s recommended to make several and display them side by side.
Be sure to vary the arrangement so the pine, bamboo, and plum elements don’t overlap in the same positions.