Simple yet amazing crafts: craft ideas that elementary school students will want to make

toy pasta

Pasta has the image of being an easy, accessible food you can enjoy in many places, and choosing the flavor is part of the fun.

This piece is about using parts that evoke pasta to recreate various variations as mascots.

Since pasta comes in many shapes, let’s carefully plan decorations that match each type of pasta.

It’s important to imagine what ingredients would make it delicious as you create, and to do the detailed work needed to faithfully reproduce those elements.

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kappamaki

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How to make a watermelon bar squishy

[Low-Rebound] How to Make a Watermelon Bar Squishy 🍉 Squeeze Toy 🏝 Summer Vacation Craft [Handmade Squishy]

Looks just like a real ice pop!? Juicy to the eye and satisfyingly squishy to the touch, the “Watermelon Bar Squishy” is an adorable handmade craft perfect for summer.

It’s an easy yet highly polished project, especially recommended for upper-grade girls.

Start with a sponge from the 100-yen shop and cut it into the shape of a watermelon ice bar.

Carefully paint a red–green–white gradient with acrylic paints.

Recreate the seeds realistically using black paint or clay.

A wooden stick works perfectly for the ice pop handle.

People are sure to say, “That looks delicious!” It’s cute to look at and fun to touch—give this delightful summer science/craft project a try!

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Nanaka

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Corner clip rice balls and sandwiches

Let’s make onigiri rice balls and sandwiches using corner clips for holding papers! For the onigiri, stick double-sided tape on the clip, then attach white, long-pile yarn to it.

Next, glue a small square of black felt on top to act as the seaweed, and it’s done! It’s also fun to tuck pieces of felt that look like fillings into the gap of the clip.

For the sandwich, prepare white felt cut into a triangle like bread, and felt cut into shapes for ham and lettuce.

Stick them together with double-sided tape in the order of fillings, then bread, and you’re finished! You can customize both the onigiri and sandwiches by changing the colors of felt and the types of “fillings” you cut out.

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SAKI

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Torokira Keychain

Easy craft: glossy jelly keychains! Simple handmade project with 100-yen shop materials. Perfect for at-home time, summer vacation, and free craft or science projects. Great for beginners too. [100-yen DIY]

Do you know those cute accessories with a little doll floating in a tiny plastic bag? You often see them as prizes at festival raffles, but actually, you can make them yourself.

You only need items mostly from a 100-yen shop—like a soft card holder, beads and glitter, liquid laundry starch, and masking tape—so it’s a budget-friendly craft project.

Add cutouts of your favorite character or idol to the decorations, and it instantly becomes merch for your fave! You’ll want to make them for everyone!

Well-spinning paper cup top

[Playable Craft] How to Make a Simple, Well-Spinning Top (Paper Cup & Plastic Bottle Cap) [Easy Crafting with Recycled Materials] Fun at Home

This is a spinning top made with a paper cup that spins well and is fun to watch because of its colorful look.

All you need are a paper cup and two plastic bottle caps.

First, cut slits into the paper cup and spread them out like propeller blades, then attach an axle made by combining the two caps.

That’s enough to complete the basic shape, but it’s recommended to decorate the “propellers” with an eye toward how it will look while spinning.

The impression changes depending on whether you spread the propellers before decorating or decorate first and then cut the slits, so try out various patterns.

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kappamaki

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Creeper made from a milk carton

[Elementary School Summer Crafts & Independent Research] Make a Creeper from a Milk Carton—with a Head-Popping Mechanism!

Minecraft is a hugely popular game among kids.

Creepers are characters that appear in Minecraft and explode when they get close to the player.

Let’s make a craft that captures that feature using an empty milk carton.

Besides a milk carton, prepare green plastic bottle caps, bamboo skewers, and oil-based clay as well.

Cut the milk carton and wrap it with green vinyl tape to make the Creeper’s body.

Then cut the body section further and attach parts.

Use another milk carton for the head along with vinyl string or rubber bands to create a mechanism that “explodes.” Because kids use fine motor skills to build it, it helps improve their concentration.

Once it’s finished and displayed at school, you can almost hear friends saying, “Wow, that’s awesome!”

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Nakajima Junko

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Transparent cute coaster

I tried making cute clear coasters! Perfect for a parent-child craft project over summer vacation, too!

Summer is supposed to be hot, but don’t you feel like the summers lately are getting hotter every year? When it’s hot, we crave cold drinks—so why not make coasters to brighten up your drink time and turn it into a summer science project? You’ll be using two-part resin and other chemicals, so be sure to have an adult or an older sibling help you when handling them.

Aside from working with the chemicals, it’s basically just decorating coasters, so even small children can join in! We’re looking forward to seeing your cool, refreshing coasters!