[For Seniors] Handmade calendar for December: motifs that make you feel excited and joyful
When it comes to making December calendars, Christmas motifs are by far the most popular! Decorating with origami Santa Clauses, reindeer, poinsettias, and more gives your creation a wonderfully seasonal feel.
Did you know that Christmas decorations actually have lovely origins and stories behind them? One of the charms of making calendars is being able to share these fun tales with older adults as you work together.
This time, we’re introducing simple handmade calendar ideas that anyone can enjoy.
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[For Seniors] Handmade Calendar for December: Motifs That Spark Joy and Excitement (21–30)
Christmas bell
One of the major events in December is Christmas.
Aren’t the streets and interiors adorned with luxurious and festive Christmas decorations? Christmas bells are an essential item for holiday decor.
Try making Christmas bells out of origami or construction paper and create a calendar.
If you add items like a Christmas wreath or a Christmas tree to the calendar as well, you’ll have a calendar perfect for December.
Besides a calendar, handmade Christmas bells also look lovely displayed on the wall.
Santa Claus and Presents
The gold coins that Saint Nicholas threw into poor households happened to land in stockings that were drying by the fireplace.
Thanks to those coins, everyone became happy.
From this anecdote came the custom of putting Christmas presents in stockings.
It’s a lovely story, isn’t it? Did you also receive presents in your stockings when you were children? Let’s use Santa and presents as decorations for the calendar.
Presents can be box-shaped, a big sack, or of course the stocking type—anything is OK! It would be great to create a colorful calendar!
Christmas tree made with origami
Why are fir trees used for Christmas trees? It varies by country, but in Germany it’s believed that little spirits dwell in fir trees, and that decorating them with food and presents brings good luck.
In Japan, do many places substitute cedar trees? Let’s try folding a Christmas tree with origami and make a calendar that features it.
The folding method is surprisingly simple, so please share it with everyone.
You can also use pipe cleaners or beads to decorate the tree!
Christmas tree made with an eraser stamp
Eraser stamps are a lot of fun, even if you feel a little sorry for the eraser itself.
A similar activity might be the rubber block prints we made in elementary school art class, right? I remember carving the zodiac animals to use on New Year’s cards.
If you’re good with your hands, making a calendar with eraser prints would be great, too.
Try carving Christmas-related motifs like fir trees, stars, presents, and snow.
Your sense of style will show in how you combine them and arrange the colors.
And please be very careful with the carving tools!
House of Chimneys
There’s also the story that Santa Claus comes down the chimney at Christmas, isn’t there? It’s exciting to imagine him arriving at night in a sleigh pulled by reindeer.
The chimney is what Santa uses to deliver presents to the children inside the house.
Let’s try making a house with a chimney out of origami and add it to a calendar.
You can make both the house and the chimney from a single sheet of origami paper.
The folding method is simple, so it may be easy for seniors to make, too.
By changing the folding steps, you can create versions with different chimney positions and house colors.
Try making a piece that suits the preferences of the seniors.
Simple Santa Claus
Christmas has become firmly established in Japan.
In fact, until 1947, December 25 was a national holiday because it was the anniversary of Emperor Taishō’s death.
Seniors will remember that.
Speaking of Christmas, Santa Claus comes to mind.
With just red triangular paper, you can make something that already looks like Santa, so even if you’re not particularly skilled at crafts, don’t worry.
Use cotton for the beard and beige-colored paper for the face.
Giving him a cane or something might be stylish! A hat and scarf are great too—even a slightly dapper Santa is OK.
Cyclamen
Cyclamen blossoms face downward, yet they also resemble blazing flames—this duality makes them such a captivating flower.
How about crafting cyclamen flowers with origami and decorating for Christmas? With a wide range of colors, choosing your favorites—beyond the classic red, white, and pink—will make things even more festive.
As you fold the flower portion, it takes on a crane-like shape partway through, so the steps will feel familiar.
Then just make the stem and leaves, attach them, and you’re done! The dimensional shape is lovely, making it perfect as a calendar motif.
