[For Seniors] Goldfish Crafts: Recommended Project Ideas for Summer
Works featuring goldfish are refreshing items that soothe the viewer’s heart.
In many senior care facilities, indoor recreational activities tend to increase when summer is in full swing.
Since these are daily activities, we want participants to enjoy them without falling into a rut.
Goldfish seen at festivals are one of the iconic symbols of summer.
Let’s use goldfish-themed crafts that evoke the season to exercise the fingers while also helping to prevent dementia! We’ve gathered ideas ranging from classic projects made with origami and construction paper to ones using craft bands and felt—perfect for stimulating the fingertips.
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[For Seniors] Goldfish Crafts: Recommended Summer Project Ideas (1–10)
Goldfish fan, pastel art
Pastel art lets you create pieces with soft colors and gentle touches.
Shave stick pastels into powder and use your fingers to draw.
This time, let’s draw on a summer item: a hand fan (uchiwa).
You can also find uchiwa suitable for pastel art at 100-yen shops, so give them a try.
How about coloring the entire fan a light blue or blue and drawing goldfish? The combination of an uchiwa and goldfish gives a cool, refreshing feel to the piece.
Older adults may also find finger-drawing art novel and enjoyable to create.
A folding screen ornament with goldfish motifs
Here’s an introduction to a goldfish folding screen decoration that you can display in your room once it’s finished.
We’ll make goldfish out of origami.
You can fold the goldfish, or simply cut them out in a goldfish shape—either works.
Using origami paper with traditional Japanese patterns or other designs will make it look even nicer.
If you make slits and creases in the construction paper that will become the folding screen, you can create a more design-forward piece.
Attach the goldfish to the screen and it’s complete.
Just placing it in your room will let you feel a refreshing coolness from the goldfish.
goldfish wind chime
On hot summer days, hearing the tinkling sound of wind chimes—“chirin, chirin”—can make the heat feel more bearable.
Many older adults may also associate wind chimes with the image of summer.
With that in mind, here’s a perfect summer craft: a goldfish wind chime.
The goldfish will be made with origami.
Because the goldfish has a three-dimensional finish, attach it to the bell portion of the wind chime and add a tanzaku (paper strip).
If you also attach a small bell, you’ll hear a gentle sound every time the wind blows.
Older adults may find it novel that you can make a wind chime out of origami.
[For Seniors] Goldfish Crafts: Recommended Summer Project Ideas (11–20)
Goldfish made by folding felt
Introducing a gentle craft idea for seniors that you can enjoy with a summery feel: “Folded Felt Goldfish.” Using soft, easy-to-handle felt as if it were origami, fold and shape it into a cute goldfish.
The thickness makes it easy to hold, so it’s suitable even for those who find fine motor tasks challenging.
Place the finished goldfish on light blue felt, and it will look as if it’s swimming in cool water.
Its refreshing appearance makes it delightful to display.
It’s a relaxing, seasonal recreation you can enjoy without strain.
Goldfish postcard made of fabric
The “fabric goldfish postcard,” which captures the feeling of summer, is a gentle craft idea that’s also recommended for older adults.
By cutting red or orange fabric into small pieces and layering them, you can create the shape of the goldfish and the pattern of its scales.
Using chirimen crepe or yukata fabric gives it a cool, elegant look.
The detailed work of cutting and pasting fabric engages finger movements and can help stimulate cognitive function.
You can display the finished piece, send it as a postcard to someone, and enjoy the interaction it inspires—making this a highly recommended craft.
Simple summer craft: goldfish wind chime
The summer-perfect craft “Goldfish Wind Chime” is a cool, refreshing activity that even seniors can enjoy.
Cut out the bottom of a round cheese box to make a frame, attach a card case from a 100-yen shop to the inside, and add clear stones or small artificial flowers to create a goldfish-bowl-like, translucent finish.
Adding goldfish decorative stickers instantly brings a summery vibe.
With many steps that use the hands and fingers, the fingertip stimulation can activate the brain and may help prevent cognitive decline.
It’s a highly seasonal piece, perfect for indoor summer recreation.
Simple Fishing Rod and Goldfish
Why not make a fishing rod and goldfish to enjoy a summer-themed game? For the goldfish, crumple tissue paper into a ball, then wrap it with more tissue paper and shape it like a goldfish.
Add eyes, insert a clip at the mouth, and glue it in place to finish.
For the fishing rod, bundle four tightly rolled paper sticks together, and attach a short piece of thin straw to one of them.
Thread a string with a hook (the clip’s prong) through the straw and cut it to your preferred length.
Add a stopper by threading on beads, and it’s done.
Let the line hang, hook the clip on the goldfish, and pull the string to reel it in.
