![[For Seniors] Try Making Your Own Kadomatsu! A roundup of ideas using origami, felt, and yarn](https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/QmLf7CeTVpA/maxresdefault.webp)
[For Seniors] Try Making Your Own Kadomatsu! A roundup of ideas using origami, felt, and yarn
As you prepare to welcome the New Year, why not try making a handmade kadomatsu? In this article, we introduce ideas for kadomatsu you can create using various materials such as origami, construction paper, yarn, and felt.
The time spent crafting seasonal decorations while working with your fingers provides stimulating benefits for the brain and naturally encourages conversation with those around you.
There are also unique creations, like edible kadomatsu and mini kadomatsu that can be displayed in a photo frame.
With clever use of items from 100-yen shops, it’s easy to give it a try.
Feel the joy of welcoming the New Year with your own handmade kadomatsu.
[For Seniors] Try Making Your Own Kadomatsu! A Roundup of Ideas Using Origami, Felt, and Yarn (1–10)
Cute kadomatsu made of paper
This is a kadomatsu made with paper cups that instantly gives a bright, festive impression when displayed indoors.
Use construction paper and tissue paper to make pine needles, bamboo, and plum blossoms.
Then assemble the parts by placing them into the paper cup.
If you also decorate the paper cup—the base of the kadomatsu—with washi-patterned origami or construction paper, you’ll create an even more beautiful piece.
As you make it, conversations about the coming New Year are sure to liven up, especially with older adults.
The impressive result, which hardly looks like it’s made of paper, is sure to satisfy seniors as well.
3D origami kadomatsu: easy folding method
With simple folding methods, you can make a kadomatsu craft.
Many older adults are skilled at or enjoy origami.
Because origami uses the fingertips a lot, it stimulates the brain and helps keep it active.
For this reason, it is also used in senior facilities as a recreational activity that can help prevent dementia.
A kadomatsu craft with few complicated folds should be easy for older adults to start.
Since you can make the craft while chatting, it also helps promote communication.
Tabletop kadomatsu
https://www.tiktok.com/@yuumaama2022/video/7176043224207822081Let’s make a tabletop kadomatsu (traditional New Year’s pine decoration) using a milk carton.
We’ll place decorative elements that form the kadomatsu inside pieces cut from the carton.
There are detailed steps such as folding origami or construction paper and cutting short lengths of plastic ribbon.
Because it uses fine motor skills extensively, it can stimulate the brain and may offer brain-training benefits.
It’s also a project that can help improve concentration.
Starting from a simple milk carton and building it up into a splendid kadomatsu is likely to delight older adults as well.
Kadomatsu wall decoration
https://www.tiktok.com/@haruharo_made/video/7310924759892512018When kadomatsu decorations are displayed on the indoor walls, even older adults can feel the arrival of the New Year.
With paper-plate kadomatsu, each person’s creation can easily be hung on the wall.
Create a kadomatsu by attaching construction-paper bamboo, ribbons, and other elements onto a paper plate.
We recommend using a New Year–themed paper plate with a lace doily attached as the backing.
It will result in a festive piece suitable for the New Year.
Since you’re using a paper plate, it can also look like a kadomatsu wreath.
[No-Sew] Handmade Kadomatsu Decoration with Felt
![[No-Sew] Handmade Kadomatsu Decoration with Felt](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/M1N7WajLPm8/sddefault.jpg)
Creations made from felt convey warmth through the nature of the material.
Even a New Year’s decoration like a kadomatsu, which is often associated with the chill of the season, can feel cozy when made from felt.
You might think felt crafts require sewing with needles or a sewing machine, but you can make them without sewing.
Instead of stitching, you attach the felt using a hot glue gun.
While handling a glue gun does require care, it seems accessible for many older adults to participate in making these.
The result is an adorable kadomatsu that would be perfect to display at home, and it would surely be appreciated as a gift for family as well.
Making a Kadomatsu with everyday materials
Let’s collect toilet paper rolls and transform them into a lovely kadomatsu decoration.
Although we usually throw away toilet paper cores, repurposing them turns waste into something eco-friendly.
Cut the toilet paper rolls and cover them with patterned origami paper to create the base of the kadomatsu.
Because the base circle is small, make the bamboo, pine needles, and fan decorations inside on a smaller scale.
This project should be quite enjoyable for people who are good with their hands or who love origami.
If crafting parts like the bamboo is difficult, ask someone nearby to help.
Seniors are likely to enjoy making these adorable, palm-sized kadomatsu too.
Kadomatsu Sand Art
Let’s try making a kadomatsu (New Year’s pine decoration) using sand art with colorful sand.
By layering several colors of sand in a glass, you can create sand art with a uniquely personal style.
The choice of sand colors, as well as the layers and patterns you form with the sand, will enhance the originality of each piece.
It seems like each older adult can finish a creation that reflects their own ideas.
The sand, glass, and kadomatsu decorations used for sand art can all be sourced from items sold at 100-yen shops.
Since many of the materials pose minimal risk of injury, please consider this as a reference for making wonderful kadomatsu together with older adults.