[For Seniors] Enjoy the Hot Summer to the Fullest! A Collection of Easy Craft Ideas
Summer is the season when we start to sweat more and more.
Even indoors, you may sometimes feel the heat.
However, some older adults seem to have a harder time sensing heat.
This time, we’ll introduce some simple, recommended crafts you can do indoors during the hot season, when outdoor activities tend to decrease.
By creating summer-themed pieces, you can help people feel the season, even if it’s become harder to sense it.
After making them, you can take them home or display them at a facility, which can also give a sense of accomplishment!
Crafting involves fine motor movements of the fingertips and thinking through the steps in your head, stimulating the brain and serving as brain training.
Please enjoy making them at your own pace.
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- [For Seniors] Small craft ideas: for yourself and as gifts!
For Seniors: Make the Most of the Hot Summer! Easy Craft Ideas (141–150)
Marbled Fish You Can Make with 100 Yen Store Supplies
Here’s an idea for a wall decoration that uses marbling, a technique that lets you enjoy unexpected patterns.
Marbling offers a different experience from painting, and older adults may also enjoy trying it.
You can now easily get marbling materials at 100-yen shops or online, so it’s more accessible.
Mix marbling solution or liquid laundry starch thoroughly into water, drop in several colors of special marbling ink, and use a bamboo skewer to draw patterns.
Next, float pieces of drawing paper cut into fish shapes on the surface to transfer the design—and you’re done! It creates an artistic wall display, so give it a try.
Shaker-style goldfish from the 100-yen shop
This craft uses paper quilling parts shaped into goldfish and flowers, arranged so they can move inside a case.
By inserting a sheet of paper in the center of the case and attaching pillars to both the front and back, you can enjoy two different worlds—one on each side—which is a fun feature.
It’s important to decide how to spread and combine the coiled paper: make the elements you want to stand out, like goldfish or flowers, larger, and create the surrounding decorations smaller.
By changing the colors of the paper and how you coil it, you can design your own beautiful world inside the case.
Authentic morning glory made with five sheets of origami
Let’s make a beautiful three-dimensional morning glory! You’ll use five sheets of origami to create one bloom, so the difficulty may be a bit high.
Make five parts, then assemble and glue them together.
To prevent the glue from coming off, it’s a good idea to hold the pieces in place with clips or clothespins as you work.
For the finishing touch, slightly fold the rim to give the morning glory a 3D look.
You can also change the size of the sheets to make morning glories in different sizes—give it a try!
SUMMER Garland
This SUMMER garland will instantly brighten up any room with a lively vibe! It’s also great as a wall decoration at home or in senior care facilities, so give it a try.
First, attach a half-cut piece of brown origami paper to the center of a yellow-toned sheet.
Make two identical pieces, accordion-fold each one, and connect them.
While folded, round off both ends with scissors, tie a string at the center, open it into a circle, and secure the two seams with clips or glue—and you’re done! You can also have fun customizing it by adding not only sunflower blooms but also leaves and other summery motifs.
[For Seniors] Make the Most of the Hot Summer! Simple Craft Ideas (151–160)
Dear little star
How about a simple star craft you can make with just two straws? When it comes to star decorations, making them with origami might be the most familiar method.
But stars made from straws have a uniquely dreamy look that’s different from origami, and they’re beautiful—highly recommended.
You weave and layer the ends of the straws together, repeating the process over and over; as the corners multiply, it eventually forms a star shape.
For a fun twist, try using two different colored straws to make it look even more vibrant!
Obon decorations: origami Chinese lantern (hozuki)
Hozuki (Chinese lantern plants) serve as lanterns to guide ancestors home during Obon.
Many older adults may display them at home while thinking of their ancestors.
Let’s make hozuki out of origami and decorate the wall.
Prepare orange origami paper and shape it into a plump, balloon-like 3D form to create a realistic hozuki fruit.
Then make a stem with green-toned origami and combine them to finish! It’s also recommended as a brain-training activity to make together with older adults.
shaved ice
When the summer heat sets in, nothing hits the spot quite like shaved ice.
Its vividly colored syrups make it a great choice for summer wall decorations, too! You can create the ice portion, the bowl, spoon, and fruits by cutting construction paper.
For the syrup, you can paint directly with watercolors, or make a stamp using a piece of kitchen paper and a chopstick to dab on the color and achieve a soft, airy look.
If you’re decorating a wall, arranging items like an ice shaver and little flags alongside the shaved ice can help create the fun atmosphere of a shaved-ice stand.