[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] Introducing Fun Crafts Made with Plastic Bottle Caps
- [For Seniors] Sunflower Crafts: A Collection of Ideas to Brighten Up Your Indoor Space
- [For Care Facilities] Let’s Enjoy the Summer! A Collection of Wall Decoration Ideas
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- [For Seniors] Styrofoam Craft Ideas: Simple and Recommended
- [For Senior Daycare Centers] Ideas for Summer Take-Home Crafts
- [For Seniors] Easy Craft Ideas to Make at Day Service in July
- [For Seniors] August Wall Decoration Idea Collection
- [For Seniors] Small craft ideas: for yourself and as gifts!
[For Seniors] Make the Most of the Hot Summer! A Collection of Easy Craft Ideas (181–190)
Felt coaster
Let’s try making coasters out of felt that you can use during snack time at senior facilities or day service centers! If you cut the felt into your favorite shapes—like circles or squares—and combine them with other pieces of felt, you’ll end up with stylish coasters.
Even without a sewing machine, you can easily attach the parts using a glue gun or fabric glue.
You can mix different colors of felt to make colorful coasters, or keep the palette limited for a chic finish.
They also make great gifts, so give it a try!
Photo frame
Let’s make a photo frame using popsicle sticks.
The work is more delicate and hands-on than you might expect, so it could be good for finger exercises and brain training.
You can easily glue the sticks together with a hot glue gun.
Since it sets quickly and gets very hot, be careful when using it.
Once assembled, decorate it with origami paper, beads, and more to create your very own photo stand.
It would make a nice gift, too.
An Aquarium Made from Plastic Bottle Crafts
Here’s a perfect summer-at-home craft: an aquarium made from a plastic bottle.
The gently swaying fish are sure to soothe you, so give it a try! First, cut the plastic bottle below the halfway point, then press the cut edge against a hot iron to round it off.
Use an awl to make two holes in the bottle cap.
Next, draw your favorite fish on shrink plastic, punch a hole at the top, and bake it in a toaster to shrink it.
Then thread twine through the fish, and also through the bottle and cap, and secure it in place.
For the finishing touches, decorate a cardboard base with small stones and pipe cleaners to create a seascape, then place the bottle over it and glue it down—that’s it! It brings a refreshing vibe to hot summer days, and it’s also great as room decor.
Mini shuriken
Mini throwing stars that are perfect as gifts for your grandkids or as recreational play equipment.
Combine two ice cream sticks in an X shape to make them.
If you use the sticks as they are, the throwing star will be a bit large, so you can cut them to about half size if you prefer.
You can launch the finished star by placing it on your palm and flicking it with your finger.
To avoid mixing them up with others, it’s recommended to color them or write your name on them.
When using them in a group activity, try competing to see whose can fly the farthest.
Tanabata decorations
July 7th is Tanabata.
Even as adults, many of us still get excited about it.
This time, let’s make Tanabata decorations using construction paper.
First, we’ll recreate the Milky Way.
Make slits in a sheet of blue construction paper with scissors, and the Milky Way is done! You can also recreate a star-filled sky with origami: just cut yellow origami paper into star shapes.
Attach them to the Milky Way, and you’ll have a splendid Milky Way display.
Even if you can’t see it because of rain, enjoy Tanabata at home while gazing at your very own Milky Way.
Four types of Tanabata decorations
Tanabata, also affectionately known among young people as “Summer Valentine’s Day.” No matter how old you are, writing your wishes on tanzaku paper strips is always delightful.
How about making a big Tanabata bamboo decoration together this year? The streamers topped with cute pom-poms are easier to make than you might think.
For the pom-pom part, make flowers out of tissue paper; for the tentacle-like strips, take accordion-folded paper and snip it with scissors.
Then just fluff them up and assemble them softly.
For the UFO-like disc ornament, use a toilet paper roll.
Making it with shiny colored paper gives it a glamorous look.
It would be wonderful if everyone at your facility or day service could create a large bamboo decoration together.
A simple star with paper cutting
On the night of Tanabata, when Orihime and Hikoboshi are said to meet just once a year, the real stars of the show are, of course, the stars themselves.
Let’s try making various star decorations out of paper, an essential part of Tanabata ornaments.
Simply cutting colored paper into star shapes is plenty, but if you draw lines across a pentagon like diagonals and fold along them slightly, you’ll get a three-dimensional star.
Using sparkly paper will double the glittery effect.
You can also cut a star-shaped window out of a paper star to create a translucent-looking ornament.
Try connecting stars of different sizes, arranging them in color gradients, and so on—have everyone share their ideas!