Lovely childcare

[For 3-year-olds] A collection of recommended craft ideas to make in February

10 years as a kindergarten teacher / elementary school teacher / junior and senior high school teacher / childminderkepiko
Graduated from Kunitachi College of Music, Faculty of Music (now: Department of Music Culture and Education, Early Childhood Music Education major). In elementary school, my homeroom teacher was Jun Kusaba, a game researcher. After graduating from university, I worked for 10 years as a kindergarten teacher and for 7 years as an after-school childcare instructor, then took a post as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I also engaged in activities that shared Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational play, working with many children. Afterwards, through freelance writing, planning, and editing work at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and conveying ideas. Leveraging the perspective cultivated in educational settings and my experience as an editor, I aim to deliver practical information—focusing on fields related to music and children—that values both input and output. Hobbies include instruments, singing, handcrafts, toys, drawing, traditional play, the outdoors, books, DIY, and crafts. Special skill: spinning-top tricks.
20 years of experience as a nursery teacher / kindergarten teacherhiyoko sensei
I’m Hiyoko-sensei, a former nursery school teacher from Hyogo Prefecture. Ever since I was five, my dream was to become a childcare worker, and before I knew it, 20 years had passed since I achieved that dream. Through singing and playing with the children, I kept working with the spirit of someone in their twenties, even as I increasingly felt my physical limits year by year (haha). From here on, I’d like to share helpful information carefully and thoughtfully, drawing on my on-site experience.

Many teachers may be wondering what to make for February crafts in early childhood care.

In this article, we’ll introduce February craft ideas perfect for three-year-olds.

From winter-themed creations like snowflakes and snow globes to Valentine’s heart motifs, there are plenty of seasonally inspired ideas.

Children can enjoy fine-motor activities like wrapping yarn and sticking cotton, too.

子どもたちの「やった！」という誇らしげな笑顔を思い浮かべながら計画しましょう—以下のアイデアを参考にしてください！注：本稿では子どもたちの作品を芸術作品として扱うため、「制作」は本文中を通して“artwork/creation”として表記します。

[For 3-year-olds] A collection of recommended craft ideas to make in February (1–10)

Perfectly Round Oni Made with a Marble Rolling Game

https://www.tiktok.com/@shiichan_hoiku_asobi/video/7592578754577288466

Let me share a craft idea for making a cute, round, ball-like oni (ogre).

The fun highlight of this project is the oni’s pants made with marble art! Place a sheet of yellow construction paper in a shallow box, add marbles dipped in black paint, and you’re ready to go.

Have the children tilt the box and roll the marbles however they like.

Once the marble art is finished, cut the paper into a semicircle and glue it to the lower half of the round oni base.

Then use round stickers or pens to draw the face, add hair and horns, and it’s complete!

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Make it with an envelope! Oni (demon) mask/hat

@chooobo2
New for this year! Making an Oni (ogre) headpiece. Using a No. 2 (long) envelope, you can wear it and have fun—perfect for Setsubun. Stamp paint onto the envelope with a water balloon in any colors you like. (Using multiple colors looks beautiful.) For the hair, just crumple up tissue paper and glue it on. Draw the horns and eyes however you like. Note: Once the paint dries, the envelope’s opening can curl. We recommend folding the opening inward and gluing it down. Also, be sure to cut out the oni’s mouth only after the paint has fully dried. If you stamp with paint before it dries or after cutting it out, the envelope can wrinkle easily. Tip: You can adjust the steps to suit ages 2–5. Try it in a way that fits your class and developmental levels!Setsubun craft Demon mask Made in February Setsubun Setsubun Festival
♬ A cute pop song with the sound of bubbles(1563452) – sanusagi

Let’s make an ogre (oni) headpiece using a Kaku-2 size envelope as the base! First, cut along the fold on just one side edge of the envelope.

Once cut, seal the flap, place the envelope horizontally with the cut side facing down, and draw a half-circle where the face opening will be.

Next, fold both corners on the uncut side into triangles and secure them with tape, then color the entire envelope in your favorite color.

After coloring, cut along the half-circle line.

Attach the oni face and horns made from construction paper, as well as the hair parts made by gluing crumpled tissue paper onto a cloud-shaped base.

Finally, punch holes on both sides of the half-circle, thread an elastic cord through, and you’re done!

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Perfect for February! Easy snowman

@shokaaijien
We’ll be making snowmen in February. ⛄️ You can use your favorite colors to make your own snowman, so be sure to give it a try!Tsunashima Shohana Nursery School #Nursery school Nursery teacher / Childcare worker #IWantToConnectWithChildcareWorkers Aspiring childcare worker #NurseryTeacherInTraining Nursery school teacher Production translation #Production Video Made in February February Snowman 3 years old Winter Winter Production The cutest ever #SuperTokimekiPromotionClub
The most supremely cute! – Cho Tokimeki♡Sendenbu

This is a fun snowman craft where the paint bleeds into patterns! Brush water onto the surface of a snowman-shaped piece of construction paper, then dab on your favorite colors of paint.

Once the paint dries, draw the snowman’s face and glue on a paper bucket to finish.

Prepare paints and construction paper in various colors so children can enjoy choosing their colors.

The way the paint bleeds changes depending on how much water you mix with it, so be sure to observe the differences.

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[For 3-year-olds] Recommended craft ideas to make in February (11–20)

Hand-painted oni creation

[Setsubun] Making an Oni with hand painting #Setsubun #February

Hand-painted oni creation

Let’s try painting an oni (demon) face by hand.

Prepare a black construction paper base and paints in any colors you like.

First, put some watered-down paint on your hand and use it to draw the outline of the oni’s face on the base.

The outline can be round or triangular—anything is fine.

Have the children imagine the kind of oni they think of and draw it.

Once the paint dries, glue on the parts you made from construction paper—face, cheeks, horns, and hair—to finish.

Any paint color is okay, but since the base is black, bright colors work well.

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Colorful Oni Made with Balloons

Since Setsubun is coming up, I made an oni (demon) out of balloons.

Colorful Oni Made with Balloons

Here’s an ogre craft idea made by sticking face and horn parts cut from construction paper, plus yarn hair, onto inflated balloons.

Prepare colorful balloons, have an adult inflate them and tie the necks.

After your ogres are finished, you can tie string to the balloon necks and hang them from the ceiling as decorations.

If you treat the hanging ogres like targets, you can enjoy bean-throwing; try making “beans” out of newspaper and have fun.

Use balloons in a variety of colors to express your own unique ogres.

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Fluffy Yarn Valentine

@soramame.sensei
#CapCut Threading (a cord/strap through a hole)Valentine's Day # developmental support (ryōiku)Educational toy
♬ A cute pop song like Valentine Kiss(964024) – TEtoTE_Music

Threading fluffy yarn is so much fun! Here’s a heart-shaped gift craft that’s perfect for 3-year-olds.

First, cut construction paper or cardstock into a heart shape.

If you draw a large heart, it’s a great chance to practice using scissors.

Next, punch holes along the edge of the heart with a hole punch.

Once the holes are made, thread yarn through any hole you like.

It’s done when you randomly lace colorful, thicker yarn through the holes! A radiating pattern looks cute too.

Thicker yarn is easier to thread, so prepare something your child can handle easily.

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Heart sun catcher

[Valentine’s Craft] Making Heart-Shaped Suncatchers ♪

Heart sun catcher

Perfect for Valentine’s Day crafts! Here’s how to make a heart-shaped sun catcher.

You’ll need construction paper, a sheet of printer paper with a heart printed on it, masking tape, and wood glue.

First, cut the outer edges of both the construction paper and the printer paper into a square.

Cut out the white interior of the heart shape.

Next, apply your favorite masking tape to the back side of the printer paper.

Spread wood glue over the taped side and stick the two sheets of paper together.

Cut along the outer heart outline with scissors, and you’re done! You can also get creative with transparent origami paper, stickers, and more instead of masking tape.

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