Lovely childcare

[For 5-year-olds] Let’s Make It! A Collection of Recommended Craft Ideas for 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.

February is packed with exciting events like Setsubun and Valentine’s Day! For projects with five-year-olds, there are plenty of ideas that make clever use of fine motor skills, such as making oni horns by wrapping yarn and creating items with scratch-card-style surprises.

It’s wonderful to nurture that special “I want to make it myself!” spirit unique to senior kindergarteners, while also giving them time to show their creations to friends and play with their finished works.

Here, we introduce craft ideas perfect for February’s seasonal events.

Enjoy the season together with the children as you create! Note: In this article, we use the term “seisaku (制作)” to refer to children’s creations as works (artworks).

[5-Year-Olds] Let’s Make It! A Collection of Recommended February Craft Ideas (41–50)

Snowman with a straw stamp

How to make a snowman with straw stamping: a winter craft for ages 3 and up

Snowman with a straw stamp

Making snowmen with straws is a big hit with kids.

Prepare a sheet of construction paper as the base, then draw two circles—one large and one small—on white paper, cut them out with scissors, and paste them onto the base.

It might be cute to make a hat for the snowman to wear.

Use crayons to draw the snowman’s facial expression and arms.

Cut small slits into the tip of a straw, then stamp all over the paper like snowflakes to finish.

Try adding more paint colors or adjusting the amount of paint as you create—have fun with it!

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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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Snowman Fashion Show

Developing Thinking and Observation Skills through Crafts! February/Winter Craft Book: “Snowman Fashion Show” — For Ages 3–4 [Nursery/Kindergarten]

Snowman Fashion Show

Here’s a craft idea where kids can freely create snowmen using circle, triangle, and square pieces.

First, stick a large round piece onto a backing sheet to make the base of the snowman.

Then glue on a scarf made by wrapping yarn around a piece of thick paper cut into a rectangle, and you’re all set! From here, let the kids freely express their snowmen using the circle, triangle, and square pieces.

Some children might use circular pieces for the eyes, while others might use triangular pieces.

It’ll be fun to see how their unique sensibilities come through in their creations!

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Making oni masks

Making Oni Masks with 2-Year-Olds [Yaizu Preschool]

Making oni masks

Let’s make oni masks to wear for Setsubun! As a first step, cut the base shapes for the oni’s face and hair from construction paper.

Next, cut out the parts for the eyes, nose, fangs, cheeks, and horns, and pre-cut short pieces of yarn for the hair.

Adults can handle the prep, but it might be nice to let the children do it since it’s good practice with scissors.

Once everything is ready, glue each part onto the face base.

After the oni’s face is complete, attach it to the mask base to finish! The mask base should be prepared by an adult in advance.

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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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Mittens made by threading yarn

Warm Yarn Play with Gloves – A Craft Activity That Uses Fine Motor Skills – #play #childcare #nurseryteacher #children #athomeplay #craftactivity #artsandcrafts #yarn #walldecor #cardboard #craft #preschooler #gloves #lacing #video

Mittens made by threading yarn

Gloves are familiar, everyday items for three-year-olds that keep their hands warm on cold days.

They’re often told, “Let’s put them on before we go outside,” so they easily evoke a winter image.

In this activity, we make playful gloves using construction paper and yarn.

Threading yarn through holes is simple, and even just choosing colors is satisfying.

You can clearly see the pattern forming bit by bit, and if you line up everyone’s gloves and put them on the wall, the display becomes lively.

It’s a perfect winter wall decoration idea that sparks conversations like, “Whose is this?” as children look at the gloves lined up together.

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