[For Day Service Centers] February Craft Ideas: Decorations for Setsubun, Valentine’s Day, and the Feeling of Spring
February is a month when you can feel the arrival of spring even amid the cold.
For crafts at the day service, let’s choose activities that engage the hands while reflecting the changing seasons.
Seasonal crafts may make you look forward to spring and spark lively conversations.
February’s unique motifs—Setsubun ogres and ehomaki rolls, camellias and daffodils that bloom beautifully despite the cold, and Valentine’s heart decorations—are all heartwarming.
Crafts made with familiar materials like origami paper, Yakult containers, and felt are easy for anyone to try and bring great joy when completed.
Shall we enjoy creating warm pieces together that help us forget the winter chill?
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[For Day-Service Facilities] February Craft Ideas: Decorations for Setsubun, Valentine’s Day, and the Feeling of Spring (91–100)
Recommended for making and recreation! Demon Bowling
Bowling with cute little oni made from toilet paper rolls is a great craft that doubles as a fun recreation afterward! First, wrap origami paper around the toilet paper rolls.
Glue paper with your favorite pattern on the lower half to make the oni’s clothes.
Next, attach paper horns and yarn for hair.
You can draw the faces with a pen, too.
Make as many as you can and line them up on a table, then start the bowling game.
Roll up some paper, tape it with duct tape to make a ball, and try to knock down lots of oni!
Origami Heart Trinket Box
A box with a large heart mark on the lid—its small, adorable design makes it perfect for Valentine’s Day.
By contrasting the front and back colors, the heart emerges, and you fold it down small while using fine creases as guides and creating fold-back boundaries for later.
Delicate, precise creasing is key so the border between the heart and the background stands out clearly.
Once the lid is complete, fold the box to match its size.
It’s important to finish sturdily by paying attention to how you layer the paper and shape the corners and sides.
[For Day Service] February Craft Ideas: Decorations for Setsubun, Valentine's Day, and the Feeling of Spring (101–110)
Origami chocolate
Let’s make a chocolate motif—perfect for Valentine’s Day—and a box to hold it, all from origami.
For the chocolate, use a four-division crease pattern to form the base, imagining it as you build the box shape; since it’s a single brown color, adding a face or patterns is a fun touch.
For the box, fold it lengthwise while keeping the chocolate’s width in mind, neatly tucking in both ends; then open it at the end to create space for the chocolate.
Fold a matching sleeve for the box and you’ll have a slide-style case.
If you pay close attention to the width, you can even use it as a real chocolate gift box.
Origami chocolate bar
This content shows how to make a chocolate bar—an essential for Valentine’s Day—out of origami.
Choosing different colors of paper is a fun way to suggest different flavors.
For the chocolate itself, cut a sheet of origami paper into four equal parts, fold each into a raised-looking square, then combine and attach them to form the base.
Next, fold the wrapper to fit the bar so it looks like the chocolate can be pulled out, and you’re done.
Crafting the chocolate body with a three-dimensional look is the key to conveying the excitement of Valentine’s Day.
Setsubun crafts using a milk carton and origami
This is a small container decorated with a cute ogre (oni) mascot made by combining a milk carton and origami.
Since it’s a box inspired by Setsubun, putting roasted soybeans inside would enhance the atmosphere.
Cut off the bottom of the milk carton, wrap it with origami and glue it on to make the base, then create the mascot and attach it.
If you assemble an oni from cut parts, it’s quick and easy; if you attach an oni made from a single sheet of origami, you can enjoy a more three-dimensional look.
It’s important to balance the color of the base with the color of the oni you attach.
Etegami for Setsubun
One of the charms of brush-and-paint picture letters is how freely you can combine text and images.
For a February picture letter, how about drawing Setsubun motifs like Otafuku (Okame), oni (demons), and the beans used for bean-throwing to invite good fortune? For Otafuku, give her cheeks some fullness and a beaming smile; for the oni, emphasize the horns and fangs to increase their impact.
If you can, finish by stamping a seal, such as one carved from an eraser.
Even if you’re not good at drawing, that actually gives it a charming, distinctive feel, so anyone can try it with ease.
Ehomaki made by rolling paper
When the Setsubun season approaches, making an Ehomaki out of origami is a fun idea.
First, prepare yellow, green, pink, and red origami sheets cut to half-size, and crumple each into a ball.
Open them back up, lay them horizontally, and roll them up tightly.
They’ll look just like fillings such as tamagoyaki, cucumber, tuna, and crab.
Wrap them with two rolled sheets of kitchen paper and secure with clear tape, then wrap the outside with black cardboard and tape that as well, and you’re done.
You can also think up other fillings to try!