[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 Centers] February Craft Ideas: Decorations that evoke Setsubun, Valentine’s Day, and the coming of spring (111–120)
Cherry blossom decorations
Cherry blossoms are the symbol of spring, aren’t they? Many people probably love spring because they can see the cherry blossoms.
Their beauty is fleeting, and perhaps it’s that limited, ephemeral charm that makes them so popular.
Let’s try making those beautiful blossoms as wall decorations.
With just some folding and cutting of origami paper, you can easily create cherry blossom petals—highly recommended.
Adding crease lines will make the three-dimensional effect stand out even more! It’s also nice to decorate your room with these cherry blossoms and enjoy a little early hanami indoors.
A three-dimensional, curly-haired demon
There’s a type of papercraft where you use a special tool to roll thin strips of paper and shape them into flowers, hearts, and more.
It’s called paper quilling, a handicraft that creates dimensional designs and allows for a wide range of expression.
With this “Curly-Haired Oni” project, you can easily make something similar to paper quilling.
Cut construction paper into long, thin strips for the hair and curl them around your finger.
Then attach the curled strips to the head area of a piece of construction paper cut into an oni (ogre) face shape.
Using your fingers helps stimulate and activate the brain.
Make the facial features by crumpling and shaping origami paper.
Get creative and design the face you like.
If you mount the finished oni face on a backing sheet and display it, it will instantly create a Setsubun atmosphere.
Oni and Setsubun decorations made with paper bowls
We’ll make three-dimensional Oni and Otafuku figures using paper bowls.
Paper bowls sold at 100-yen shops work perfectly.
For the Oni and Otafuku, cut the paper bowls and use crumpled origami to create the faces and hair.
The Oni’s distinctive, perm-like rounded hair can also be made by rolling origami into balls.
You can also glue on yarn or long, thin strips of paper as hair.
Because this project involves crumpling and squeezing origami, you’ll use your hands a lot.
They say “the hands are the second brain,” and it’s true that many nerves run from the fingertips to the brain.
Using your hands and fingers activates the brain and can help prevent cognitive decline.
Enjoy this craft activity as brain training, and create a wonderful piece!
A heart ornament made of paper cord
Because the heart shape resembles a real heart, it has long been used as a symbol of life.
Hearts are also commonly used as an indicator of remaining health in video games.
Over time, that usage evolved, and now the heart is a symbol of love and affection.
You see heart shapes everywhere in pictograms and gestures.
So why not try making a heart-shaped ornament as a gift? You can create a lovely piece using paper cord.
The hardest part is fixing it into the heart shape, but you could make just that part with wire.
Heart shapes give a warm, cozy feeling, so I’m sure it’ll be well received!
Oni masks and Otafuku masks
Make oni and Otafuku masks out of origami, attach them with a stapler to an origami band, and you’ve got a wearable headpiece! Score the center of a sheet of origami paper cut in half, fold the top and bottom edges to meet the crease, then fold it in half again.
Make two of these, then fold another sheet the same way without cutting it (keep it square).
Connect the three finished parts, hook rubber bands onto both ends, and you’ll have an adjustable band that fits any head size! Oni and Otafuku are perfect for Setsubun in February, but once you master the band, you can use it for all kinds of events.
