Lovely childcare

Handmade ideas to brighten up your preschool graduation album: fun to create, delightful to receive!

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 as a kindergarten teacher for 10 years and as an after-school childcare instructor for 7 years, then took a position as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I engaged in activities that introduced Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational activities, working with many children. Later, through freelance writing, planning, and editing at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and sharing. Drawing on the perspective cultivated in the field of education and my experience as an editor, I provide practical information with an emphasis on both input and output, mainly in areas related to music and children. My hobbies include instruments, singing, handicrafts, toys, drawing, traditional games, the outdoors, and books. My special skill is 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.

We’ve gathered wonderful ideas for parents and teachers creating handmade graduation albums.

You’ll find tips for heartfelt albums, including decorations using construction paper, ways to incorporate children’s drawings, and how to make individual pages.

We also introduce ideas you can use for albums presented to teachers, as well as decorations with origami and felt—perfect for capturing kindergarten and nursery school memories.

Try making a one-of-a-kind graduation album together with the children!

Handmade touches to brighten the preschool graduation album! A collection of fun-to-make, joy-to-receive ideas (41–50)

Use speech bubbles

Speech-bubble icons are a great idea that can instantly make your album look cute—just add them in.

You can buy ones that say things like “HAPPY!” at a 100-yen shop for a cool look, or use smiley faces for a more playful vibe.

The fun part is that you can try all kinds of arrangements depending on your ideas.

You can also have kids handwrite simple messages like “Congratulations” or “I had fun,” and just frame them with a speech bubble to create an adorable design.

Try coming up with lovely designs that match the children’s reading and writing levels.

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Use origami

Origami, which the children got familiar with during their time at the kindergarten, is perfect for decorating a graduation album filled with memories from school! Decorate each seasonal page with origami that evokes the time of year—cherry blossoms for spring, sunflowers and morning glories for summer, acorns and sweet potatoes for autumn, and Santa Claus for winter.

It’s also a lovely idea to paste in pieces the children made themselves.

Once they enter elementary school, kids have fewer chances to do origami.

As a play activity that symbolizes their days in kindergarten or nursery school, why not include origami alongside the cherished photos in the album?

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Decorate with polka dots

Let’s fill the slightly plain areas with polka-dot decorations! Draw dots with a pen or paste on circles cut from construction paper to instantly make a simple album look lively.

There are tools like circle cutters for making perfectly round shapes, but slightly uneven, hand-cut circles also have a charming handmade feel.

Try unifying the colors of the circles or, conversely, making them colorful—have fun decorating with different variations.

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Include handprint art

[Kids’ relatable moment] Trouble strikes! Handprint art in the making! This is what happens when you use paint 😭 [Respect-for-the-Aged Day]

Include handprint art

One thing we’d love to include in the handmade preschool graduation album, along with the photos, is handprint art.

You put colorful paint on their hands and use the handprints to create pictures.

Children’s hands are so tiny and adorable, aren’t they? They’ll eventually grow into big adult hands, so the time you can admire those little hands is truly precious.

If you add handprint art to the graduation album, there’s no doubt that when they look back as adults, they’ll feel nostalgic and say, “My hands used to be this small.”

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Child’s Profile

It’s also a great idea to put together profiles for the children.

Start by placing their names and memorable photos, then fill in their birthdays, favorite foods, favorite games, and so on.

Since favorite foods and games tend to change as they grow, I think they’ll enjoy looking back later and saying, “Oh, that’s how it was.” You could also include the reasons they like certain games, or make a ranking of their favorite foods.

Of course, it’s perfectly fine to tailor the content to each child’s preferences.

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In conclusion

We introduced useful ideas for making a handmade preschool graduation album.

By combining various materials—such as frame illustrations, felt letters, and origami—on a construction paper base, you can create a one-of-a-kind album.

Pages expressing gratitude to teachers and creative personal pages, all made with care, will surely become a lifelong treasure for the children.