[For 3-year-olds] Perfect January Winter & New Year Crafts! A Collection of Fun, Hands-On Ideas
Do you find yourself wondering every year what to make with the children in January’s childcare activities? It can be surprisingly hard to find crafts that three-year-olds will enjoy while taking in New Year’s motifs and the feeling of winter.
In this guide, we’ll share ideas you can enjoy together with three-year-olds—from New Year-perfect projects like paper plate spinning tops, kagami mochi, and shishimai (lion dance), to wintery crafts like fluffy sheep and snowmen.
Activities that use hands and fingertips, such as finger stamping, finger painting, and origami, will spark children’s curiosity.
Some of the things you make can also be played with afterward, so please use these ideas for inspiration! Because the children’s creations are treated as artworks, we use the term “seisaku” (production/artwork) in the text.
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- For 4-Year-Olds: January Crafts! A Collection of Fun Ideas with Winter and New Year Themes
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- Have fun in childcare! A collection of play ideas to liven up cold days in January
- [Nursery/Kindergarten] New Year Craft Ideas: A Collection of Projects You Can Enjoy Even After Making Them
- Fun January Crafts! A Collection of Ideas You Can Make and Play With for 5-Year-Olds
- Have fun with one-year-olds! A collection of craft ideas featuring recommended January motifs
- [November] Enjoy with 3-year-olds! Craft activity ideas recommended for autumn
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[For 3-year-olds] Perfect Winter & New Year Crafts for January! A Special Collection of Fun Make-and-Create Ideas (91–100)
Great for New Year’s cards too! Easy-to-use stamps

This is a New Year’s card featuring Mount Fuji made with construction paper and stamping.
It’s an easy project that kids can enjoy.
First, cut out the base of Mount Fuji from blue construction paper.
Cut it to postcard size, imagining a trapezoid shape.
Once cut, dab white paint onto a sponge dauber and stamp the upper area.
This creates the look of snow-capped Mount Fuji.
After the paint dries, glue it onto the postcard and draw the sun in the blank space to represent the first sunrise of the year.
Finally, write the year in Western numerals, and you’re done!
For New Year’s cards! Cushion sheet printmaking

Here’s an easy way to make beautiful New Year’s postcards using cushion foam sheets.
First, take an A4-size clear file, cut off the edge, then cut it in half twice down the middle.
Trim the pieces into postcard shapes.
Next, cut the cushion foam sheet into zodiac shapes, letters, etc., and sketch your design on the backing paper with a permanent marker.
After sticking on the cushion foam pieces, color them with a water-based pen.
Dampen the postcard with a cloth, stamp it, and you’re done! You can usually stamp about three in a row.
Because cushion foam sheets can be repositioned, give it a try!
[For 3-year-olds] Perfect winter and New Year crafts for January! A collection of fun, hands-on ideas (101–110)
Kagami mochi made with origami

Kagami mochi, which are offered as yorishiro (vessels for the visiting Toshigami deity) during New Year’s, make a perfect design for New Year’s cards.
This time, let’s make kagami mochi using origami.
We’ll create two parts: the sanpō (the stand) and the kagami mochi itself.
Since each is made from a different sheet, please prepare two pieces of origami paper.
Because we also want to represent the mandarin orange on top, have an orange sheet ready.
The folding process includes steps like accordion folds and opening and flattening after creasing.
With only a few steps, it’s an easy, fun challenge for kids.
Be sure to make it and use it as part of your New Year’s card design!
Let’s make postcards with vegetable stamps!

There are parts of vegetables that we cut off and don’t use in cooking, right? Let’s try turning those usually discarded parts into stamps and make New Year’s cards! You can use any vegetables you like—onions, green peppers, carrots, lotus root, spinach, and so on.
Prepare several vegetable stamps with different shapes.
Once you’ve got your veggies ready, dip them in paint or ink and start stamping.
They might look like flowers or animal faces—your imagination will surely expand.
Try expressing the design side of the postcard with your stamped artwork.
Cozy Penguin

Here’s how to fold an origami penguin that can also wear a hat and scarf.
First, fold it into a triangle twice, then open it once.
With a corner pointing down, fold up the top layer so about 2 centimeters stick out, then fold it down along the edge.
Fold the edge you just made in half to make a crease, then fold the bottom corner up to that crease to set a guideline.
Next, fold the other corner up toward the front crease.
Fold the tip of the corner down just a little.
Fold up along the crease you made earlier, align the edges, and fold the whole piece in half.
Finally, adjust the shape to look like a penguin and draw the eyes with a pen to finish.
Try making a hat and scarf for it, too!
a round and laid-back penguin

This is an easy and cute origami penguin.
First, turn the paper over and make two creases by folding it in half both ways into a square.
Fold one edge down to align with the center crease.
Flip it over, then fold the left and right edges to the center line.
Open the colored corner and squash-fold it.
Fold the bottom edge up to the center to make a crease, open it once, then fold the bottom tip inward along that crease.
Fold the corners to form the feet.
Fold the protruding colored corner to suggest the hands.
Finally, round off the colored tip to finish! Decorate it cutely with round stickers or a pen.
Penguin money envelope

This is a cute penguin folding method that’s perfect for New Year’s gift envelopes.
First, place the origami colored side up, fold it into a triangle twice, then open it once.
Fold both layers of the top corner down to meet the bottom edge to make creases.
Make another crease by folding only the top layer of the top corner down so it sticks out slightly past the bottom center.
Fold only the top layer of the top corner down to align with the bottom crease.
Next, fold along the upper crease, then fold the tip upward so it peeks out a little.
Fold back the part sticking out at the top.
Turn it over and fold both corners toward the center so the tips overlap.
Tuck one corner into the other.
Finally, draw the face with a pen, and you’re done!



