Fun January Crafts! A Collection of Ideas You Can Make and Play With for 5-Year-Olds
The arts-and-crafts activities you include in January childcare are a perfect chance to share the fun of New Year’s traditions.
While exploring seasonal motifs like the lion dance, sacred Shinto ropes, and ema wishing plaques, it’s important to spark five-year-olds’ desire to “try it myself!” Here, we introduce ideas that stimulate children’s creativity—making snowmen with colorful cotton, creating waddling penguins from paper cups, and expressing a three-dimensional kagami mochi with whipped paint.
Enjoy the start of the new year together as you help children connect with tradition through hands-on projects! Since the children’s creations are treated as works of art, the term is written as “seisaku (制作)” in the text.
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Fun January Crafts! A collection of make-and-play ideas with 5-year-olds (81–90)
winter hat
Let’s make a hat that will help keep kids warm during outdoor play in the cold winter! Prepare two sheets of construction paper in your favorite color, sized to fit the children’s heads, and punch holes around the edges.
Then thread yarn in your chosen color through the holes, stitching the two sheets together like fabric.
Add a yarn pom-pom on top of the hat, and a small decorative drawing on the front, and it’s done! You can make the pom-pom by wrapping yarn around your fingers, but it’s also a good idea to ask the children for their favorite colors in advance and have the teacher prepare them ahead of time.
Hanging ema (votive plaques)
@chooobo2 Hanging ema (votive plaque) crafting 🎍#Childcare Crafting#Nursery School Craft# January productionNew Year’s craft#Ema Production
♬ WOW – IVE
It’s said that if you write your wish on an ema plaque and dedicate it during your first shrine visit of the year, your wish will come true.
So let’s make a hanging ema that’s perfect for a January craft.
You can capture the New Year spirit by drawing lucky symbols like daruma dolls or the zodiac on the ema.
With a little extra creativity, you can make the ema even more charming.
Color aluminum foil with water-based pens, mist it with water, and then press the ema paper onto it.
The ema paper will take on patterns that look like a wash painting.
It’s a fun method that kids are sure to enjoy.
Once it’s dry, have the children write their wishes on the ema and try decorating a wall with them.
cardboard
If you want to easily make a spinning top using materials you have at home, how about one made from cardboard? Just cut the cardboard into long, narrow strips, apply glue, roll it up tightly from one end, and insert a toothpick into the center—super simple to make! You can finish it by coloring the cardboard or decorating it with masking tape, which would look great.
Also, making lots of them to race, or competing in games like battling tops, could be a fun way for parents and children or friends to get excited together.
plastic bottle cap
The spinning top made by connecting plastic bottle caps with string has a unique wind-catching shape and a colorful look that really stands out.
Make a hole in the center of each cap, connect them with string to form a ring, and adjust the angles as you shape it into a circle.
Once it’s neat and round, attach round pieces of thick paper to the top and bottom center, make holes in them, and add the axle to finish.
If it’s too small and hard to spin, try increasing the number of connected caps or making the axle larger for an easier grip.
Also pay attention to which direction it spins more easily, and aim for a more stable rotation.
Fortune-telling made with paper cups
@hoikushi_bank I tried making a fortune slip with a paper cup 🙌 A fortune game you’ll want to play at New Year! You can make it with a paper cup and an ice cream stick 🥰#Childcare CraftingNew Year’s craftpaper cupOmikuji Hoikushi Bank
Chiguhagu – THE SUPER FRUIT
How about making your own omikuji (fortune sticks) to enjoy at New Year? This version uses paper cups.
Prepare two paper cups, some vinyl (plastic) tape, and a wooden stick.
Cut a slit in the bottom of one paper cup just big enough for the wooden stick to poke through.
On the wooden stick, write fortunes like “Great Blessing (Daikichi)” or “Small Blessing (Shokichi),” or come up with your own original messages for extra fun.
When you’re done, place the wooden stick inside the paper cup.
Align the rims of the two cups and wrap them all the way around with vinyl tape to seal them together—that’s it! Try your luck for the year and have fun!