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 (1–10)
Shimenawa you can make with chiyogami paper
@haruharo_made New Year’s Craft / [Shimenawa with Chiyogami] [Materials] • Paper plate • Construction paper • Scissors • Chiyogami (traditional patterned paper) • Glue • Cellophane tape • Double-sided tapeCrafts for 4-year-olds Crafts for 5-year-olds#3-year-old crafts#2-year-old's craftCrafts for 1-year-oldsCrafts for 0-year-oldsProduction#Nursery schoolWall decoration#StayHomeTime#AtHomePlayProduction ideas#Nursery School CraftWinter Craft#KindergartenKindergarten craftNursery teacher / Childcare workerKindergarten Teacherwall surface #ChristmasTreeProduction for children under age (infants and toddlers) Simple craftMade in December # January productionMade in February New Year’s craft #Daruma making Tatsu Production#Mask making Mask#paint Sticker application Round stickerSticker-pasting craft Hanging ornamentdrawing paper #ConstructionPaperArt Poster Board CraftPaint making paper plate Paper plate craft Paper Plate Craft Chiyogami Chiyogami Production#ShimenawaMaking #Shimenawa
♬ One More Last Time – sped up – Henry Young & Ashley Alisha
We’ll make a shimenawa-style decoration using washi paper.
The base will be a paper plate with the center cut out.
The cut-out center of the plate will be used as the knot of the shimenawa.
First, glue crumpled brown-toned washi paper onto the paper plate that will serve as the base.
Attach washi paper to the knot in the same way.
Once that’s done, create and stick on decorations such as the zodiac animal for that year, as well as pine, bamboo, and plum blossoms using colored construction paper.
And that’s it—you’re finished.
If you make the zodiac ornament removable, you can likely reuse the decoration the following year.
Give it a try!
Fukuwarai made with origami

Fukuwarai is a game where a blindfolded person places eyes, a nose, and other facial parts onto a picture that only shows the outline of a face.
It used to be a New Year’s pastime, but it seems chances to play it have been decreasing recently.
A Fukuwarai set featuring an Okame face made from origami might be a more casual way to enjoy it.
Use black origami paper, crease it first, and then fold the Okame.
The black side of the origami becomes Okame’s hair, and the white side is the face.
Have the children freely draw the facial features with pens or other tools.
Of course, making separate facial parts and gluing them on will also look great.
Snow Fairy! How to Fold a Long-tailed Tit (Shima-enaga)

Let’s make a long-tailed tit using a single sheet of origami paper.
Fold the paper into a triangle, then fold both corners up to meet the top corner.
Fold the left and right corners inward to form a triangle, then rotate the paper to swap top and bottom.
Align with the top corners of the left and right triangles, and fold the two bottom corners outward to open them—these will be the wings.
Turn the paper over, squash-fold the triangular wings into squares, then fold the bottom corner up to meet the top corner and change the wings to black.
Tuck in the left and right corners of the black section to refine the shape, and flip the paper over.
Round out the remaining white area in the center, and you’re done.
Draw the face to finish it cutely.
Fun January Crafts! A collection of ideas (11–20) you can make and play with together with 5-year-olds
Snowflake ornament
@hanamikoto8 [Easy] 3D Snowflake ❄️ Christmas Ornament — How to make a simple Christmas decoration with origami. You can connect several to make a hanging garland, or decorate your Christmas tree with them as they are. Using glitter origami paper makes them even prettier as they reflect light. Transparent-style origami also looked beautiful! Please enjoy this not only at home but also in preschools, kindergartens, and senior care facilities.#hanamikotoOrigamiChristmas decorations#Snow CrystalsHandmade#Production Video#100-yen-shop#SeniorActivitiesRecreationHow to make
♬ Stylish cafe-style BGM – Hiro Hattori
Take a square sheet of origami paper divided into four equal parts and fold it into a triangle three times.
Hold the corner that becomes the center of the origami, then round off the edge and cut off the tip.
Draw two curved lines up and down from the left edge to just before the right edge, and make cuts along those curves with scissors.
Open the paper, then glue the middle sections with the slits together at the center on all four sides.
Make another one the same way, rotate it slightly, and attach them back-to-back.
Finally, add a string for hanging, and it’s complete.
Let’s make a snowman with a single sheet of origami!

Many kids want to make snowmen in winter, don’t they? Here’s an idea for an origami snowman.
First, fold the top corner of the origami paper into a small triangle and fold it down about 1 cm.
This will be the pom-pom on top of the hat.
Next, tightly roll-fold the right corner twice to create the hat’s white brim.
Fold the paper in half by matching the left and right edges, then fold the brim section back outward to match the width of the rolled folds.
Align the top and bottom to make the paper a square, then lift the top-left corner (two layers) and fold it to the opposite corner.
With the pom-pom at the top, turn the paper over, and fold the lower left and right edges toward the center line.
Open the pocket on the right side and squash-fold it, shaping it into a snowman.
Snowflake paper ornament

Here’s an idea for making a papercut design with origami.
First, fold the paper into a triangle by bringing the top and bottom corners together.
Then rotate the paper and flip the top and bottom.
Cross the two triangle corners inward and fold where they overlap neatly.
Draw a crystal-like pattern and cut it with scissors.
Open the paper to reveal your design.
The crystal’s look changes depending on how you make the cuts, so try different variations.
The moment you open it and wonder, “What pattern will it be?” is so exciting and fun.
Easy way to make oden
@hoikusi1 Oden Craft Project: A Preschool Teacher Explains a Method That Can Also Be Used as a Wall Display (Ages 2+) A preschool teacher will show you the steps for making an oden craft. It’s an easy method that can also serve as a wall decoration. Target Age: 2 years and upChildcareNursery teacher / Childcare worker#NurseryTeacher#FirstYearNurseryTeacher#Childcare Crafting#Nursery School Craft#Making PlayorigamiOrigamiOrigami playEarly childhood education materials#Childcare topicAspiring childcare workersolidworkTranslationwall surfaceWinter#Oden
♪ Original Song – Manual for First-Year Nursery Teachers – Manual for First-Year Nursery Teachers
Let’s add oden ingredients to a paper pot filled with soup! For children old enough to use scissors, draw only guide lines on construction paper and have them cut out the ingredient shapes themselves.
Then they can glue the pieces onto the soup and draw patterns or details.
For younger children who can’t use scissors yet, prepare the ingredient parts in advance and stick double-sided tape on the back so they can enjoy placing them like stickers.
In addition to classics like daikon radish, konnyaku, eggs, and mochi pouches, it’s also fun to think about what other ingredients to include.



