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[For Seniors] January Craft Ideas for Day Service Activities
In January, we have the longstanding Japanese traditional event, the New Year’s celebration.
Many day service centers and welfare facilities likely put a lot of effort into decorations themed around January, the start of a new year.
So this time, we’ll introduce January crafts recommended for day service programs.
It’s still quite chilly, so let’s enjoy craft activities you can do indoors!
Even after the New Year’s holidays, winter-themed decorations like snow motifs and plum blossoms can stay up and be enjoyed as they are.
In addition to decorations, we’ve assembled many works that are perfect for January.
There are lots of ideas, including auspicious items, practical pieces, and projects that incorporate creative twists in the materials.
By all means, use these January craft ideas as a reference.
[For Seniors] January Craft Ideas to Make at Day Service (1–10)
Making Fukuwarai
Fukuwarai is also well known as a unique New Year’s game.
A blindfolded person places parts like eyes, nose, and mouth onto a sheet of paper with an outlined face to complete a face.
When the parts end up in unexpected places, everyone bursts into laughter! If you’re making one by hand, create the face outline and parts with construction paper.
It might also be convenient to make a pocket to store the parts.
Play together with your family or day-service friends and have a great time!
Camellias made with tissue paper
Camellias, with their beautiful red blossoms that stand out against snowy landscapes, are at their best in winter.
Let’s make camellia flowers using tissue paper! Stack four sheets of red tissue paper and one sheet of yellow tissue paper together, then accordion-fold them as one.
Fold the strip in half at the center and staple the middle.
Round off the ends with scissors.
Next, carefully open the tissue so that the yellow section sits at the center of the flower.
Trim the yellow part a bit shorter than the red so it sits lower and looks smaller.
Your camellia flower is complete.
Combine it with leaves made from green tissue paper or origami paper to decorate!
Papercut snowflake
For those times when you want to see snow but don’t want to go outside because it’s cold, how about making lots of snowflakes and enjoying a snowy scene indoors? Prepare light blue and white origami paper.
Fold it into a triangle and crease the tip about four times.
Fold both ends so they jut out to the opposite side, forming a shape like a triangle.
Then draw the snowflake pattern, and cut along the lines with scissors.
After that, simply unfold it, and your snowflake is complete! Make lots of snowflakes in different colors and sizes, and let it snow all around your room.
Daffodils made with a template
Let’s make narcissus flowers that bloom from fall to winter and feel the winter season.
First, draw the shapes of the white petals and the yellow center on a template, and roughly cut them out along the outlines.
For the petals, glue two sheets of white construction paper together; for the center, use one sheet of yellow construction paper.
Then cut both pieces precisely along the template lines.
On the yellow piece, make several small slits around the edge.
Add slight creases to the petals to give them a three-dimensional look, and assemble the parts.
For the yellow center, fold the slit sections upward.
Finally, attach the stem and leaves made from green construction paper, and you’re done!
temari (Japanese handball/embroidered decorative ball)
How about making a charming, nostalgic temari ball using scrap paper and old newspapers as the core? Crumple up newspaper tightly, adding more paper and rolling until it reaches your preferred size.
Shape it with clear tape, and once it’s round, wrap rubber bands around it.
Then wind yarn in your favorite colors over the top.
Use the rubber bands as guides to wrap in a cross or in a radial pattern—create any design you like.
If you have a young grandchild, they might be delighted to receive it as a gift.
Plum blossoms made with origami
Try making plum blossoms with origami! The red-and-white color scheme is perfectly auspicious for the New Year.
Cut your origami paper into a pentagon and fold it to create five petals.
It involves fairly detailed work, so it might feel challenging at times, but that makes finishing it all the more satisfying! The alternating, overlapping petals give it a lovely three-dimensional look.
It’s also said that fine motor activities help stimulate the brain.
Make plenty and decorate the whole facility with vibrant color!
Pine wall display
Let’s make a pine wall decoration that’s perfect for New Year’s and symbolizes longevity and health! Prepare green construction paper and cut it into a shape that looks like three connected mountain peaks.
To give it a pine-like look, draw white streaks with chalk.
To prevent smudging from hands, it’s recommended to spray hairspray over the drawing.
Next, make a trunk from brown construction paper and combine it with the pine needles you made—done! If you make the trunk larger, you can use plenty of the leaves made by seniors without wasting any.