[For Seniors] January Craft Ideas: Boost Your Luck with New Year Decorations and Good-Luck Charms

January coloring pages

Speaking of January, although it’s not seen much these days, there used to be a custom of displaying decorative hagoita paddles, such as ones featuring the Fuji Musume.

Let’s try making such decorative hagoita as a coloring activity.

The act of coloring and choosing which colors to use has a very positive effect on the hands and the brain.

You might even discover an unexpected side of older adults through their use of color and the finished result.

A neatly colored piece also looks lovely displayed on the wall.

Let’s awaken the creativity we don’t often use in everyday life.

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Hirakawa Masako (Bōkarisuto: Sakata Mizumako)

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Felt Fukuwarai

If you make fukuwarai using felt, you can enjoy its soft texture.

Cut out the face base and the facial parts like eyes and mouth, and add expression by layering different pieces of felt on the eyes and mouth or by embroidering them.

You can also draw directly with a marker.

The fine handiwork will help train dexterity in your fingers.

Once it’s finished, everyone can of course play with the fukuwarai together, and above all, the soft look is just so cute!

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Hane Keisuke

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Felt ema (votive plaque)

This project involves attaching decorations—such as zodiac animals and lucky charms made of felt—onto a felt base shaped like an ema plaque.

While ema are typically thought of as flat, using felt for both the base and the decorations creates a soft, three-dimensional effect.

A key point is to finish the decorations with a soft feel by adding stuffing inside or layering pieces when gluing them on.

If making each decoration from scratch is challenging, another recommended approach is to prepare the parts in advance and have participants arrange them to create their own design.

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kappamaki

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Temari hanging ornaments

Do you know Japan’s three major tsurushi decorations? There are various theories, but the famous ones are Sagemon from Yanagawa in Fukuoka Prefecture, Hina no Tsurushi Kazari from Inatori in Shizuoka Prefecture, and Kasafuku from Sakata in Yamagata Prefecture.

Though the items they hang differ, all are displayed with wishes for children’s growth and the prosperity of descendants.

How about trying your hand at decorating with these auspicious temari-hanging ornaments? Temari can be made in 3D or folded from chiyogami—both are great! If you’re enjoying this at a senior facility, it’s nice to have a variety of temari.

Be sure to add accents, such as the character for “fortune” (福) or illustrations of Otafuku (the good‑fortune mask), as decorative elements.

cardboard ema (votive tablet)

Cut cardboard into the shape of ema (votive plaques), then decorate them with New Year–themed illustrations such as the zodiac animals and with each person’s wishes.

By making use of the cardboard’s natural brown color, you can evoke the soft, wooden feel of real ema.

You can certainly have everyone draw their own design on the front, but if you prepare illustrations in advance and let participants choose from them, they can focus more on thinking about their wishes and writing the text.

Selecting an illustration that perfectly matches each wish is another enjoyable part of the process.

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kappamaki

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A life-sized ema made from A4 copy paper

[Origami Ema] Ema made from A4-size paper

This is an easy-to-make ema (votive plaque) using A4 copier paper that doesn’t even require scissors.

You trim both ends of a rectangle into roof-like shapes, fold it in half, and tuck it in, resulting in smooth finishes on both sides.

You will need small creases as guides for shaping, but to keep the final product looking neat, it’s best to make these guide creases as inconspicuous as possible.

If you insert a piece of cardstock while shaping, it will turn out sturdier and should also make it easier to write your wish.

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kappamaki

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Bunny Wreath

[100-Yen Store DIY] How to Make a Bunny Wreath

One animal that suits winter well might be the rabbit.

Its fluffy white fur is like snow and matches the season perfectly.

How about making a rabbit wreath using pom-poms made from yarn? Use a pom-pom maker sold at 100-yen shops to wrap the yarn and create fluffy balls.

Since wrapping the yarn uses fine motor skills, it’s also great for rehabilitation.

Once the balls are ready, attach ears made from precut fabric and felt.

Finish by gluing on ten rabbit heads with a hot glue gun.

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Hirakawa Masako (Bōkarisuto: Sakata Mizumako)

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