Lovely childcare

Perfect for January bulletin boards! A collection of Daruma craft ideas kids will love in childcare settings

10 years as a kindergarten teacher / elementary school teacher / junior and senior high school teacher / childminderkepiko
Graduated from Kunitachi College of Music, Faculty of Music (now: Department of Music Culture and Education, Early Childhood Music Education major). In elementary school, my homeroom teacher was Jun Kusaba, a game researcher. After graduating from university, I worked for 10 years as a kindergarten teacher and for 7 years as an after-school childcare instructor, then took a post as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I also engaged in activities that shared Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational play, working with many children. Afterwards, through freelance writing, planning, and editing work at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and conveying ideas. Leveraging the perspective cultivated in educational settings and my experience as an editor, I aim to deliver practical information—focusing on fields related to music and children—that values both input and output. Hobbies include instruments, singing, handcrafts, toys, drawing, traditional play, the outdoors, books, DIY, and crafts. Special skill: spinning-top tricks.
20 years of experience as a nursery teacher / kindergarten teacherhiyoko sensei
I’m Hiyoko-sensei, a former nursery school teacher from Hyogo Prefecture. Ever since I was five, my dream was to become a childcare worker, and before I knew it, 20 years had passed since I achieved that dream. Through singing and playing with the children, I kept working with the spirit of someone in their twenties, even as I increasingly felt my physical limits year by year (haha). From here on, I’d like to share helpful information carefully and thoughtfully, drawing on my on-site experience.

Many teachers are probably thinking about what kinds of daruma crafts they can enjoy making with the children to brighten up the nursery room in January.

Here, we’ve gathered ideas you can also use for classroom wall displays, from stamp play and wobbling mechanisms made with paper plates to growth records that use handprints and footprints.

Let the children enjoy the feel of paint, freely express themselves with glue and crayons, and try daruma crafts that bring out their “I want to try!” spirit.

Use these ideas as a reference for creating a warm wall display that’s perfect for starting the new year.

子どもたちの作品は芸術作品として扱われるため、本文では「制作（seisaku）」という用語を用います。

Want to decorate your January wall! A collection of Daruma craft ideas to enjoy in childcare (31–40)

Cute for New Year’s cards too! Daruma-chan

Here’s an idea for New Year’s decorations, and since daruma dolls are also a common motif for New Year’s cards, why not use this idea to make a daruma-themed New Year’s card? Make a daruma out of construction paper and attach it to gold design paper along with some flowers.

Simply sticking that onto the front of the card will give it a festive feel.

However, if you’re attaching it to a New Year’s card, be sure to make the daruma as a flat piece.

Create the face with any expression you like, using stickers or pens.

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Daruma-chan art with a brush pen

@asamin_fude
For those of you who prepare New Year’s cards around Christmas every year (hi there! 🙌), here’s a little help for your final push! If you’re tired of the same designs, try the Daruma-chan one ♡ It’s also cute to add a handwritten message like “Let’s hang out again!” above the little Daruma ♡Brush lettering art New Year's card design Hand-drawn Translation Brush pen New Year Year 2024 #NewYearIllustration illustration #brushpen #pentelbrushpen #brushpencalligraphy
♬ Escort – MoppySound

The appeal of brush pens is, after all, that with a single pen you can create both thick and thin lines and end up with lettering full of character.

They’re tricky to handle until you get used to them, but once you can use them, they’re very handy tools that work in all sorts of situations.

In this idea, the “0” in the year is depicted as a daruma doll.

The daruma’s pattern is done with a colored brush pen, and a finer pen is used for the face.

It’s simple yet results in a highly designed illustration, so feel free to try copying it and drawing your own.

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Wobbly Bunny Daruma

Cute and wobbly! Here’s a craft to make a rabbit daruma using a paper plate.

You can also enjoy doing a bleeding-paint picture, so it’s highly recommended.

Wet construction paper with water and have fun creating a bleeding effect with paints.

Once it’s dry, cut it into a daruma shape.

Next, cut construction paper into a rabbit face shape and draw the face with crayons, etc.

Stick the rabbit face onto the daruma’s face area, and glue torn pieces of gold origami onto the belly.

Finally, glue a paper plate folded in half to the back, and it’s complete!

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[Decalcomania] Daruma-san

Here’s a craft idea for making a Daruma using the decalcomania technique.

First, fold a sheet of red construction paper in half, then apply paints in colors you like on just one side.

Once the paint is on, close the paper along the fold and rub it with your hand like an iron to transfer the paint to the other side.

That’s the decalcomania part.

After the paint dries, place a Daruma template on top, trace the outline with a pen, and cut out the Daruma shape with scissors.

Finally, add the facial features to complete your Daruma! You can also glue the Daruma onto a backing sheet and decorate it with origami to make it look like the cover of the “Daruma-san” picture book series—it turns out really cute.

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A hanging daruma ornament made by crumpling tissue paper

How about making a hanging Daruma decoration from crumpled tissue paper as a January craft? It’s full of simple steps that kids can easily do, so let’s have fun together! First, crumple the tissue paper, put it into a plastic bag, tie the opening, and shape it into a round form.

Next, cut colored construction paper into a circle and draw the Daruma’s face.

Finally, attach the face to the body with double-sided tape and secure it to vinyl tape—and it’s done! You can also decorate the Daruma with round stickers or origami cut into squares for a lovely touch.

The unique Daruma figures the children make will brighten up your January wall display!

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I want to decorate the January wall! A collection of daruma craft ideas for enjoying in childcare (41–50)

wobbling daruma

How about making a gently swaying daruma, like a mobile, that looks cute hanging from walls or the ceiling? Use colored construction paper cut into a daruma shape as the base, and express the daruma’s face and belly patterns by pasting on torn pieces of origami paper.

It’s also great to draw the face with crayons or create it with torn origami.

Attach small ornaments to hang beneath the daruma, and tie a string with a crumpled ball of aluminum foil as a weight, then connect it to the daruma—and it’s done.

How about displaying it at home for New Year’s as a lucky charm? Above all, it’s very cute, so please enjoy decorating with it!

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Torn-Paper Collage: Daruma Craft for 2-Year-Olds

[New Year Craft] Daruma Wall Decorations Explained by a Nursery Teacher! (For Ages 2 and Up)

Torn-Paper Collage: Daruma Craft for 2-Year-Olds

How about incorporating a daruma made with torn-paper collage into your New Year’s wall decorations—an activity that even two-year-olds can enjoy? Children can freely place the facial parts of the daruma, adding a “Fukuwarai” element that makes the creation process fun! Teachers should prepare in advance by cutting the daruma body and facial parts out of construction paper.

The children can then enjoy arranging the facial parts on the daruma however they like.

You can also have them tear and paste origami paper onto the body to create patterns.

Encourage the children to use papers in their favorite colors!

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