[January Crafts] Fun DIY Ideas for Kids: Perfect for Use in Childcare
January, when we welcome the New Year, is a perfect time for children to experience traditional Japanese culture.
New Year–themed crafts—like origami hair ornaments, kagami mochi made with shaving foam, and hagoita paddles made from milk cartons—spark kids’ creativity.
Many ideas can be played with after making them, and through the process, children can also learn the meanings of auspicious items.
Why not use familiar materials to create festive, New Year-style pieces? Here, we introduce January craft ideas that nursery and kindergarteners, elementary school students, and even adults can enjoy.
Bring in these fun January projects to celebrate the start of the New Year!
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[January Crafts] Fun Handmade Ideas for Kids That You Can Use in Childcare (61–70)
A horse made with marble art
@eto2239 No.323 Horse 🐴#MarbleArt#marbleart#art#artwork#fyp
♬ IRIS OUT – Kenshi Yonezu
Art sparks children’s creativity! Kids’ ideas and perspectives can sometimes reveal things adults might overlook or fail to notice.
This time, let’s use marbles, paper, and paint to create a dynamic, free-form horse face.
First, roll marbles dipped in black paint across the paper to make patterns.
Next, color in the areas that look like the horse’s face and mane with colored pens or paint to finish.
It looks like it’ll become a one-of-a-kind, original New Year’s card—no two pieces will be the same.
Challenge in childcare! First calligraphy play
@miraistep.hoikuen New Year – January Crafts#Nursery schoolNursery teacher / Childcare workerSaitama PrefectureSaitama CityMirai StepNew YearFirst calligraphy of the year#Nursery School Craft#Year of the Snake
♫ Original Song – Mirai Step Co., Ltd. – Mirai Step Co., Ltd.
Kakizome is the first calligraphy of the year, in which people write down their New Year’s resolutions and wishes with the hope of improving their handwriting.
Although it’s an event that assumes you can write characters, it’s the New Year—so why not let children from infants to preschoolers enjoy their own style of kakizome? For older preschoolers who are practicing letters in preparation for school, it’s a good idea to write that year’s zodiac animal in hiragana.
For infants, writing characters is a high hurdle, so encourage them to try it as a drawing activity while letting them feel the texture of the brush and washi paper.
Fun to draw! Snow globe
@tensaikids1031 January craft activity for the 1-year-old class ⛄️Genius Kids ClubNursery teacher / Childcare workerNursery teacher / Childcare workerProductionAspiring childcare workerChildcare Ideas
♬ My Binky – Baby Version – HeyKids Nursery Rhymes
This is a recommended craft activity for infants.
They’re making snow globes.
On circles cut from construction paper, children draw spiral circles with crayons and add shiny round stickers to represent the snow globes.
Showing them a real snow globe before starting can help spark their imagination.
Provide crayons and stickers in various colors and let them freely create their own snow globe worlds.
Crafts that use stickers are also perfect for practicing fine motor skills!
Fun with black construction paper! Making snowmen
@hekimen_25 Winter craft: We made snowmen using crayons and paint! ⛄️❄️🎵#Childcare Crafting#Wall CreationNursery teacher / Childcare workerI tried making itSnowman
♬ Merry Christmas and Happy New Year – neozilla
Here’s a craft idea: paint a snowman with white paint on black construction paper, then finish by adding a paper bucket and mittens, plus face stickers.
For the snowman, draw a circular outline and fill it in with paint.
Because it’s surprisingly hard not to paint outside the lines, if infants are doing this activity, it’s better to either prepare pre-painted pieces or have an adult cut a snowman shape from the child’s white-painted paper and glue it onto the background.
If you put double-sided tape on the back of the bucket and mittens, kids can use them like stickers, making them easier for little hands to handle.
Once the snowman is done, use cotton swab stamping to add a snowy landscape in the empty space to complete the project.
Fukuwarai from a one-year-old!
Here are some craft ideas for making Fukuwarai with construction paper.
Just cut out the parts from the paper, glue them together, and draw patterns with a pen to finish.
With a bit of adult help—such as pre-cutting the pieces—even young children can take part.
Put double-sided tape on the facial features and let the kids enjoy sticking them on while playing Fukuwarai.
The classics are Hyottoko and Okame, but a daruma or the zodiac animal of the year also make great motifs.
Enjoy a winter craft session to your heart’s content, with a playful spirit.