Have fun in childcare! A collection of play ideas to liven up cold days in January
When January comes, many teachers may want to incorporate New Year’s games and activities unique to the cold season.
Traditional games and action-based finger plays offer chances to engage with friends while experiencing Japanese culture.
Here, we introduce winter-specific play ideas such as Oshikura Manju, Fukuwarai, and kite flying.
We’ve picked a variety of activities—from ones that require no preparation to those where you can make the materials together with the children.
These are all activities that warm the body and spread smiles even on cold days.
Be sure to try them in your childcare setting!
- [January Childcare] Traditional New Year’s Games! A Collection of Ideas to Enjoy with Children
- February: Liven up childcare! A collection of ideas for indoor play and physical activities
- Winter activities to enjoy at daycare! Outdoor play and nature play that warm the heart and body.
- Ideas for Childcare Quizzes to Enjoy in January
- From New Year’s games to winter crafts! A roundup of January recreation activities to enjoy in childcare
- [For 1-year-olds] Recommended picture books to read together in January
- [January Crafts] Fun DIY Ideas for Kids: Perfect for Use in Childcare
- Snow Songs to Enjoy in Winter! Children's Snow Nursery Rhymes & Hand-Play Songs
- [For 3-year-olds] Perfect January Winter & New Year Crafts! A Collection of Fun, Hands-On Ideas
- [Nursery/Kindergarten] New Year Craft Ideas: A Collection of Projects You Can Enjoy Even After Making Them
- [For Age 4] Must-Read in January! Picture Books to Enjoy Winter
- Popular hand games and hand game songs for toddlers and children! Full of ideas for childcare/early childhood education.
- [Childcare] Recommended play ideas for caring for 2-year-olds
Have Fun in Childcare! A Collection of Play Ideas for Cold January Days (21–30)
New Year’s games that even 0-year-olds can enjoy
It’s fun to play basketball indoors, isn’t it? For balls, inflate balloons and prepare plenty of them.
If you add vinyl tape to the surface to mimic a basketball design, it will really boost the atmosphere.
For the hoop, take a pool noodle from a 100-yen shop, cut it lengthwise in half, form it into a circle, secure it with masking tape, and stick it to the wall.
You can adjust the height to match the players’ level, so once everyone gets used to it, raise the difficulty and enjoy making it more game-like.
Easy Craft! Let’s Play with the Zodiac Sugoroku
An animal zodiac-themed sugoroku game, perfect for New Year’s play, is also a great opportunity to learn about the zodiac of the new year.
Prepare construction paper, colored pens, scissors, milk cartons, paper clay, and paints to make it.
Cut the construction paper into a circle, come up with squares featuring sentences related to that year’s zodiac sign, and lay out the board.
Use a milk carton to build the sugoroku base, attach the construction paper, and write the numbers.
The key is to make the squares equal in size so the board forms a neat square.
For the playing pieces, shape paper clay and paint them.
Sugoroku is ideal for learning numerical concepts and practicing the rules needed to move pieces forward.
Have Fun in Childcare! A Collection of Play Ideas to Liven Up Cold January Days (31–40)
From infants and toddlers! Traditional games everyone can enjoy together
Since it’s the New Year, a traditional Japanese holiday, it’s a great time to try out various classic games.
Kagome Kagome remains a popular game even today.
It’s fun to sing the song with its unique atmosphere, and guessing who is sitting directly behind you is thrilling and exciting.
Hanai-chimonme is also enjoyable, with the hand-holding, leg-lifting poses and the song.
And with soap bubbles, take your time to watch them gently float and drift far away.
Let’s make and play! New Year’s Hanetsuki
Let’s make a handmade hagoita (traditional Japanese paddle) and enjoy New Year’s games.
Prepare a milk carton, wooden chopsticks, vinyl tape, origami paper, glue, and scissors.
Open up the milk carton, draw fold lines for the hagoita, and shape it into the paddle.
By sandwiching a chopstick along the central axis, you can reinforce the core and keep it sturdy.
After applying vinyl tape to the handle and the top part of the paddle, glue origami paper onto the paddle face to finish.
Give it a try!
Three homemade kites!
Let’s make kites that are perfect for New Year’s.
It’s also a lot of fun to go out and fly the ones you’ve made.
I’ll introduce three types of kites.
The first is a twirly, spiral kite.
It’s great because you can practice cutting curves while making it.
The next kite is made by stapling construction paper into a paper-airplane-like shape.
You only need a stapler and a hole punch for this one.
The third kite uses a plastic shopping bag.
First, fold an A4 sheet of paper and draw lines to make a template.
Then cut the plastic bag based on that template.
If you draw a picture on it before assembling, you can create a one-of-a-kind kite.
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.
Let’s try playing Fukuwarai!
Why not try making a fukuwarai using crayons, scissors, and construction paper? Fukuwarai is a traditional Japanese game said to date back to the mid-Edo period.
First, draw parts like eyes, nose, and mouth on construction paper and cut around each piece.
Then make a base.
For the base, you can either cut pale orange construction paper into a face shape and glue it down, or draw the face with crayons.
Once everything is ready, start arranging the parts.
You can express different emotions—like a smiling face or a sad face—depending on how you place the pieces.
It’s also fun to arrange the parts while blindfolded.