Lovely childcare

Have fun in childcare! A collection of play ideas to liven up cold days in January

Have fun in childcare! A collection of play ideas to liven up cold days in January

Last updated:2026/1/16

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.

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!

Have Fun in Childcare! A Collection of Play Ideas to Liven Up Cold January Days (1–10)

Let’s enjoy New Year’s games!

[Ages 0–2] Let’s Enjoy New Year’s Games!

Let's enjoy New Year's games!

Let’s set up various stations in the playground so the children can experience New Year’s traditions.

We’ll introduce five activities: rice-cake pounding (mochitsuki), spinning tops (koma), karuta card games, kite flying (takoage), and visiting a shrine to offer prayers.

For mochitsuki, we’ll actually use a mortar and pestle to pound the mochi, while the tops, karuta, kites, and shrine are all handmade.

By making good use of cardboard and milk cartons, you can create remarkably authentic items.

Children can play with the toys you’ve made, or they can take on the challenge of making them themselves.

Enjoy New Year’s experiences suited to the children’s ages.

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Fukuwarai from a one-year-old!

[Fukuwarai!?] New Year’s craft from around age 1. Recommended for January. #childcareideas #childcarecrafts #DIY #crafts #handmade #homemade #preschoolteacherlife #easycrafts #YearOfTheDragon

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.

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Handmade toys you can play with during the New Year

[Production] Handmade toys you can play with at New Year (spinning tops/kite flying/hanetsuki)

Handmade toys you can play with during the New Year

Try making New Year’s crafts that you can enjoy and play with even after they’re finished, together as a parent-child activity.

You’ll make a spinning top, a kite, and a hanetsuki set (paddle and shuttlecock).

For the top, draw pictures on the sides of a paper cup, cut four evenly spaced slits and flare them open, then attach a plastic bottle cap as the handle.

For the kite, slightly offset and layer two sheets of origami paper and glue them together; attach sparkly tape as the tails to complete the body, then add a lactic-acid drink bottle as the handle and tie on kite string.

For the hanetsuki paddle, use cardboard and disposable chopsticks: cut two paddle-shaped pieces from cardboard, sandwich the chopsticks between them, and glue.

For the shuttlecock, tie a knot in the middle of some raffia (suzuran) tape, press a small ball of tissue onto the knot, and wrap it with origami paper.

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New Year Panel Theater

[New Year / Panel Theater] I’m gonna open all sorts of things! [Live Performance]

New Year Panel Theater

How about celebrating the New Year with a panel theater themed around Oshōgatsu? In this show, set to music and song, you open various places and say “Happy New Year.” You greet all sorts of things—like the sun you see when you open a window, the rice inside a rice cooker, and the milk in the refrigerator.

Children will be excited to find out what appears next, and they’ll naturally learn the important New Year’s greeting.

Perfect for New Year’s events and recreational activities.

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New Year’s rice-cake pounding hand play

@soiflhoiku
This is a hand game about making mochi for New Year’s.#Nursery school Kindergarten Teacher Aspiring childcare worker Nursery teacher / Childcare worker #NurseryTeacherThings child 1 year old 2 years old Nursery School Practicum #NurseryTeacherThings Hand games New Year #MochitsukiPettan #Mochitsuki New Year hand games January hand play #NewYearMochiPounding
♬ Everyday songs with a cute and slightly blurred atmosphere(1277086) – Sumochi

In Japan, pounding rice cakes (mochi) is a year-end tradition.

So how about introducing a hand-play activity themed around mochi pounding as a January game? Along with motions that knead and pound the mochi to the song, there’s a fun game element where you clap your hands at set positions—top, middle, and bottom.

At the end, you make kagami-mochi and everyone enjoys it together.

Kids who experienced it at the end of the year will likely say, “I know this!” and have fun, and even those who haven’t done mochi pounding may become interested through this hand-play song.

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Grill the mochi

Mochikko Yae (Nursery Rhyme): January Hand Play

Grill the mochi

January is a month with many chances to eat mochi.

Kids may each have their favorite ways to enjoy it—soy sauce, kinako, anko, and more.

In this hand-play song, we have fun with hand motions themed around tasty ways to eat mochi.

You can pretend to grill the mochi, dip it in soy sauce, and even enjoy it as a bonding play activity with babies.

Beyond the methods mentioned in the lyrics, it could be fun to ask the children and try out various ideas together.

If you’re looking for a hand-play perfect for January, give this one a try.

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Mochi Glasses & Mochi-Pounding Peta-peta-petan-ko

[January Fingerplay] Mochi Glasses♪ “Mochi-Pounding Pettan Pettanko~” A song kids sing every day at nursery school/kindergarten after winter break! Children’s song! (With lyrics)

Mochi Glasses & Mochi-Pounding Peta-peta-petan-ko

When making mochi, we use the onomatopoeic word “pettan,” don’t we? In this fingerplay song, you touch your thumb to each of your other fingers in time with that sound to act out pounding mochi.

And what you end up with isn’t a kagami-mochi, but… mochi glasses! They look like they’d really stick to your face, but it seems like a fun way to spark kids’ imaginations about what to make with mochi.

Moving your fingers precisely is trickier than it looks, so start slowly at first.

Once you get the hang of it, try speeding up for a challenge.

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