[For Seniors] Recommended Wall Decorations and Crafts for January
We’d like to introduce wall decorations that are perfect for January, the month when we welcome a brand-new year!
We’ve gathered auspicious New Year–themed pieces as well as works that let you feel the season of January.
Many January decorations feature vibrant colors that will brighten up your space.
We offer a wide range: items you shape by hand, projects with simple steps, and pieces that require fine finger work.
New Year’s decorations often feature traditional Japanese motifs such as shimenawa and shishimai.
Some older adults may find themselves reminiscing as they create.
Why not enjoy making them while sharing stories and memories?
- Lucky Daruma: Craft ideas for decorating January wall displays for seniors
- [For Seniors] Let’s Make New Year Decorations by Hand! A Collection of Easy Ideas Using Everyday Materials
- [For Seniors] January Craft Ideas: Boost Your Luck with New Year Decorations and Good-Luck Charms
- For Seniors: Auspicious Handmade Zodiac Ornament Craft Ideas
- For seniors: Snowman crafts to brighten January wall displays—fun ideas using origami, paper plates, and papercutting.
- [For Seniors] Decorate your January wall with rabbits! Packed with ideas like snowball fights, New Year’s festivities, and rice cake pounding
- Recommended winter wall decorations for seniors: heartwarming ideas
- [For Seniors] January Craft Ideas for Day Service Activities
- For seniors: Year-round ideas for wall decorations
- [For Seniors] Recommended Origami for January
- [For Seniors] Heartwarming and Cozy: Perfect Wall Decoration Ideas for Winter in Care Facilities
- [For Seniors] January Activities and Recreation Games
- For Seniors: Wall Decorations to Brighten Up February — Festive Ideas for Setsubun, Valentine’s Day, Plum Blossoms, and More
[For Seniors] Recommended Wall Decorations and Crafts for January (81–90)
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.
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.
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.
A life-sized ema made from A4 copy 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.
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.
Fukuwarai wall decoration of a rabbit daruma
Would you like to make a rabbit daruma decoration—an arrangement perfect for New Year’s that adds a cute twist to the traditional daruma and brightens up your wall décor? Use the template downloadable from YouTube to cut out each part.
For round pieces like the eyes, a circle punch is handy.
Once everything is cut out, glue the parts in place while referring to the template.
The expression will change depending on where you position the pieces, which is part of the fun.
Give it a try!
[For Seniors] Recommended Wall Decorations and Crafts for January (91–100)
New Year’s origami
Let’s try folding a daruma doll using a single sheet of origami paper! The steps are simple, but you’ll end up with a cute daruma.
Once it’s done, draw the face with a pen or use round stickers—try different expressions and enjoy customizing it! Origami is said to stimulate and activate the brain by using your fingertips and thinking through the next steps.
It’s also easy to do while chatting with others, which helps spark social interaction.
Please make use of origami daruma to create a delightful time for older adults.
