[For Seniors] Easy Craft Ideas to Make at Day Service in July
In July, the heat really starts to set in.
Older adults may also spend more time indoors as a way to cope with the heat.
To enjoy the hot days of summer, we recommend indoor craft activities.
If you’re unsure what to make, try choosing crafts that match July’s events.
July features a variety of occasions, such as Tanabata and Marine Day.
For Tanabata, there are traditional decorations you can make to fully enjoy the season.
Be sure to read this article and use it to help plan July crafts for older adults.
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- Simple Crafts for the Elderly Recommended for Tanabata
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- [For Senior Daycare Centers] Ideas for Summer Take-Home Crafts
[For seniors] Make it at day service in July: Introducing simple craft ideas (121–130)
Tanabata-style calendar
This time, we’ll introduce a July calendar craft centered on Tanabata, the July festival.
Many of you may be thinking, “I want to make a handmade calendar.” There are various calendar-making kits available for purchase.
A kit featuring bamboo branches decorated for Tanabata is especially handy.
If you use a craft knife to cut out the bamboo leaves on the double-layered calendar base, you’ll get a three-dimensional finish.
And of course, be sure to add tanzaku—wish strips imbued with the feelings of the seniors—onto the bamboo.
Including tanzaku will help you create a calendar with a unique, personal touch.
[For Seniors] Easy Craft Ideas to Make at Day Service in July: Introductions (131–140)
Tanabata Decorations – Double Heart
Let’s make a heart-shaped decoration that looks like a Tanabata casting net! Prepare several strips of origami paper cut into long, thin pieces in a few different colors.
Use each strip to form a heart shape, then link the hearts together so they connect like a net.
A stapler is handy for attaching one heart to the next.
Rather than using a single color, combining about two colors is recommended.
Linking around six hearts is enough.
Try hanging it as a wall decoration or as one of the ornaments on bamboo for Tanabata!
Tanabata decorations and the Milky Way
Let’s use drawing paper to make a Milky Way inspired by the night of Tanabata.
It’s a simple Milky Way that you create just by making slits and pulling, but if you also attach Orihime and Hikoboshi, stars, morning glories, and more, you’ll have a lovely Tanabata decoration.
Enjoy a display that captures the feeling of the season.
Making a windsock
If you’re looking for a summer-themed craft for older adults to enjoy, we recommend making “fukinagashi” streamers.
These colorful streamers, displayed on Tanabata, evoke a cool, refreshing atmosphere.
With just origami paper, scissors, and glue, anyone can easily give it a try.
Whether someone is skilled at origami or not, working together can be a great opportunity to foster communication.
The activity can be done slowly while seated, so older adults can participate comfortably and safely.
Prepare some colorful origami paper and be sure to display your creations on Tanabata!
Summer interior frame
Summer brings various events like Tanabata, trips to the beach, and summer festivals, and many people may want to capture those moments in photos.
If you put some thought into the frames you display them in, your memories might be beautifully enhanced.
By simply adding summer-themed decorations to a photo frame you can even find at a 100-yen shop, you can easily create a summery frame.
A frame painted entirely in blue and adorned with shells or sand motifs strongly evokes the ocean, making it perfect for displaying beach photos.
In this way, choosing a frame theme to match the photo seems like a fun idea.
You could even use frames as decorations on their own, not just for holding photos.
Summer Juice
On a hot day, gulping down juice lets you enjoy a deliciousness that feels different from usual.
Let’s use that juice as our theme and make a July calendar.
Prepare construction paper or origami in juice colors like orange and grape.
Cut them into the shape of glasses and color them with crayons as you like.
Make ice shapes out of plastic bags and create fruit with construction paper, then paste them inside the paper glasses.
Add straws, or place ice cream made from tissue paper on top of the glass.
Attach the finished juice glass to the calendar, and it’s complete.
The three-dimensional feel of the piece is sure to satisfy older adults as well.
Summer wall decoration
A summer-themed wall display lets you feel the season and brightens the mood, doesn’t it? This is a wall art project that’s easy for seniors to make, too.
How about a design with sunflowers stretching energetically up toward the blue sky? For the sunflower blossoms, tissue paper or colored paper works well.
For the stems and leaves, crumple paper into a ball, open it up, and cut it into shape after giving it a wrinkled texture—this brings out a natural, plant-like feel! Using materials like crepe sheets that already have a wrinkled texture makes it easy, so give it a try.
Adding clouds, the sun, and summer insects will make the display look even more charming!
