Lovely childcare

[Early Childhood Education] Sports Day craft ideas: medals, cheering flags, and wall decorations.

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 as a kindergarten teacher for 10 years and as an after-school childcare instructor for 7 years, then took a position as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I engaged in activities that introduced Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational activities, working with many children. Later, through freelance writing, planning, and editing at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and sharing. Drawing on the perspective cultivated in the field of education and my experience as an editor, I provide practical information with an emphasis on both input and output, mainly in areas related to music and children. My hobbies include instruments, singing, handicrafts, toys, drawing, traditional games, the outdoors, and books. My special skill is spinning-top tricks.
9 years of experience as a nursery school teacherShibata Risa
I am an active nursery school teacher with 9 years of experience. After graduating from university, I worked at a daycare center. The time I spent happily with children—playing piano, singing songs, and doing finger-play—are priceless memories to me. Currently, while raising three children of my own, I work at an after-school day service, engaging with children and providing individualized developmental support. Drawing on my diverse experiences as a childcare worker and as a mother, I hope to express and convey my thoughts through writing.

Sports festivals at nursery schools and kindergartens are important once-a-year events for children.

Each child practices really hard.

Here, we’ll introduce craft ideas that can create fun memories for the kids who are giving it their all!

In addition to medals and trophies, making an entrance gate, wall decorations, and cheering flags will really boost the atmosphere.

We also recommend creating them together with the children.

Let’s have kids and adults enjoy the preparations together and make lots of wonderful sports day memories!

[Childcare] Sports day craft ideas: medals, cheering flags, and wall displays (41–50)

Sports day wall display

If you make wall decorations for the sports day, the time leading up to the event will be filled with excitement.

There are many ideas for sports day wall decorations, and one recommendation is to use scenes from each event as motifs.

Try picking your children’s favorite events, such as footraces or ball tosses.

Another idea is to have animals participate instead of people.

This will give the decorations a cuter, more whimsical feel.

Designing them with items like headbands (hachimaki) will also create a more authentic sports day atmosphere.

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[Childcare] Sports day craft ideas: medals, cheering flags, and wall displays (51–60)

gold, silver, and bronze medals

[One sheet of origami] Medal 🥇 How to make a paper medal #medal #rosette #medal #पदक #médaille #Olympics #medal (Korean) #easy #howtofold #origami (Japanese) #origami (English) #paperfolding (Chinese/Japanese) #howto make

gold, silver, and bronze medals

This is a luxurious medal made with gold, silver, and bronze origami paper—just like an Olympic medal! Cut the origami paper in half, accordion-fold it, and while lifting each mountain fold one by one, fold the corners at both ends inward.

Open one outer layer, fold it in half, then fold the corners of the protruding part and tuck them inside.

Open it into a circle and adjust the shape.

Finally, attach a ribbon to hang it around the neck, and it’s complete! If you use gold or silver origami paper, the uneven surfaces will reflect light, giving the medal a glamorous look.

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trophy

[Craft Play] A gift that makes you feel like a winner just by holding it! Paper Cup Trophy

trophy

How about making a trophy out of a paper cup? The steps are simple: use a cut toilet paper roll as the base and a paper cup as the cup portion.

Then cover it with yellow origami paper, tie on a red ribbon, and it’s done.

This way, you can make one for each person.

Its small size also makes it easy to display in a room, which is another plus.

Some steps involve using scissors, so make sure a teacher or guardian is nearby to supervise.

Be especially careful with the toilet paper roll, as it’s quite stiff.

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pom-pom

[For Childcare Workers] Sports Day Special! How to Make Pom-Poms ✨ [Nursery School/Kindergarten]

pom-pom

How about making pom-poms with plastic raffia tape (suzuran tape)? Change up the colors by class or go with red and white as you create them.

If you like, add a loop to slip over the wrist—then you won’t have to worry about dropping them even with vigorous movement.

The finished pom-poms can be used in all kinds of situations, such as livening up a parade or for dance routines.

It’s fun to enjoy the crinkly texture and rustling sound, and above all, it’s appealing that everyone can have the same item.

It’ll boost your team spirit.

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medal

[Sports Day] Easy and cute medal (origami) tutorial! Also great as rosettes and decorations ♪ For daycare and kindergarten

medal

Having something that commemorates taking part in a competition can become a prompt to look back on those memories later, right? With that in mind, here’s an idea I’d like to share: making medals out of origami.

This project involves combining accordion-folded pieces of origami paper.

Its distinguishing feature is the blank space in the center.

It’s lovely to write a message or draw an illustration there for each person.

This medal can also be used as a rosette.

In that case, you could write the class name or the person’s name.

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In conclusion

We introduced many crafts to make with the children for Sports Day.

Through projects like placards, medals, and cheering flags—where each child can take part—their excitement for the event grows.

With some creativity in decorations, teachers can also bring their ideas to life.

The process of creating everything together with the children will surely become a wonderful memory.