Fun to make in childcare! A special feature of horse craft ideas
Here’s an introduction to popular horse crafts for preschools and kindergartens.
Horses are familiar, friendly animals for children, often appearing in picture books and stories.
Using everyday materials like paper cups, paper plates, and milk cartons, these horse crafts spark children’s creativity and let them enjoy steps like coloring and gluing.
After they’re finished, kids can play pretend together with their horses or use them as decorations, expanding the fun beyond the craft itself.
We’ve gathered age-appropriate ideas, so feel free to incorporate them into your class activities.
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Fun to make in childcare! A collection of horse craft ideas (1–10)
Make it with a snack box! Cute little horse
Let’s make a horse toy that sticks out its head when you pinch and move its tail! All you need is a box from your favorite snacks.
First, cut the box into three ring-shaped slices about 2 cm wide.
Stand one ring vertically, then place a second ring next to it to form the horse’s neck and body, and staple them together.
Take the third ring, align its left edge, and attach it underneath the neck and body.
Once attached, flatten it so that the box juts out to the left, and staple it again.
Finally, use the remaining box material to make the head, ears, legs, and tail, attach them, and you’re done!
Make it with pipe cleaners! Chigaya horses
Chigaya horses, a traditional Tanabata decoration often made before the war.
They are made from chigaya, a type of kaya grass, and are typically displayed as a male-female pair.
This idea is to make those chigaya horses using chenille stems (pipe cleaners).
Fold a pipe cleaner in half, twist and secure it as you shape it into a horse.
Use pipe cleaners in your favorite colors to create a vibrant finish.
Since it’s a Tanabata decoration, you could also write a tanzaku (wish strip) and adorn it with a chigaya horse as an accent.
It’s a wonderful idea that also lets you learn about Nerima’s traditions.
Role-play! Cardboard Crafts
This is a piece sold as a horse headgear kit, but since you can see a rough unfolded pattern in the video, I think it’s possible to make it yourself.
The official purchase page also offers a free template for the mane, so make use of that as you build.
Prepare some thin cardboard, draw the unfolded pattern, cut it out, and use a ruler or a scoring tool on the parts that will be mountain folds.
Have fun painting it with paints and expressing your own unique horse.
Once it’s finished, put it on your head and play by fully becoming a horse.
Fun to make in childcare! A special feature on horse-themed craft ideas (11–20)
Play with the wind! A colorful carousel
Let’s make a merry-go-round that you can spin and play with.
First, make a hole in the center of the base of one paper plate and the bottom of a paper cup.
Next, cut a 12 mm straw to 2 cm, then snip one end into fine fringes and flare them outward to make a stopper.
Thread the paper plate and the paper cup (with the bottom facing up) onto the uncut end of the straw, and tape the stopper part to the paper plate to secure it.
After attaching the 2 cm straw you just made as a stopper right above the paper cup, punch a hole in one end of an 8 mm straw.
Pass a short piece of 6 mm straw through that hole, place a paper plate shaped like an umbrella over it, and glue it in place.
Hang horse illustrations from the inside of the umbrella, insert the 8 mm straw into the 12 mm base straw, and it’s complete.
If preschoolers are making it, prepare the 8 mm straws with holes in advance.
A little horse to enjoy with a glove theater
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How about making a glove horse that can also be used as a glove theater prop? You’ll need a brown glove, felt fabric, construction paper, and yarn.
Use the thumb of the glove as the head and the other four fingers as the legs.
First, make the horse’s face out of felt and attach it to the thumb.
Then glue hooves made from construction paper to the tips of the remaining fingers.
Finally, bundle some yarn to make a tail and glue it to the palm side, facing outward.
When performing as a glove theater, face the back of your hand forward so it looks like a horse.
Ideas for making horses out of clay
When children move up to the preschool class, they tend to play with clay more often.
So this time, I’d like to share an idea for making a horse out of clay.
The steps are: roll a large piece of clay into an oval to form the body, then stretch and shape the clay to create the neck and legs.
Add the head, mane, and tail by building them up with additional clay.
This idea uses oil-based clay, but if you’re using paper clay, you can let it dry and enjoy painting it with colors.
That way, it can also be used as a decoration.
Easy and cute! Horse origami
Fold the origami paper in half twice to make a square, crease well, then unfold.
Next, fold the left and right edges to meet the center crease.
Flip the paper over, then fold the bottom edge up to meet the center line.
Fold that raised section back down to align with the bottom edge, and flip the paper over again.
Now fold all four corners inward to form triangles.
Open the pocket in the middle of the bottom triangle and squash it flat; then fold the two lower corners of the opened section into small triangles to create the horse’s nose.
For the top triangle, open the folded part and squash it into a diamond, then fold only the upper half downward.
Make a mountain fold about 7 mm wide, and along that crease, cut slits from the center of the triangle outward to both sides.
Open the cut section into a rectangle, tuck the two top corners to the back, and reform it into a triangle.
Flip this triangle to the other side and make diagonal pleated folds to form the mane.
Fold up the remaining lower triangle of the diamond to make the ears, and tuck the left and right edges inward to create the horse’s long, slender outline.
Finally, fold the corners to refine the outline, and you’re done!