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[Craft] Make and Display! A Special Feature on Ideas for Making Koinobori (Carp Streamers)
When it comes to Children’s Day, many people think of koinobori (carp streamers).
Koinobori are displayed at schools and at home to wish for children’s healthy growth.
This time, we’re sharing ideas for making koinobori.
There are plenty of fun ideas: perfect for wall displays, ones that use handprints and footprints, and even wearable versions! If children arrange them freely with their own ideas, they can create wonderfully unique koinobori full of personality.
Through making activities, let’s also teach the origins and customs of Children’s Day to deepen their interest in the event.
We use the term “seisaku” in the text because the items children create are treated as works or projects.
[Crafting] Make and Display! A Special Feature on Ideas for Making Koinobori (Carp Streamers) (1–10)
Carp streamer decoration made with Japanese-style origami!NEW!
Carp streamers swimming through your room! This is a garland you can make just by cutting and pasting origami.
Overlap and glue a 2 cm × 7.5 cm piece of origami (for the face) onto the left side of a 7.5 cm × 8 cm piece (for the body).
Fold it in half, then cut the right side to create the tail fin.
After that, attach the parts for the eye, pectoral fin, and dorsal fin to finish.
The inside of the carp streamer is hollow, so thread twine or similar through to connect them and complete the garland.
It looks cuter if you pinch the top and bottom slightly to give it a bit of a three-dimensional shape rather than leaving it flat!
Puffy scales! Cute koinobori (carp streamer)NEW!
This is a wall decoration of carp streamers that makes you want to touch the plump, three-dimensional scales.
You complete it by attaching origami-made scales to a carp streamer base cut from construction paper.
To achieve a three-dimensional look for the scales, cut them into teardrop shapes, make a slit, then slightly overlap and glue the two sides of the slit.
At this point, the key is to have the lower part of each scale sink in with the colored side concave, and the upper part rise with the colored side convex.
Using traditional Japanese-patterned origami for the upper parts adds a festive touch.
Carp streamers on a paper-plate wreathNEW!
Perfect for Children’s Day crafts! This is a carp streamer wreath made with a paper plate and colored construction paper.
First, cut out the inside of the paper plate so only the rim remains, and paint it in any color you like.
Next, cut out three carp streamers from colored paper and use a cotton swab and white paint to draw the scales.
Decorate the edge of the plate with paper clouds, then glue some jute twine slightly to the left of center.
Attach the carp streamers onto the jute twine, add a pinwheel made with two colors of round stickers, and you’re done! Don’t forget to draw cute faces on the carp streamers.
Wiggly, wriggling carp streamerNEW!
When you sway its body from side to side, it looks just like a snake! This is a fun, wiggly carp streamer.
First, cut the construction paper in half and connect the pieces vertically to make it longer.
Fold it accordion-style into four sections to make it long and narrow, then snip slits with scissors to create the scales.
Open the paper and make mountain-and-valley folds between the scales to turn it into a wiggly carp streamer.
Draw eyes on the face area, then trim part of the lower section to form the tail fin.
Add patterns to the scales, and it’s done!
Kashiwa-mochi are scale-like carp streamersNEW!
Carp streamers that reimagine Kashiwa-mochi—lucky treats for Children’s Day—as fish scales! It’s an innovative idea that makes you feel cheerful just looking at it.
Make the base of the carp streamer from construction paper.
Create the Kashiwa-mochi by using circular origami paper and attaching green origami cut into the shape of oak leaves.
After sticking the two together, make a slit down the center of the oak leaf and overlap the left and right sides to give it a three-dimensional finish—that’s the key point.
Instructions for making irises are also included, so make them together and complete a May-themed wall decoration.
Garland-style koi nobori (carp streamers)NEW!
https://www.tiktok.com/@ashumama_kosodate/video/7491610054190238992Perfect for May origami too! Let’s decorate your room with a garland-style carp streamer.
You’ll need eight 7.5 cm sheets of origami paper.
Fold each sheet into a triangle twice, then choose two and insert the overlapping corners into each other to make one unit.
Do the same with the remaining sheets to make a total of four units.
Next, stack and glue these four units in the same direction to form the carp streamer.
Add an eye, thread a string through the inside, and your garland-style carp streamer is complete! Try making it colorful by deliberately changing all the colors and patterns of the origami paper.
Craft punches are cute! Easy Koinobori (carp streamers)NEW!
Here’s a cute craft idea: attach an origami carp streamer to a base and decorate around it with flowers made using a craft punch.
To make the carp streamer, fold 1 cm along the left edge so the white side faces out, flip it over, and fold it into thirds.
For the tail fin, crease it first, then cut it off in a triangle.
Add scales and an eye to finish.
Once the carp streamer and a pinwheel are attached to a round backing, scatter the craft-punched flowers to make it festive.
Punch a hole at the top, thread a string through, and you can use it as a wall decoration.
Koinobori made with drawing paperNEW!
Just cut and paste construction paper! Here are ideas for making a carp streamer (koinobori).
Prepare a 14.5 cm × 10 cm sheet of construction paper for the body and a 14.5 cm × 6 cm sheet for the tail fin.
First, roll the body sheet into a tube and glue it.
For the tail fin, draw two adjacent semicircles along one side of the 14.5 cm edge, cut along those semicircles with scissors, then overlap and glue it to the body.
Cut scales from construction paper in the same color as the tail fin and glue them evenly over the body, then add an eye to finish the koinobori.
Attach the finished koinobori to a thick straw to complete it.
Swim with the wind! Hanging carp streamersNEW!
Feel soothed by the way it gently sways in the breeze.
Let’s try making a carp streamer with origami.
First, cut the origami paper into three equal strips so each measures 15 cm by 5 cm.
Take one of the strips, fold it lengthwise into thirds, then make alternating slits from the top and bottom at 0.5 mm intervals.
Leave 3 cm on both the left and right ends, as these will be the face and the tail fin.
Once the slits are made, gently open the paper and carefully spread each woven section one by one.
Attach an eye on the left side you left intact, then cut the right side with scissors to form the tail fin, and you’re done.
If you make a slit in the face and thread a string through it, you can hang it as a decoration.
Easy to display! How to make a 3D carp streamerNEW!
This is a carp streamer decoration made with washi-pattern origami.
Place the origami with the colored side up and fold the left edge 1.5 cm inward.
The white part that appears on the front will be the carp streamer’s face.
Roll it into a tube to make the body, then cut slits on the side opposite the face to create the tail fin.
Attach a round sticker for the eye on the face, and it’s done.
Make several and connect them vertically with a strip of paper to create a lovely May-themed wall decoration.
Instructions for making smaller carp streamers are also included, so you can represent a whole carp family.