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Enjoy with everyday materials! Fun ideas for making oden

Enjoy with everyday materials! Fun ideas for making oden

Last updated:2025/10/9

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.
20 years of experience as a nursery teacher / kindergarten teacherhiyoko sensei
I’m Hiyoko-sensei, a former nursery school teacher from Hyogo Prefecture. Ever since I was five, my dream was to become a childcare worker, and before I knew it, 20 years had passed since I achieved that dream. Through singing and playing with the children, I kept working with the spirit of someone in their twenties, even as I increasingly felt my physical limits year by year (haha). From here on, I’d like to share helpful information carefully and thoughtfully, drawing on my on-site experience.

Oden, a popular winter craft! Why not try a fun project with children using colorful construction paper, felt, and yarn? With paper daikon radish, felt mochi pouches, and konnyaku knitted from yarn, you can create a warm, cozy world of oden using a variety of materials.

It’s a classic winter activity that everyone can enjoy together, whether at home, daycare, or kindergarten.

Let your imagination run wild and create your very own original oden! Note: Because the children’s creations are treated as works of art, the term used in the text is “制作 (seisaku)” rather than “製作 (seisaku).”

Have fun with familiar materials! Enjoyable Oden Craft Ideas (1–10)

How to make easy oden

[Made in February] Oden

How to make easy oden

Recommended for those who want to make an oden pot packed with lots of ingredients! Prepare as many sheets of origami as you can in colors that match typical oden ingredients.

For example, for daikon radish, take a beige sheet of origami, cut it into a half-sized rectangle, fold it in half, fold the corners, and draw lines with a crayon to finish.

For konnyaku, simply fold a small piece of origami into a triangle and add a pattern.

For kombu, fold a black sheet of origami three times to make a small rectangle, then stick a thin strip of yellow origami down the center.

Finally, glue all the pieces you made onto a sheet of construction paper cut into a pot shape, and your oden pot is complete.

Try making and adding any other favorite ingredients with your own creative twists!

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A wall display of oden that even two-year-olds can enjoy!

[Making Oden] A childcare worker explains how to make a version that can also become a wall display! (Ages 2 and up) #shorts

A wall display of oden that even two-year-olds can enjoy!

Stick this on the wall and it’s sure to make you hungry! First, cut out the shapes of a pot and soup from construction paper and glue them in place.

Next, cut out your favorite oden ingredients from construction paper.

If teachers at kindergartens or nurseries, or parents/guardians, pre-draw the shapes of various oden ingredients on the paper, children will only need to do the cutting.

Once the ingredients are cut out, arrange and paste them however you like inside the pot you made at the start—that’s it! Paste lots of your favorite ingredients and complete your very own original oden pot.

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Made with sponge stamps! Fun oden

[Crafts for ages 0–5] Winter foods with sponge stamps 🥢 #childcarecrafts #nursery #kindergarten #kodomoen #nurseryteacher #kindergartenteacher #childcareideas #easycrafts #crafts #stamps #walldisplay #infantcrafts #constructionpaper

Made with sponge stamps! Fun oden

Using sponge stamps, we’ll create patterns for oden ingredients.

For example, for konnyaku, if you press a coarse-textured sponge or a sponge with raised bumps onto a triangle-cut piece of gray construction paper like a stamp, you can make the konnyaku’s speckled texture.

In the same way, using a sponge with carved grooves will make the daikon’s striations, and a sponge with fine cuts can create the wavy, mottled pattern of fish cakes.

Once your oden ingredients are ready, paste them onto construction paper cut into the shape of a pot to complete your oden hot pot!

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For winter childcare! Origami oden

Perfect for winter preschool crafts! We tried making oden with origami ♪ #shorts

For winter childcare! Origami oden

Let’s make oden out of origami, with three items—konnyaku, daikon, and chikuwa—skewered on a stick.

First, fold a gray sheet of origami paper twice to make a small triangle, draw a pattern, and you’ll have the konnyaku.

Next, fold a yellow sheet using the “cushion fold,” then fold all four corners inward to round it out; draw a cross-shaped slit to finish the daikon.

For the chikuwa, draw a pattern on brown origami paper and roll it into a tube shape.

Finally, fold another sheet into a long, thin skewer and attach the three pieces you made.

Your oden is complete!

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Easy way to make oden

@hoikusi1
Oden Craft Project: A Preschool Teacher Explains a Method That Can Also Be Used as a Wall Display (Ages 2+) A preschool teacher will show you the steps for making an oden craft. It’s an easy method that can also serve as a wall decoration. Target Age: 2 years and upChildcare Nursery teacher / Childcare worker #NurseryTeacher #FirstYearNurseryTeacher #Childcare Crafting #Nursery School Craft #Making Play origami Origami Origami play Early childhood education materials #Childcare topic Aspiring childcare worker solid work Translation wall surface Winter #Oden
♪ Original Song – Manual for First-Year Nursery Teachers – Manual for First-Year Nursery Teachers

Let’s add oden ingredients to a paper pot filled with soup! For children old enough to use scissors, draw only guide lines on construction paper and have them cut out the ingredient shapes themselves.

Then they can glue the pieces onto the soup and draw patterns or details.

For younger children who can’t use scissors yet, prepare the ingredient parts in advance and stick double-sided tape on the back so they can enjoy placing them like stickers.

In addition to classics like daikon radish, konnyaku, eggs, and mochi pouches, it’s also fun to think about what other ingredients to include.

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Everyone’s favorite! Oden delivery

We’re going to put odeng (Japanese hot pot) ingredients made from origami into a pot made from construction paper.

First, fold gray origami paper into a triangle and stick on a round sticker to make konnyaku.

Next, fold white origami paper into a triangle, stuff some crumpled tissue or similar inside, and glue the edges to make hanpen.

Fold the corners of yellow origami inward to round them, draw the pattern, and you’ve got daikon.

With light orange origami, keep the white side facing up, fold it into a long narrow strip, and stick on a round sticker colored brown to make chikuwa-bu.

For the egg, layer white and yellow construction paper cut into circles.

Paste the finished ingredients into the pot, draw steam, add a noren curtain, and you’re done!

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Fun in winter! Let’s play Oden shop

https://www.tiktok.com/@taisougakuen_osaka_ikuno/video/7199952165304077570

Here’s a humorous craft idea where children transform into oden shop owners.

The oden ingredients are made by cutting and pasting construction paper and drawing patterns with pens.

Stick those into a paper pot you’ve made.

Glue the pot near the bottom of a large backing sheet, and above it, attach photos of the children with twisted headbands and their arms folded.

Finally, hang a noren curtain at the top of the backing sheet to finish! The children also write the characters on the noren, and each one gives the shop its own unique vibe.

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