For Seniors: Come, Spring! Recommended March Craft Ideas for Daycare Services
In this article, we introduce March craft ideas recommended for seniors!
When it comes to March events, there are many with a cute image, like Hinamatsuri (Girls’ Day) and White Day.
Using lots of soft colors like pink and white in your crafts can put you in a gentle mood.
It’s the season when spring flowers begin to bloom, so let’s create a bright, festive atmosphere through crafting!
There are plenty of ideas you can use in senior day services and other elder care facilities, so please use them as a reference when making crafts together.
- [For Seniors] Crafts to Make in March! Recommended Project Ideas
- For Seniors: Recommended Wall Decoration Ideas for March
- [Day Service] Spring Take-Home Crafts: Ideas to Warmly Brighten Your Room
- [For Seniors] March Origami: Ideas to Brighten Your Room with Seasonal Flowers and Events
- [For Seniors] Spring Wall Decorations: A Collection of Ideas to Brighten Up Your Room
- [Day Service] Excited for Hinamatsuri! Craft ideas to brighten up your room
- [For Seniors] Brighten Up Hinamatsuri: Wall Decoration Ideas
- [For Seniors] Have Fun Making Things Based on Today’s Mood! Today’s Recommended Craft
- [For Seniors] Color Your Care Facility’s Spring: Wall Decoration Ideas
- [For Seniors] Hinamatsuri Recreation: Fun Ideas for Games, Crafts, and Snack Making
- For seniors: Heartwarming and cozy. Recommended handmade Hina dolls
- [For seniors] Enjoy spring: April craft ideas
- [For Seniors] Making a March Calendar: Introducing Spring-Themed Motifs and Arrangements
[For Seniors] Come, Spring! Recommended March Craft Ideas for Day Service (211–220)
Paper-cup Emperor and Empress (Hina dolls)
The Peach Festival has long been an event held to pray for children’s health.
And the stars of the Peach Festival are, of course, the imperial dolls—the Odairi-sama and Ohina-sama! This time, let’s make the Odairi-sama and Ohina-sama using paper cups.
First, decorate the paper cups with masking tape or origami paper—choose any patterns you like.
Next, draw the dolls’ faces.
Attach the dolls to the paper cups, and finally thread a string through them to complete a hanging Hina decoration.
It would also make a delightful gift for your grandchildren.
Paper Cup Fishing
Let me introduce a lively, indoor activity: “Paper Cup Fishing.” You’ll need paper cups, newspaper, disposable chopsticks and tape, plus some wire.
First, draw your favorite sea creatures on the paper cups.
If drawing isn’t your strength, you can paste on printed illustrations.
Tear newspaper into thin strips by hand and attach them to the cups.
The length changes the difficulty, so you can make larger “fish” harder to catch if you like.
Make a fishing rod with the chopsticks, a fishing line from newspaper, and a hook from wire—then you’re ready! Arrange the fish-shaped paper cups on a table and catch them with your rod.
You can play in various ways: first to catch five wins, or whoever catches the most in 30 seconds wins, and so on.
While playing, you’ll use many parts of the body—shoulders, elbows, wrists, and fingertips—so it’s also effective as occupational therapy.
It’s perfect for recreation in senior care facilities.
No-sew felt hanging hina dolls
Let’s try making a hanging decoration out of felt that’s perfect for the Peach Festival (Hinamatsuri)! Hanging it in your room will instantly bring a feeling of spring.
Sewing is one of the trickier steps in handicrafts, isn’t it? Many people find threading a needle difficult.
The project we’re introducing this time is a no-sew felt hanging decoration.
Since you only need to cut and glue, it’s easy for seniors to try as well.
Let’s make peach blossoms, dango, hishimochi, and more out of felt.
There aren’t any particularly difficult steps, but please be careful when using a hot glue gun.
Pop-up cherry blossoms
From cherry trees laden with blossoms, one can sometimes feel a sense of luxury and impact.
The more cherry trees there are, the stronger that feeling can be, right? Let’s help older adults pick up on that atmosphere from the walls of facilities decorated with cherry-themed works.
We’ll make cherry blossoms of different sizes and colors out of construction paper.
Attach the tips of the petals you’ve made with glue.
The key is to be thoughtful about the order in which you attach them.
With a bit of planning, several blossoms can come together to create a three-dimensional finish.
Display them on the wall, and add some petals alongside to enhance the overall look even more.
Even seniors who find it difficult to go out may be able to feel the spirit of hanami by looking at these three-dimensional cherry decorations.
Sumire
Violets, which you often see in garden beds and parks, are flowers that are at their best in spring.
Let’s beautifully decorate a wall with colorful violet flowers in blue, yellow, white, and more.
Make violet petals using accordion-folded origami, then use construction paper as the stem to attach and build the violet flowers.
You can also create stems and leaves from origami, attach petals, and make side-facing violets.
How about making butterflies or ladybugs as well? Displaying them together with the violets will create wall decorations that evoke an even stronger spring atmosphere.
Feeling the seasons through wall decorations and looking at lovely violets can help brighten the mood of older adults, too.
hishi mochi (diamond-shaped layered rice cake)
Hinamatsuri, the March festival celebrating early spring.
For this bright, springlike occasion, some people take out cherished Hina dolls and display them.
Others might decorate with handmade Hina dolls.
Do you have accessories like hishimochi to accompany the dolls? Items that can be placed on the tiered Hina display include bonbori lanterns and hishimochi; this time, let’s try making hishimochi by hand.
It will give the set a more cohesive feel.
Hishimochi’s colors are pink from gardenia, white from the water caltrop, and green from mugwort.
To add dimension, wrap pieces of styrofoam with fabric in those colors, and once you’ve also made a base for the hishimochi, it’s complete.
Easter egg
Many people probably think, “Easter is in April, right?!” In fact, Easter—one of the most important events in Christianity—doesn’t have a fixed date; it’s defined by the rather tricky rule: “the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the spring equinox.” Because of this, in some years, grand Easter celebrations can take place as early as late March.
Speaking of Easter motifs, there are Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny! If you make simple crafts out of items like toilet paper rolls to decorate your room, you’ll find yourself looking forward to the warmth of spring even more.
