May: Craft Ideas That Excite 4-Year-Olds!
May is the time when the new school year settles down a bit and the weather is perfect for enjoyable outdoor activities.
Four-year-olds are surely excited about the new season, too.
May also includes Children’s Day and Mother’s Day, making it a great time to deepen learning about traditional events.
In this article, we’ll introduce May craft ideas you’ll want to enjoy with four-year-olds.
Four-year-olds are increasingly energetic.
Let’s incorporate ideas that not only involve making crafts, but also add twists to the process and allow children to play with what they create.
Because items made by children are treated as works of art, we use the term “制作 (seisaku),” meaning “creation/work,” rather than “製作,” in the text.
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[May] Exciting Crafts for 4-Year-Olds! May Craft Idea Collection (21–30)
Koinobori of Kashiwa Mochi
Let’s make a Kashiwa-mochi carp streamer using kashiwa mochi, which is eaten during the Boys’ Festival (Tango no Sekku).
Cut construction paper into a leaf shape, draw the veins with a white crayon, and paint over it with green paint to create a wax-resist effect.
Cut another piece of construction paper into the shape of a carp streamer and draw patterns with crayons inspired by kashiwa mochi.
Place the leaf on top and glue them together.
Attach a face and a samurai helmet folded from origami, then stick them onto the carp streamer to finish.
It also sounds fun to choose parts of the project according to the child’s age and ability!
Carnation clip
https://www.tiktok.com/@sayacky_be.child/video/7355658747127074066Let’s make it with paper towels! Here’s an idea for a carnation clip.
Paper towels are highly absorbent paper commonly used in everyday life, especially for cleaning and cooking in the kitchen.
This time, let’s use paper towels to make a carnation clip! The key is to color them with water-based markers or paints and then mist them with water.
The colors will gently spread, creating a beautiful finish.
Give it a try!
Carnation Box
@tomonite_official A perfect Mother’s Day gift! I made a carnation box using materials you can get at the 100-yen shop. If you write messages of daily gratitude or little perks on the petals, it can be enjoyed like a lucky draw. 🌹👍🏼 ============ ■ Materials • Construction paper • Masking tape • Muffin cups or a small box ■ How to make 1. Cut the construction paper to the height of the muffin cup; the width should be about three times the height (prepare about 8–10 sheets, depending on size). 2. Write your messages on the construction paper. 3. Roll each sheet into a tube, secure it with masking tape, and pack them vertically into the muffin cup until it’s full. ■ Notes ※ If children are making this, please do it together with an adult. ============#tomoniteTominiteMother’s Day craftSimple craft#Mother'sDayGift
♬ anone,mamakiite – Natty Patty
The lottery-style recreation element is unique and fun! Here’s an idea for a carnation box.
On red or pink construction paper, like the color of carnations, write messages of gratitude or things you love about Mom.
Each card carries the children’s heartfelt thoughts, making it an idea that could bring tears of affection as she reads them.
It’s also nice to write perks like “Massage Coupon” or “Help Coupon.” Think up the messages together with your child and give them as a gift.
Kitchen paper bouquet
@niconico_mama It looks just like the real thing! 😍✨ You know how you go for a walk, pick some flowers, and then they wilt… such a common thing, right?? But with this, you can easily make flowers that look real and never wilt! 😍✨ The material is—believe it or not—kitchen paper!! Color it with water-based markers, shape it into a flower, then spritz it with water 💕 And in no time, your flower is done! By the way, you don’t even have to cut it into circles—just crumple it up as a square and secure it with a pipe cleaner, and that works too 😆👍 They look cute as room decor, and they’d make a great Mother’s Day gift next month… 😍♥️ Dads of the world! Please make these with your kids 🥹✨ ♥️ ๛ก(ー̀ωー́ก) <If you make it, Mom will be happy> Try making them in lots of colors and have fun! 😊💕 —————————— Here’s what I used: • Kitchen paper (paper towels) • Pipe cleaners • Water-based markers • Scissors • Spray bottle and water If you don’t have a spray bottle, you can use a paintbrush with water or a dropper! —————————— ☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆ Thank you always for your comments and likes 😊 Some people even tell me, “I made it!” and that makes me super happy ☺️♥️ I’m looking forward to seeing what you all play with and make 😆✨✨ ☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆Mother’s Day craft#PapercraftHandmade#Handmade Mother's Day Gift
Adventure – YOASOBI
You can even create your own original vivid colors! Here are some ideas for kitchen paper towel bouquets.
Let’s arrange everyday paper towels that are familiar to kids and try making a bouquet.
You’ll need paper towels, water-based markers, a spray bottle, scissors, and pipe cleaners.
After cutting the paper towels into circles and coloring them with water-based markers, shape them with pipe cleaners and spray them with water.
The steps are simple, but the result is beautiful and brilliant.
It’s also nice to add a touch with wrapping.
Take this opportunity to give it a try!
Coffee filter carnation

Layer coffee filters to create beautiful petals! Here are some ideas for coffee filter carnations.
Coffee filters are commonly sold in white and brown, but this time we’ll use white filters for our project.
You’ll need coffee filters, toothpicks, tape, floral tape, water-based markers, and a dropper.
Once your coffee filter carnation is complete, try placing it in a box and giving it as a gift.
Butterflies made with swipe art
The colorful hues spark children’s curiosity! Here are butterfly ideas you can make with swipe art.
Swipe art is an art technique where you pour paint onto a canvas or drawing paper and swipe it horizontally using a sponge or a card.
The charm lies in how the colors blend and create unique patterns as you swipe.
This time, let’s make the butterfly that appears in The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
It’s a fun idea where you can enjoy the changes as the vibrant paints mix together!
The Very Hungry Caterpillar made with fluid art
@buchiko_hoiku 🐶 @buchiko_hoiku ◂◂◂◂ Check out my other posts, too 🌼 Thank you so much for all the likes 🩷 This time: A Very Hungry Caterpillar made with a new kind of art 🐛 Do you know fluid art (pouring art)? With just liquid laundry starch/glue and acrylic paint, you can enjoy a super fun paint play activity 🩵 I had so much fun that before I knew it, I’d been playing for two hours 🤣 My recommendation: use four colors, and make one of them gold paint—the sparkle is so cute 💖 Since it has laundry glue in it, it takes time to dry! Mine was completely dry in about a day and a half ☺️ I used the pieces I made with fluid art to create a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme 🍎🍐🫐🍓🍊 I didn’t have yellow, but I still made a butterfly and it was so fun! Please try making it yourself 🌈 Thank you for reading to the end 🐶 I share easy, copy-ready ideas you can follow from the intro to the craft ♬︎ I’ll be over the moon if you like ♥, save 𖤘, and follow 𖤐 😂 Comments are super welcome, too 🤍🤍Nursery teacher / Childcare workerKindergarten Teacher#Spring crafts#Wall CreationToddler CraftsPlay that expands from picture books#FluidArtPooling Art#TheVeryHungryCaterpillar
♬ Lilac – Mrs. GREEN APPLE
Let’s create a popular picture-book character! We’ll introduce ideas for making The Very Hungry Caterpillar using fluid art.
The picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar is famous worldwide, and many children are likely familiar with it from reading it at preschool or at home.
Some kids might also know it from hand-play activities or songs.
This time, let’s try making it with fluid art.
Fluid art is an art technique that uses flowing paint to create natural movement and patterns on surfaces like canvas or drawing paper.
Because the movement of the paint is unpredictable, you can create unique and original works!



