![[Nursery/Kindergarten] New Year Craft Ideas: A Collection of Projects You Can Enjoy Even After Making Them](https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/YyKPH1hZXmA/maxresdefault.webp)
[Nursery/Kindergarten] New Year Craft Ideas: A Collection of Projects You Can Enjoy Even After Making Them
You want to plan New Year’s crafts at a nursery or kindergarten, but you can’t think of ideas that kids will enjoy while incorporating traditional elements… In times like these, decorations and classic toys made from familiar materials are perfect! Here, we introduce New Year-themed craft ideas ranging from lucky charms like akabeko (red cow), kagami mochi, and shimenawa, to playable crafts such as fukuwarai, kendama, and spinning tops.
They all make use of recycled materials like milk cartons, plastic bottles, and paper cups, so why not enjoy preparing for the New Year together with the children? Since the children’s creations are treated as “artworks,” we use the term “seisaku” (制作) in the text.
[Nursery/Kindergarten] New Year Craft Idea Collection! A set of projects you can enjoy even after making them (1–10)
Spins great! A whirligig made from a milk carton
Open the milk carton and let it dry completely, then cut off the bottom part.
Cut off the spout, turn the inside outward, and fold it in half.
Sketch an oval shape, cut it out, and draw a daruma face on each side.
After sticking the pieces together with double-sided tape, paint the daruma.
Punch holes along the fold, thread a string through, and your buzzer spinner (whirligig) is complete.
Enjoy figuring out the timing for loosening and pulling the string.
Try challenging yourself to see how many times you can make it spin.
Perfect for New Year! Cute origami osechi
Let’s make osechi ryori—New Year’s dishes that taste great when everyone eats together—using origami.
Using black origami paper, make four folded box parts for the outer box and glue them together in a box shape.
Attach them while checking the balance.
Next, make four inner boxes.
Once you set the inner boxes into the outer box, the base is complete.
For the contents, fold shrimp, nori (seaweed), kamaboko (fish cake), kelp rolls, and kampyo (dried gourd strips), making firm creases as you go.
Before you start, reading a picture book about the New Year to learn about its origins and meanings will help you enjoy making them even more.
Daruma-otoshi with a bottle cap
Here’s a handmade daruma-otoshi idea that cleverly uses plastic bottle caps.
If you have lots of caps at home, give it a try and have fun playing with it.
For the basic method, make a hole in the center of a plastic bottle cap, thread a string through, shape it into a circle, and tie it to create the daruma.
Make four in different sizes, and on the front and back of each circular cap piece, glue thick paper covered with construction paper in the same color as the cap.
You can also make the mallet using a pair of disposable chopsticks and a bottle cap, but since a utility knife is required, an adult should handle that part.
New Year’s fun with traditional games! A milk carton bamboo-copter (taketombo)
A bamboo-copter is tricky to fly at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s lots of fun.
Here’s an idea for making one using a milk carton and a straw.
First, cut out one side of the milk carton, then cut it into a strip that’s about one-third the width.
Next, fold the strip in half, and about 5 mm from the valley fold, make mountain folds on both sides.
This completes the wing.
Then, cut a slit into one end of the straw and attach it to the wing as a handle.
If you color the white side of the milk carton with markers, it will look pretty when you fly it.
Make and Play! New Year Hagoita (Battledore)
Hagoita paddles that can be simply made with paper plates are easy for kids to create.
Prepare paper plates, wooden chopsticks, cellophane tape, and origami, and let’s get started.
Fold the left and right sides of the paper plate so they form an even shape.
Insert a chopstick inside to make a handle, then secure everything in place by taping it all around with cellophane tape.
Make sure to fasten it firmly so it doesn’t come apart easily.
Once you stick flower decorations on the surface, it’s complete.
Playing with a hagoita you made yourself can be fun and full of discoveries and new insights.
New Year games you can make and play
A New Year’s classic! Here are some DIY ideas for spinning tops and kites.
For the top, use a milk carton, a plastic bottle cap, and a straw.
For the kite, use a plastic bag and kite string.
First, cut off the four corners of the milk carton and open it into a cross shape.
Then, round off the four side panels by cutting them in a curve about 10 centimeters up from the bottom.
Draw patterns with a pen on the white part of the milk carton, attach a plastic bottle cap to the center of the front, and stick a small piece of straw on the back—your spinning top is ready.
For the kite, draw any picture you like on the plastic bag, and tie two pieces of kite string to the handle points.
Tie the other ends of the strings together to make a handle, and it’s done.
Make it with origami! A New Year’s mini wreath
Let’s make a New Year’s wreath that’s perfect for decorating at the start of the year.
Prepare 16 sheets of origami paper: four different patterns or colors, four sheets of each.
Fold each sheet into a square twice, then unfold to create crease lines and shape the parts.
When folding a triangle in half, make sure both sides are even.
Hold the piece so that the overlapping section is on top, and assemble by inserting both the front and back of one piece into the pocket of another.
Repeat to make 16 parts in total.
It may be easier to connect them in sets of four first, and then form the entire wreath at the end.
Attach a string and hang it indoors to enjoy the New Year’s decoration.
paper-clay kagami mochi
Let’s make a handmade kagami mochi that brings warmth and a sense of the season—perfect for New Year’s decor.
Prepare clay, a clay board, paints, brushes, and a clay spatula.
Divide the clay into three equal parts and designate them as large, medium, and small.
For the mandarin orange part and the leaf part, knead the appropriate paint colors into the clay.
Shape the large and medium portions into the two tiers of the kagami mochi.
Place the mandarin on top, refine the overall shape, and your kagami mochi is complete.
Let it dry thoroughly before displaying it, and welcome a wonderful New Year.
Make it with paper plates! Cute snowman
This is a snowman craft idea that also lets kids enjoy sticking stickers.
Stack and glue two paper plates vertically to make the base, then finish the snowman using round stickers and parts cut from construction paper.
If infants are doing this activity, it may help to put double-sided tape on the back of the parts to turn them into stickers.
Also, pre-cut the pipe cleaners to use as arms and assist with attaching them using tape.
Changing the colors of the construction paper and stickers will change the snowman’s look, so let the children choose the ones they like.
How to Make a Kite You Can Enjoy Playing With on New Year’s
Here’s an idea for making spinning tops with acorns—very popular as an autumn craft.
You can buy acorns online, but since they’re often found on the ground in season, it’s great to use ones you’ve collected.
If you do, be sure to wash them and disinfect them with boiling water to prevent bugs before using.
The method is very simple: just make a hole in the acorn and insert a toothpick.
If the acorn is hard and difficult to pierce, have an adult help.
Drawing faces or patterns with a pen makes them extra cute!