[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.
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[Nursery/Kindergarten] New Year Craft Idea Special! A Collection of Projects You Can Enjoy Even After Making Them (101–110)
New Year’s wreath
This is a Japanese New Year–style wreath made from newspaper.
First, crumple the newspaper to create wrinkles, then unfold it once, roll it into a tube, and twist it further.
Form it into a ring, secure it with craft tape, and wrap craft paper (cut to a suitable width) around it so the newspaper is hidden to complete the wreath base.
Decorate it with elements like accordion-folded square-paper ribbons and origami flowers to create a festive wreath perfect for New Year’s.
Let children help by crumpling the newspaper and attaching the decorative parts.
New Year’s gift for Dad and Mom
A surprise from the kids to their parents! Let’s secretly make New Year’s gift envelopes and present them.
Put paint on a tampo made by wrapping cotton or fabric in gauze, then dab color onto paper.
If you design it with the zodiac animal of the year in mind, it will feel even more like New Year’s.
Once the paint is completely dry, attach folded parts like ears and eyes to finish your handmade pochibukuro (small gift envelope).
Recommended contents include message cards with chores like “shoulder massage” or “tidying up,” or portraits the children worked hard to draw!
Daruma Eyebrow Bead Rolling
How about making a handmade item with the kids that you can also use for New Year’s play? Let’s try crafting a daruma, which is often displayed at New Year as a good-luck ornament.
Glue together three sheets of construction paper cut into rectangles, roll them into a tube, and place a marble inside to hold it in place.
Once you stick on a sticker with the daruma’s facial expression, it’s complete.
It’s recommended that adults handle the paper cutting while the children freely draw the daruma illustration.
Create a cute, soothing item that you can also enjoy playing with by rolling it around.
Torn-paper collage
Torn-paper collage, where you simply tear paper and paste it, is perfect for kids who aren’t yet comfortable using crayons or pens! How about making torn-paper collages of a lion dance, a daruma doll, or the zodiac animal of the year to decorate your front entrance for New Year’s? You could make the lion dance face with origami and paste torn, colorful origami pieces onto a backing sheet for the body, or draw the shape of a daruma on a backing sheet and fill it in by arranging torn paper pieces.
If matching shapes is tricky, you can simply tear and paste washi-patterned origami freely—the New Year’s vibe will still come through!
kite
Seeing kites in the sky makes many people really feel that New Year’s is here, doesn’t it? Using materials from a 100-yen shop, kids can create their own original kites with their own designs.
It’s such a joy to make a traditional New Year’s toy like a kite with your own design and fly it.
You can leisurely send it soaring high into the sky, or make a kite that flutters as you run with it—by crafting a kite that’s easy for children to play with, they can enjoy New Year’s-style fun even after it’s finished.
