[Childcare] Fun for October! Craft ideas recommended for 4-year-olds
Four-year-olds become even more dependable in autumn.
You’ll probably start to hear conversations like, “Next year you’ll be in the oldest class!” Their crafting activities also gain depth, as they grapple with how to express their own ideas and offer imaginative suggestions that make the most of their creativity.
This time, we’ve put together October craft ideas we’d love to try with four-year-olds.
We’ve prepared a variety of ideas—from seasonal materials and motifs to projects that draw out their originality.
Please use them as a reference.
Since the children’s creations are treated as works, we use the term “seisaku” (production/art-making) in the text.
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[Childcare] Fun for October! Recommended craft ideas for 4-year-olds (31–40)
Origami fox to make in autumn
@hoiku.labo [Perfect for October wall displays] Easy and cute! How to fold a fox 🦊🍂ChildcareNursery teacher / Childcare workerKindergarten TeacherChildcare job openingsChildcare Column#NurseryTeacherThings#IWantToConnectWithChildcareWorkers#Nursery School Craft#DaycarePreparationNursery School PracticumChildcare studentAspiring childcare workerChildcare Job LabNursery teacher skillsJob change activities#JobChange#nursery_teacher_job_changeNursery teacher employmentProduction#CraftworkProductionOrigami#Wall CreationOctober Crafts
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Fold the first piece of origami into a triangle, then fold the left and right corners up to meet the top corner.
Fold the same parts back to create the fox’s ears, then flip the origami so top and bottom are reversed.
Fold the remaining top corner downward, turn the paper over, and make a step fold with the top layer of the bottom corner.
Tuck the remaining bottom layer to the back.
Fold in the left and right corners by about 5 mm to round them, and the face is complete.
For the body, use the second sheet and follow the same steps as the head up to folding the left and right corners to the top corner.
From there, fold back only the upper left corner to make the tail, then tuck in the remaining corners to shape the body.
Attach the head, draw the face, and you’re done.
One-sheet fold! Autumn tree
Let’s try making a freestanding autumn tree.
We’ll begin with a series of crease-making steps.
Since you’ll be folding along these creases later, please proceed carefully.
Note that there are steps where you only make creases on certain sections without folding everything.
Once the creases are in place, the trunk and the base of the leaves come together in an instant.
The part where you create the branches is a bit tricky, but adding them makes a noticeable difference in the final result, so give it your best.
For the trunk, flatten the pocketed section, and finish by forming a small triangle at the end.
Autumn leaves that can be made from age 3
Open the paper after folding it into a triangle, place it so the crease runs horizontally, and fold the two left edges to meet the crease.
Rotate the paper so the newly made point is at the bottom, then turn it over.
Fold it in half by bringing the top and bottom points together, turn it over again, and squash the pocketed section into a triangle while folding it to overlap the shape below.
Fold up the lower front and back corners to sandwich the top triangle you just squashed, then open the corners of that sandwiched triangle to both sides to form the maple leaf.
Fold down the large triangle on the front, then squash-fold the left and right corners to create the leaf stem, and you’re done.
Chestnuts you can try from age 3
After folding the origami squarely in half, open it up.
With the colored side facing up, fold the bottom edge up to meet the crease.
Turn the paper over and fold the top two corners in toward the center.
Fold the bottom two corners inward to make triangles, then fold the new left and right corners even farther inward.
Turn the origami back to the front—and your chestnut is complete! Finish it by coloring the white part with crayons or drawing a face on the colored part.
If you make a second one with smaller origami paper, you might end up with a parent-and-child pair of chestnuts!
Let’s make a ghost!
Fold the origami paper in half into a square twice to make creases.
Open it, then fold the top and bottom edges to meet the horizontal crease.
From there, make additional creases and squash-fold the left and right sides into boat shapes.
On one of the boats, squash only one corner into a square to create the ghost’s face.
The sides of the face will be the hands, and the remaining part becomes the bottom.
Use the creases on the hands to create indentations so they look three-dimensional—that’s the key.
Soften the head by folding the corners to make it round, and finish by folding the bottom part up at a diagonal.
Draw the face with stickers or a pen to complete it.
[Childcare] Fun for October! Recommended craft ideas for 4-year-olds (41–50)
Easy and cute Halloween ghost
After folding the paper in half into a triangle twice to make creases, open it and place the origami so the creases form a cross.
Fold the bottom corner up to the center to make a crease, then fold the top corner down to align with that crease.
Fold the left and right corners to the center line to crease them, then unfold.
Make step folds so the creases you just made overlap with the center line, open the pocketed parts, and squash-fold them into triangles.
These will be the ghost’s hands.
Fold both top corners into small triangles to round the ghost’s head, then fold the left and right edges of the bottom corner to the center line to form the tail.
Turn the paper over, fold both hands inward, and fold the tail up at an angle.
It’s complete.
Easy and cute bagworm
Let’s use three sheets of origami paper to make a bagworm that evokes an autumn scene.
Use one sheet for the bagworm’s face and the remaining two sheets to make the bag.
The face looks like an acorn wearing a cap, and the steps are simple.
However, since this idea uses small origami paper, folding the corners to refine the shape might be a bit tricky.
For the bag, there’s a step where you flatten a pouch-like part, so tools like a toothpick or a thin stick can be helpful.
Once the head and the bag are done, stack them vertically and glue them together.
Draw the face to finish.
For three-year-olds, it’s recommended to use larger sheets of origami paper.