[Childcare] February Setsubun Bean-Throwing! A Fun Collection of Oni Craft Ideas
As Setsubun approaches, creating oni-themed crafts becomes one of the fun activities at nurseries and kindergartens.
For two-year-olds, the experience of making something with their own hands is a very important time.
Coloring, sticking on parts, enjoying the feel of different materials—through these kinds of activities, their interest in seasonal events deepens significantly.
Here, we’ve gathered plenty of oni craft ideas perfect for Setsubun, from masks and bean containers to unique play items.
Make this year’s Setsubun even more fun together with the children! Note: In this article, we use the term “seisaku” (制作) to refer to children’s creations as “works.”
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[Childcare] February Setsubun Bean-Throwing! Fun Oni (Demon) Craft Ideas (61–70)
A wall on Onigashima covered with demon masks
Enjoy it even after Setsubun! Here’s how to make an oni (ogre) mask.
Prepare colored construction paper cut into the oni’s face and horn parts, a construction paper headband, crayons, glue, and so on.
First, draw the face on the oni’s face piece with crayons.
Feel free to draw any patterns you like on the horns, too.
Glue the horns to the face, then attach the face to the paper headband to finish.
When attaching the mask to the headband, be careful that staples or tape don’t get caught in children’s hair.
After the Setsubun event, you can display the masks against a background like Onigashima (Ogre Island) to create a February wall decoration.
[Ages 1 and up] Demon Mask Hat
![[Ages 1 and up] Demon Mask Hat](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qFOt5wQrh_s/sddefault.jpg)
Let’s make an ogre mask hat that even infants can wear! Cut a quarter-size construction paper in half vertically and have the children draw on it.
Once their drawings are finished, roll the paper into a tube and glue it.
Fold the top edge inward to shape it into a hat.
At this point, make the two ends pointy to represent the ogre’s horns—that’s the key.
Finally, prepare paper tape cut to even lengths with double-sided tape on one end, and let the children stick them onto the hat like placing stickers.
These will become the ogre’s hair, so using several colors will make it look extra cute.
Balloon Ogre
These are “balloon demons” made by using red and blue balloons as the ogre.
Wrap yarn around a card, tie part of it, and cut to create the ogre’s hair.
After inflating the balloon, tie the yarn to the balloon’s knot and attach horns made from construction paper.
Then just draw a face on the side of the balloon with a marker, and it’s done! Watching the ogre gradually wilt as days pass might make you feel a little sad.
When throwing beans at the balloon demon, be aware it might suddenly pop and startle the children.
Play while keeping an eye on them.
Origami mask
As Setsubun approaches, many daycare centers and kindergartens probably fold oni (ogre) figures out of origami.
You can use that same origami oni as a mask.
First, fold the oni’s face, then make two strips out of origami paper.
Finally, attach the two strips to the origami oni and fasten the ends of the strips together with a rubber band, and you’re done.
If you use other motifs for the face, you can make Otafuku masks or animal masks, too.
The person throwing beans can wear an Otafuku mask, and there are lots of ways to have fun with different masks.
Bean container made with origami
Here are four types of origami bean-holding boxes you can make.
Each has a different shape, so it might be best to show the children samples and let them fold their favorite.
Basically, you repeat the same folding steps several times to form the box, but there are parts where you need to open and squash the paper, or make firm creases.
For those steps, an adult should work alongside the children and demonstrate as they go.
Once the box is folded, decorate it with Setsubun-themed parts to finish it off!