[Nursery/Kindergarten] Crafts you can play with after making them
At daycare centers and kindergartens, there are many opportunities to make toys using familiar recycled materials.
Making their own toys and playing with them lets children enjoy the process of creating, builds confidence, and gives them a sense of accomplishment—benefits that greatly support their development.
Let’s actively incorporate lots of these activities.
This time, we’re introducing craft ideas that kids can play with after making them.
Tops, pinwheels, puzzles—ideas that are sure to spark children’s curiosity!
Feel free to adapt them while incorporating the children’s ideas, and create one-of-a-kind toys bursting with originality!
They’ll surely grow attached to them, and the fun will double.
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[Nursery/Kindergarten] Crafts you can play with after making them (101–110)
Making a spinning top with a paper plate
Let’s make a spinning top with a paper plate and play with it! Fold the paper plate in half and open it back up, and repeat this process in two places.
The key is to make firm creases.
You’ll later glue a plastic bottle cap at the center where the creases cross, so draw a boundary line so your drawings don’t overlap that area.
Once the prep is done, have your child draw pictures or place stickers to create patterns.
Tearing and gluing colored origami paper also works well.
When the design is finished, glue on the cap—and you’re done! Twist the cap to spin the top round and round.
Marble rolling with a paper plate
How about making a marble run that kids will be obsessed with? First, draw circles on a paper plate to match the size of the marbles and cut them out.
To keep the marbles from falling through, glue construction paper on the back of the holes to create marble pockets.
Finally, cut straws into random lengths and stick them freely onto the paper plate to form paths for the marbles—that’s it! It’s also fun to decorate the plate by drawing pictures or adding stickers.
Depending on how the straws are arranged, you can create all kinds of marble runs that showcase each child’s personality.
You can play with your own carefully crafted piece or swap with friends and play.
It’s a toy that will have you forgetting the time as you play to your heart’s content.
Super Simple Chopstick Gun
A simple chopstick gun you can make with disposable chopsticks and rubber bands! Many of you might have made and played with one this way when you were little.
Prepare three pairs of chopsticks and split each pair into single sticks.
Choose one stick to be the barrel, sandwich it with two sticks on the sides, and secure them with rubber bands.
Use cut pieces of chopstick to make the trigger and grip, then attach them to the part you assembled first.
Hook on a rubber band and do some test shots while adjusting the trigger angle, and you’ve got an easy-to-make chopstick gun!
Making a drum with a balloon
Let’s try making a drum using a balloon! Cut off the mouth of a balloon and stretch it over a roll of packing tape.
Secure it firmly with electrical tape, and decorate the outside however you like to finish the drum.
For the drumsticks, attach a small, tightly balled piece of tissue to the end of a chopstick and fix it with electrical tape.
Then cover it with two plastic bottle caps and secure those with electrical tape as well to complete the sticks.
Since there aren’t many steps that require scissors, lots of kids can easily enjoy both crafting and making music!
fishing
Let’s make a fishing game where you can catch all kinds of sea creatures—big fish, small fish, crabs, and jellyfish! We’ll use recycled materials to create the fish, such as small empty containers like plastic bags, yogurt cups, lactic acid drink bottles, and toilet paper rolls.
Embed a magnet from the inside where the fish’s head or dorsal fin will be.
For the fishing rod, attach string (like kitchen twine) to a pair of chopsticks and put a magnet at the end.
You can wrap the chopsticks with masking tape to make them cute.
Have fun making your children’s favorite sea creatures and playing with them!
