[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 (11–20)
Spinning Snake
Let’s make a “Swirly Snake” that you’ll want to run around with! First, draw a big circle on construction paper.
Inside it, draw a coiled-up snake.
Try drawing a spiral from the outside of the circle toward the center so that the center of the circle becomes the snake’s head.
Once your illustration is done, add your favorite patterns and color it in, then cut along the lines with scissors.
Finally, make a small hole in the snake’s head and thread a string through—it’s finished! If you run while holding the string, the snake will float and flutter, making it lots of fun.
Paper plate spinning top
Fold a paper plate in half, then fold it once more along that crease.
On the front of the plate, leave a little space around the center and draw any picture you like.
Then glue a plastic bottle cap in the center.
Your paper plate spinning top is complete! That was pretty simple, right? Once it’s ready, try spinning it on a smooth floor or tabletop.
Unlike a real top, you don’t need to wind a string, so even young children can spin it easily! If you use permanent markers to color your design, it will look very beautiful when it spins.
Kendama
Introducing how to make and play a paper-cup kendama you can craft with kids.
The materials you’ll need are paper cups, stickers, colorful tape, and kite string to connect the base and the ball.
The process isn’t complicated, so you can enjoy making it while you play.
Once you decorate two paper cups in bright colors and tape their bottoms together, the kendama body is complete.
Make a ball by tightly winding tape into a sphere and attach it with kite string—your paper-cup kendama is ready, perfect for hands-on learning through play.
It’s easy to play! Without using too much force, gently toss the ball to make it easier to land in the cup.
Also, if you attach the kite string near the rim of the cup, it becomes even easier to catch.
plastic bottle maracas
Here’s a handmade maracas craft that’s super easy to make, yet turns into a colorful, noise-making instrument.
Both the materials and the steps are simple: two empty plastic bottles plus items like glass counters, marbles, or beads.
The key to a fun, colorful finish is choosing the colors and types of beads or counters you put inside the empty bottles.
Inside the clear plastic, the pretty beads bounce around.
Shake them up and down and they make a satisfying rattle—kids will love it.
Swap the beads for soybeans or adzuki beans to enjoy different sounds.
How about some musical playtime with handmade plastic-bottle maracas?
paper plate tambourine
Let’s make a fun, colorful tambourine that rattles using plastic bottle caps.
In addition to the caps, all you need to make the tambourine is a little rice and some cute paper plates.
Put rice inside each cap and screw the lid back on, then sandwich the caps between paper plates cut in half.
Once you’ve glued and set a few caps in place, your handmade tambourine that rattles with rice is complete.
The tambourine is just the right size for small children to use, and since it’s made with paper plates, it’s safe even when waved around.
Let’s all make tambourines that sound great and have fun playing together.