[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 (21–30)
Make a clear horse out of a plastic bottle!
Why not try a craft project using recycled materials? In this idea, you’ll make a horse out of plastic bottles.
Cut the bottles with scissors and glue the pieces together while imagining the overall shape of the horse.
Instead of fixing the shape from the start, you’ll turn the cut parts into a horse by using them creatively—an idea that really stimulates creativity.
Use clear plastic bottles to create a mysterious, beautiful transparent horse.
Since you’ll be assembling as you glue, a hot glue gun will come in handy.
A mysterious horse that walks without power
Here’s an idea for making a moving horse out of construction paper! First, cut a rectangle from construction paper that’s 3 cm wide and 15 cm long.
Then, on both the left and right sides, make two slits each, 1 cm wide and 5 cm long.
Fold the middle of the slit sections into a valley fold to form the head and tail, and make mountain folds on the sides to create the legs.
Use scissors to round off the corners of the legs.
This will allow the horse to move.
Color it with crayons and draw the face to finish.
Try letting it walk down a slope and have fun!
How to Make a Kite You Can Enjoy Playing With on New Year’s
Here’s an idea for making spinning tops with acorns—very popular as an autumn craft.
You can buy acorns online, but since they’re often found on the ground in season, it’s great to use ones you’ve collected.
If you do, be sure to wash them and disinfect them with boiling water to prevent bugs before using.
The method is very simple: just make a hole in the acorn and insert a toothpick.
If the acorn is hard and difficult to pierce, have an adult help.
Drawing faces or patterns with a pen makes them extra cute!
Spins great! A whirligig made from a milk carton
Open the milk carton and let it dry completely, then cut off the bottom part.
Cut off the spout, turn the inside outward, and fold it in half.
Sketch an oval shape, cut it out, and draw a daruma face on each side.
After sticking the pieces together with double-sided tape, paint the daruma.
Punch holes along the fold, thread a string through, and your buzzer spinner (whirligig) is complete.
Enjoy figuring out the timing for loosening and pulling the string.
Try challenging yourself to see how many times you can make it spin.
Pop-up! Shishimai Lion Dance Toy
The lion dance popping out of a paper cup is so cute! Let’s get started by preparing a paper cup, chopsticks, yarn, vinyl (plastic) tape, construction paper, double-sided tape, and scissors.
Poke a hole in the bottom of the paper cup big enough for a chopstick to pass through.
Cut a plastic bag to fit the mouth of the cup and tape it around the rim of the cup.
Reinforce it from above with vinyl tape, push the tip of the chopstick through and secure it with tape, then make the lion dance face out of colored construction paper and attach it.
Wrap the entire paper cup with construction paper, and you’re done.
This is a craft that even little kids can enjoy for New Year’s, so give it a try!