Let's make handmade New Year's cards with horses! A collection of fun ideas that even elementary school kids can do.
How about making handmade New Year’s cards for your New Year’s greetings? Spending time with your children drawing horse designs or creating cut-and-paste collages will make wonderful memories for both kids and adults.
Here, we’ll introduce a variety of horse-themed ideas—from simple methods that use familiar materials and are easy for elementary school children to enjoy, to ideas with a bit more creative flair.
The moments when ideas expand as you work with your hands are great opportunities to nurture your child’s creativity.
Send warm New Year’s greetings with a one-of-a-kind card made just for the occasion!
Let’s make handmade New Year’s cards with horses! A collection of fun ideas even elementary school kids can do (1–10)
Draw with colored pencils! Cute horse
With colored pencils, you can create a wide range of expressions—from realistic horses to cute, character-like ones.
If you want to draw a cute horse with colored pencils, this method is recommended! First, sketch the overall outline with a light beige tone, then color the body with a darker brown pencil.
When you do, be sure to leave areas like the eyes (or any parts you want to render in a different color) uncolored.
Once you fill in the smaller parts that need different colors, you’re done.
Making the overall shape rounder, aiming for a character-like feel, or adding rosy cheeks will enhance the cuteness even more!
New Year’s cards with a horse motif made using 100-yen shop stamps
https://www.tiktok.com/@kururistamp/video/7570674890206874887At 100-yen shops, you can find a variety of stamps that are perfect for New Year’s cards.
By combining these stamps well and being creative with your color choices, you can make beautiful cards! If you want a gradient with a single stamp, apply the ink to the stamp little by little.
When you want to change the color you’re stamping with, press the stamp onto scrap paper until the previous color no longer transfers to help prevent color mixing.
Even with the same stamp, you can express different horses by changing the colors and where you stamp, so try out various colors and stamping techniques!
New Year’s postcard with a horse illustration
Let’s try drawing a horse using ellipses.
It even explains how to draw those tricky legs, so it’s easy for beginners at illustrated letters to give it a try.
Use ellipses to represent the front part of the torso and the rump.
The key for the rump is to leave a one-ellipse gap from the body and draw it slightly higher.
For the legs, imagine a long, slender “S” and draw them extending up and down from the joints.
Once you master these two points, you’ll be able to draw horses in various poses, like a side view or a rearing horse!
A horse drawn on 100-yen store drawing paper!
If you’re worried about drawing directly on New Year’s postcards, why not first try sketching the picture you have in mind on drawing paper? Since it’s just a trial sketch, supplies from the 100-yen shop—drawing paper, pencils, and colored pencils—are perfectly fine! Instead of forcing yourself to match the postcard size, try drawing it large once; it will help your ideas expand.
If you end up liking your rough sketch, you can scan it with a printer and paste it onto the postcard as is—highly recommended.
A horse running, a horse grazing, a parent and foal snuggled together—use your favorite image of a horse to add a personal touch to your New Year’s greetings!
How to draw a cute horse
https://www.tiktok.com/@uka_0618/video/7160985524067503361If you want a cute horse illustration for your New Year’s card, this is for you! First, draw two ears, keeping them slightly pointy, and connect the space between them.
Sketch the outline so the face is a bit long, and add a fluffy mane between the ears.
Draw a rounded line toward the bottom of the face and place dotted nostrils inside it.
Then add the eyes, color it however you like, and you’re done! The key is to keep a soft, rounded feel throughout.
Try adding patterns if you like, too.
How to paint a horse in watercolor
https://www.tiktok.com/@watercolorbyshibasaki/video/6963450517888535810If your child enjoys and is good at painting with watercolors, how about having them paint a horse in watercolor? However, if you use watercolor paints directly on a New Year’s postcard, the card may wrinkle or the colors may rub off onto other cards.
It’s recommended to use watercolor paper postcards or scan the finished painting and print it onto the New Year’s card.
If you scan it, you can freely adjust the size afterward, so your child can paint the horse boldly on a large sheet of paper and still use it.
Encourage them to draw freely while looking at the horse they want to depict—whether it’s a drawing, a photograph, or the real thing.
A horse carved from an eraser stamp
https://www.tiktok.com/@kururistamp/video/7572718654274473223Here’s how to make a horse eraser stamp, perfect for New Year’s cards.
First, draw the horse you want on paper with a pencil.
Next, transfer the drawing onto the eraser and trace it firmly with the pencil.
After that, use a craft knife or carving tool to carve little by little around the lines.
The trick is to leave the drawn lines and carve away everything else.
When you’re done, apply ink in your favorite color and press it onto paper.
If the shape prints cleanly, it’s finished.
When cutting, take your time so you don’t cut your hand—working slowly is key!
Write a horse in clerical script!
https://www.tiktok.com/@itouunpo/video/7487811839410130183Clerical script, often used on banknotes and newspaper mastheads, can make your New Year’s card stand out when you write the character for “horse” in it—it looks really cool! The key is to evoke the feeling that, even though it’s a kanji, a horse is about to dash off, with its mane streaming in the wind.
Try boldly extending the horizontal strokes a bit longer than usual.
For the final dots, connect them to the upper parts so it feels like the horse’s legs are clip-clopping along.
By rendering it large on your New Year’s card, you’ll achieve a sophisticated piece.
Let’s draw a great horse using only circles!
When you try to draw a horse realistically, it’s complex and difficult, right? But by combining lots of circles, you can easily capture and draw the overall form! The key is to think of the horse’s body as many separate parts.
Divide the torso into front and rear sections, and break the legs down into the forearm, joints, and even the hooves, representing each with circles.
Adjust the circles—elongate or enlarge them—according to each part.
Once you’ve mapped out everything with circles, refine each part into the horse’s actual shapes.
Erase the unnecessary guidelines, add the soft hair of the mane and tail, and you’re done! Try using this as practice before drawing one for your New Year’s cards.
Cute for New Year’s cards, too! Horse origami
Here’s an idea for making a horse using two sheets of origami paper.
First, we’ll make the horse’s head.
Fold the paper into a triangle, then fold the left and right corners up to meet the top corner.
Next, flip the paper upside down and again fold the left and right corners to the top corner.
Open the folded left and right corners outward and fold them back so their width is halved to create the ears.
Turn the paper over; use the top corner to form the mane, and make a valley fold on the top layer of the bottom corner to create the nose.
Fold the remaining corner inward to refine the outline, and the face is complete! For the body, the steps are the same as making a “trick boat” up to the midway point.
Make two boats, one on the top and one on the bottom.
Use the two corners of the top boat to form the legs, and the right corner of the bottom boat for the tail.
Tuck the remaining left corner of the bottom boat inward, then fold the whole thing in half along the center line, and it’s done.
If you stack and glue the two parts together, it adds thickness; for use in New Year’s card designs, it’s better to use a printed version to keep it flat.