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!
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Let’s make handmade New Year’s cards with horses! A collection of fun ideas even elementary school kids can do (1–10)
Write a horse in clerical script!
@itouunpo Clerical Script “Horse” – Ichimonji Museum by Unpo Ito, a Nitten-exhibited calligrapher and office worker-artist Unpo Ito, a Nitten-exhibited calligrapher who is also a salaried worker, explains stylish, spot-on ways to write the Five Script Styles of calligraphy (Seal, Clerical, Standard, Semi-cursive, Cursive). Welcome to the opening of the one-character art museum (Ichimonji Museum), where you can savor each completed character accompanied by guitarist Tetsuya Yamamoto’s performance. This month’s character is “馬” (horse). Origin of “馬”: A pictograph representing the form of a horse with a mane. Tips for writing “馬” in Clerical Script: Aim to express a sense of galloping speed. Turn the four dots into short diagonal strokes, and proceed briskly in one go, making full use of the resilience of the brush tip. Character of the Month: 馬 Featured Track of the Month: “The Laird of Drumblaire” from Tetsuya Yamamoto’s solo album “Museful” The calligraphy meetup writes four characters from Chinese poetry in Seal or Clerical Script. Each session is a stand-alone café workshop. We provide the calligraphy tools, so feel free to join. Whether you haven’t done calligraphy since elementary school, you currently practice and want to try Seal or Clerical Script, or you’re simply interested in writing in these styles, all are welcome. Now recruiting participants for the Seal/Clerical Script workshop “Shokai” in Nagoya, Kuwana, and online. For details, please see Unpo Ito’s website. Unpo Ito website: https://itouunpo.com/ Guitarist Tetsuya Yamamoto website: https://www.tetsuya-yamamoto.com/ Unpo Ito Nitten-exhibited artist Online calligraphy classes Five script styles HorseClerical script
♫ Original song – Umine Ito – Umine Ito
Clerical 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.
Let’s make handmade New Year’s cards with horses! Fun ideas even elementary schoolers can do (11–20)
Horse origami New Year’s card!
This origami piece combines an ema plaque and a horse’s face into one design.
There’s a space on the ema where you can write, so you can add New Year’s greetings or a short message.
Because the idea involves detailed steps like making creases and small cuts, it’s suitable for upper elementary school students and older.
Start by making the horse, then shape the remaining part into the ema.
If 15 cm origami paper feels difficult to fold, use slightly larger paper.
If you plan to attach it to a New Year’s card as-is, it might be too thick or heavy to mail, so consider using a printed version instead.
Make it with 100-yen store materials! Mizuhiki Horse
@hohoemiss You can even buy it at DAISO! Let’s tie a horse—the zodiac animal for 2026, the Year of the Horse—using mizuhiki. It’s the easiest and most basic method: you can make it using only the Awaji knot. Stick it on a small gift envelope to make an otoshidama envelope! (We’ll also be selling them at Hohoemizu this year, so look forward to that.) If you make it in different colors, you might even get a unicorn! 🦄MizuhikiHandmadeLesson videoHow to make it releasedPochi-bukuro (small decorative envelope for gifting money)
24/7 – Kagura SCOPE
Let me share an idea for making a horse face using mizuhiki cords.
You’ll tie the mizuhiki yourself, but since it uses the standard awaji knot, it’s easy for beginners to try.
Prepare two cords at 23 cm and one cord at 13 cm.
Tie the two 23 cm cords with the awaji knot twice to form the horse’s face, and tie the 13 cm cord with the awaji knot once to create the mane.
Layer the two pieces and glue them together, and your horse is complete! Adding beads for the eyes could be cute, too.
Mizuhiki is known as an auspicious decoration, so try making this and incorporating it into your New Year’s card design.
Cute horse brush pen illustration
@monmon_nigaoe [Brush Pen Illustration] I tried drawing a cute horse 🐴—my son's requestSimple illustrationI tried drawing with a brush pen.Brush pen illustration
Run, Makibaō / Midori no Makibaō – Studio Megaane
Perfect for the Year of the Horse! Here are some cute horse illustrations to try.
In this idea, the horse’s distinctive nose is exaggerated—so big that it’s drawn larger than the face.
But by doing so, it brings out the horse’s charm and adds a unique touch.
Start with a rough sketch and then trace it with a brush pen, copying an illustration you like until you’re satisfied.
Adding eyelashes will give it a girly look.
Make the most of the brush pen’s qualities to finish with a lively, dynamic illustration.
Great for New Year’s cards, too! Horse origami
@shinichikudo273 Year of the Horse Origami: How to Fold a HorseOrigami#fyp#foryoupage#origamitutorial#origami
♬ Original Song – Origami Crane – Origami Crane
Origami creations can be incorporated as three-dimensional designs for New Year’s cards, and their warmth will likely help convey the sender’s feelings as well.
In this idea, you start by making creases.
Using those creases, you fold it up in order to form the head and neck, legs, and tail.
Techniques like the cushion fold (zabuton-ori) and inside reverse fold appear, and because the steps are simple, even children can give it a try.
Why not use Japanese-style patterned origami that suits the New Year and make one yourself? If attaching the piece directly makes the card too thick, please attach a printed image and send that instead.