[For 3-year-olds] A roundup of craft ideas to enjoy in summer! Introducing various motifs and techniques

Let’s draw a picture using rain.

[For 5-year-olds] Let's paint using rain!

Rain during water play or swimming makes children look even more delighted.

Maybe it’s that sense of invincibility that comes from thinking, “It’s okay to get wet.” It can also be fun to create using the properties of pens—oil-based pens don’t bleed in water, while water-based pens do.

That opens up lots of inventive ways to plan in reverse: “It’s okay if this part bleeds a bit,” or “I don’t want this section to bleed.” You could even wait for a rainy day and let it actually get wet.

If you’re thinking about health considerations, a spray bottle or watering can is a good substitute.

Munch-munch fish

The opening and closing mouth is so cute! Let me introduce a fun idea for a chompy little fish.

Fish often appear on the dining table, but they also show up a lot in anime, picture books, fingerplay, and songs.

This time, let’s make an adorable fish with a mouth that opens and closes using origami! You’ll need origami paper, round stickers, a permanent marker, and so on.

Solid-color origami looks lovely, but using your favorite patterns or holographic origami will give your fish extra personality.

Playing hide-and-seek, gliding smoothly between the waves

Preschool/Kindergarten: August ‘Hide-and-Seek in the Waves’ Painting/Craft

Fish swimming in cold water make you feel cool just by watching them, don’t they? The fish darting around while hiding among wakame seaweed and rocks look like they’re playing hide-and-seek, and it seems so fun.

Let’s recreate that fishy game of hide-and-seek with construction paper! Cut out fish and stick them however you like on a light blue background sheet.

At the same time, prepare one more sheet.

Leave only the top edge connected, and cut vertical slits down the sheet like a noren curtain.

When you’re done, glue this slitted sheet onto the unslit background.

This way, you can show fish swimming as they play in the waves! The fluttering construction paper makes for a very refreshing piece.

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Yoimachi Jēn

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Four Picks for Uchiwa (Hand Fan) Making

Uchiwa fans are a classic item for beating the summer heat.

They’re also used in recreational activities, so they’re probably familiar to children, too.

Here are four summer-themed uchiwa craft ideas! First, a yo-yo design that lets you enjoy wax-resist painting; second, goldfish made with handprints; third, morning glories created with wet-on-wet bleeding effects; and fourth, a watermelon motif you can make with fun stamping.

All of these ideas are great for four-year-olds, so have fun crafting and make a wonderful uchiwa!

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sasashina

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Festival food

There are all kinds of vendor stalls at summer festivals, aren’t there? Shaved ice and cotton candy are classics, and kids love them.

Here are some craft ideas for making foods you often see at festivals.

You can make festival foods like shaved ice, cotton candy, yakisoba, and takoyaki.

The materials differ depending on the item, but for example, for cotton candy, you can mix torn tissue paper with cotton and pack it into a bag.

For yakisoba, mix brown yarn with paper cutouts of cabbage and carrots, and use red yarn to represent pickled ginger.

Try making them with the kids while adding your own original touches!

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sasashina

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Refreshing Ramune in Watercolor Bleed

When you think of drinks that evoke summer, some of you might picture ramune soda.

Using a wet-on-wet painting technique, you can enjoy making ramune art with children.

First, wet drawing paper with water and have fun creating a bleeding effect with paints like blue, light blue, and purple.

Once the paint dries, cut out the shape of a ramune bottle and use construction paper to make the cap.

For the marble inside, let the kids stick on round stickers.

You can also make a ramune-style label out of construction paper.

It’s a refreshing craft idea.

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tsukada moe

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fluffy ice cream

Ice cream is something you’ll want to eat every day once summer arrives.

How about incorporating a three-dimensional ice cream craft into your July activities? Using shaving foam, you can create ice cream with a wonderfully fluffy texture! All you need to do is mix shaving foam, white craft glue, and food coloring.

Attach a cone cutout to construction paper, decorate it with your ice cream, and you’re done! You can also add stickers or draw designs for extra decoration.

This fun, super tactile craft is sure to delight children.

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miyabi

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