Lovely childcare

[For 1-year-olds] Fun to make! A collection of winter craft activity ideas for use in childcare

20 years of experience as a nursery teacher / kindergarten teacherhiyoko sensei
I’m Hiyoko-sensei, a former nursery school teacher from Hyogo Prefecture. Ever since I was five, my dream was to become a childcare worker, and before I knew it, 20 years had passed since I achieved that dream. Through singing and playing with the children, I kept working with the spirit of someone in their twenties, even as I increasingly felt my physical limits year by year (haha). From here on, I’d like to share helpful information carefully and thoughtfully, drawing on my on-site experience.

Winter is full of exciting events for children, like Christmas, New Year’s, Setsubun, and Valentine’s Day.

Many teachers are probably looking to enjoy winter-themed crafts together with their children.

In this article, we’ll introduce winter craft ideas for one-year-olds.

Along with ideas tied to seasonal events and holidays, we also feature motifs unique to winter—like snowmen and mittens—that are rich in seasonal atmosphere.

We’ve gathered craft ideas that use unique techniques to keep one-year-olds fully engaged, so we hope you enjoy creating together this winter.

Since the children’s creations are treated as works, we refer to them as “seisaku” (productions/crafts) in the main text.

[For 1-year-olds] Fun to Make! A Collection of Winter Craft Activity Ideas You Can Use in Childcare (41–50)

Let’s make a big Christmas tree!

[Ages 0–2] Let’s make a Christmas tree!

Let's make a big Christmas tree!

This is an idea where you put a big Christmas tree made from construction paper on the wall and let the children freely decorate it with ornaments.

Since it’s for infants (0-year-olds), please prepare the ornament bases in advance by cutting them out of construction paper.

Let the children draw on the bases with crayons or stick on stickers to create lovely ornaments.

Once the ornaments are finished, decorate the tree with them! If you prepare bases in a variety of motifs, the tree will look even more festive.

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Cute tissue paper wreath

[Childcare Craft] 0–1-year-olds: Tissue Paper Wreath, Nursery Teacher, Christmas Wreath

Cute tissue paper wreath

The step of rolling and sticking is so much fun! Let me share an idea for making a tissue paper wreath.

Before you begin, prepare a paper plate with the center cut out, white and green tissue paper cut into manageable pieces, and decorative parts like Santa and star shapes.

Have the children crumple the tissue paper into little balls and stick them onto the rim-only paper plate where you’ve applied glue.

Once they’ve gone all the way around with the tissue paper, let them place the decorative parts—made into stickers with double-sided tape—wherever they like.

Punch a hole at the top of the paper plate, thread a string through, and your Christmas wreath is complete.

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Oden that can also become a wall!

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Here’s a craft project for making oden that even toddlers can do, and it can also be used for wall displays! First, let’s make the oden shop.

Cut colored construction paper into a face shape, then draw or glue on the oden shopkeeper’s facial features.

For very young children, prepare the face parts in advance.

Apply glue to the head area and stick on yarn hair piece by piece.

It’ll be fun to have yarn in various colors.

Next, let’s make the oden ingredients.

Stamp the konnyaku pattern using a cotton swab, make lots of your favorite ingredients, and then glue them onto colored construction paper of your choice to finish!

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Make oden together with adults! From 0-year-old children

This is a craft activity where you stick oden ingredients made from construction paper onto a paper plate.

Depending on age, children can enjoy mainly sticking on pre-made pieces, or they can cut construction paper with scissors, draw patterns, and make the ingredients themselves.

The examples shown here include konnyaku, mochi-filled pouches, and kelp rolls.

There are many other classic oden ingredients too, so it would be fun to freely create them with construction paper.

It’s an idea that excites viewers as well, as they can see what kind of oden each child has made.

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Snow globe made from a plastic bottle

How to make a snow globe

Snow globe made from a plastic bottle

Here’s how to make a snow globe using a plastic bottle.

Prepare an empty bottle from a lactic acid bacteria drink, decorative pom-poms, beads, glitter, liquid glue, and a hot glue gun.

Put the beads and decorative pom-poms into the empty drink bottle.

Fill the bottle about halfway with liquid glue, then add water.

Color a piece of paper with colored pens, place it into the bottle, and let it tint the liquid.

Mix everything together, then top up with water to push out any air, and you’re done.

Close the cap tightly and secure it with a hot glue gun so it won’t open.

Wrap vinyl tape around the top to finish.

Decorating with washi tape might make it even cuter!

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[Empty containers of lactic acid bacteria drinks] Snowflake stamp

Easy Craft: Snowflake Stamps Made from Lactic Acid Drink Containers [Ages 0–1]

[Empty containers of lactic acid bacteria drinks] Snowflake stamp

Here’s a fun snowflake stamp activity that 1-year-olds can enjoy making! Using an empty lactic acid bacteria drink container, it’s an easy craft idea.

First, place a plastic bottle cap over the opening of the empty container and secure it with vinyl tape.

Next, cut anti-collision cushion sheet into a snowflake shape and stick it onto the cap with double-sided tape—done! Add color with a stamp pad or paint, then dab away and play.

By changing the snowflake shapes and trying various colors, children’s imaginations are sure to grow even more.

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Soramame-kun’s Bed

Here’s an introduction to making a fava bean bed craft that’s perfect for May.

Gather paint, sponge stampers (tanpo), construction paper, cotton, colored pens, and glue, and let’s get started.

Stamp paint onto construction paper cut into the shape of a pod to create the fava bean’s bed.

Use colored pens to freely draw grass on the base sheet of construction paper.

Glue the pod onto the base, add the cotton, and the fava bean bed is complete.

Kids can enjoy the feel of the cotton and the color variations created by dabbing with the sponge stampers.

Give it a try!

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