Lovely childcare

[For 3-year-olds] Winter craft activities and bulletin board decoration 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.

In winter, there are many ways to have fun with children—big events like Christmas, New Year’s, and Setsubun, as well as chances to experience the changing climate and nature through snow and ice.

Many teachers may be thinking about incorporating that wintry feeling into their art and craft activities as well.

So this time, we’re introducing craft ideas to make in winter with three-year-olds.

We’ve gathered a wide range of ideas, from those related to winter events to themes unique to the season—like snowmen and mittens.

We’ve selected activities that will spark children’s interest and curiosity, so please try using them in your childcare setting.

Because the children’s creations are treated as works, we use the term “制作” (seisaku, ‘creation/work’) in the text.

[For 3-year-olds] Winter craft activities and wall display ideas you can use in childcare (111–120)

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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Oden made with origami and tissue paper

Tissue paper can transform into all sorts of oden ingredients! For chikuwa, wrap white tissue paper around a toilet paper roll core and brush on brown paint with a cotton swab—done.

For mochi kinchaku, put a small crumpled piece of tissue inside yellow tissue paper and twist the opening shut with a chenille stem—OK! Combine these with other oden items made from origami, and you’ve got a full plate of oden.

You can also make kombu by accordion-folding black tissue paper and securing the center with a chenille stem, and make an egg by sticking a ball of yellow tissue paper onto light orange origami!

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A wall display of oden that even two-year-olds can enjoy!

[Making Oden] A childcare worker explains how to make a version that can also become a wall display! (Ages 2 and up) #shorts

A wall display of oden that even two-year-olds can enjoy!

Stick this on the wall and it’s sure to make you hungry! First, cut out the shapes of a pot and soup from construction paper and glue them in place.

Next, cut out your favorite oden ingredients from construction paper.

If teachers at kindergartens or nurseries, or parents/guardians, pre-draw the shapes of various oden ingredients on the paper, children will only need to do the cutting.

Once the ingredients are cut out, arrange and paste them however you like inside the pot you made at the start—that’s it! Paste lots of your favorite ingredients and complete your very own original oden pot.

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Made with sponge stamps! Fun oden

[Crafts for ages 0–5] Winter foods with sponge stamps 🥢 #childcarecrafts #nursery #kindergarten #kodomoen #nurseryteacher #kindergartenteacher #childcareideas #easycrafts #crafts #stamps #walldisplay #infantcrafts #constructionpaper

Made with sponge stamps! Fun oden

Using sponge stamps, we’ll create patterns for oden ingredients.

For example, for konnyaku, if you press a coarse-textured sponge or a sponge with raised bumps onto a triangle-cut piece of gray construction paper like a stamp, you can make the konnyaku’s speckled texture.

In the same way, using a sponge with carved grooves will make the daikon’s striations, and a sponge with fine cuts can create the wavy, mottled pattern of fish cakes.

Once your oden ingredients are ready, paste them onto construction paper cut into the shape of a pot to complete your oden hot pot!

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For winter childcare! Origami oden

Perfect for winter preschool crafts! We tried making oden with origami ♪ #shorts

For winter childcare! Origami oden

Let’s make oden out of origami, with three items—konnyaku, daikon, and chikuwa—skewered on a stick.

First, fold a gray sheet of origami paper twice to make a small triangle, draw a pattern, and you’ll have the konnyaku.

Next, fold a yellow sheet using the “cushion fold,” then fold all four corners inward to round it out; draw a cross-shaped slit to finish the daikon.

For the chikuwa, draw a pattern on brown origami paper and roll it into a tube shape.

Finally, fold another sheet into a long, thin skewer and attach the three pieces you made.

Your oden is complete!

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Cozy Penguin

Origami [Cozy Penguin] Origami Penguin

Cozy Penguin

Here’s how to fold an origami penguin that can also wear a hat and scarf.

First, fold it into a triangle twice, then open it once.

With a corner pointing down, fold up the top layer so about 2 centimeters stick out, then fold it down along the edge.

Fold the edge you just made in half to make a crease, then fold the bottom corner up to that crease to set a guideline.

Next, fold the other corner up toward the front crease.

Fold the tip of the corner down just a little.

Fold up along the crease you made earlier, align the edges, and fold the whole piece in half.

Finally, adjust the shape to look like a penguin and draw the eyes with a pen to finish.

Try making a hat and scarf for it, too!

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