Japanese Crafts for Kids

Japan is a place that is rich in culture. There are many interesting things about Japan that always fascinated me as a child. From Japanese origami to even the cute little Japanese fan or traditional Japanese clothing such as dainty kimonos, everything about Japan has been quite fascinating. Although I have never been there, I was lucky to have a neighbor who taught me many interesting things about Japanese art. There were some things I picked up and the rest, is something I better not mention (this includes my feeble attempt to speak Japanese!) Summer vacations were always spent in trying to learn something new. On this note, I would like to share some very interesting Japanese crafts for kids. With such kid's craft activities, parents can have a fun time teaching children or kids can even learn to make these on their own. Take a look at these step-by-step instructions.

Steps for Making Japanese Crafts

Japanese Fan

What you will need
Ice pop sticks
Pens and/or paint
Glue
Paper - A4 or letter size

Instructions
Begin by drawing a shape of a rainbow on the paper. Once done, cut it out carefully. You can decorate the paper in any way you wish. You can have a soft effect with water colors or even try something sketchy with paints. Once it dries, you can even try calligraphy style and write some Japanese script. Allow your creativity to run loose. Once done, you need to place the ice pop sticks in the basic shape of a fan. Keep these sticks about 1 cm away from each other and glue the ends together. Stick your decorated paper over the upper area of the fan. Your pretty Japanese fan is ready to be used on a hot summers day!

Japanese Doll

What you will need
Needle
Bowl
Raw egg - 1
Glue
Black yarn
Paints
Colored tissue paper
Plastic bottle cap - 1
Paintbrushes, preferable fine

Instructions
First, you need to take the needle and make a tiny hole in one side of the raw egg. This is done to help you break it later on. Your next step is to make a somewhat larger hole at the other end. Now, hold this egg over a bowl. You need to blow on the small hole till the raw egg manages to seep out through the larger hole. Do this step carefully as you will need to blow a little hard. Once the egg shell is empty, rinse the inside of the egg gently. Once it dries, the larger end of the shell should be glued to the bottle cap. This is done so that the shell can stand up properly. Now, take the tissue paper and use it creatively to make clothes for the doll. Color it and cut it as you require. Stick black colored yarn on the 'head' of the doll. Paint the face to give it definition. Your doll is all set and ready to visit a Japanese garden!

With these ideas for Japanese art for kids, children and parents can have a fun time making it at home. This is surely a useful and creative way of spending free hours in holidays!