Japanese Crafts for Children: Japanese Fan

By Sirena Van Schaik

“Beautiful Craft”

When I was a child, I loved folding paper back and forth, back and forth, back and forth until I was left with a little fan. I would spend many hours making various fans of all sizes and I would marvel at how easy they were to make and how intricate I could make them.

I enjoyed paper crafts and many children enjoy them as well. That is probably why this craft is wonderful to make. You can create a beautiful fan to use or you can create several to decorate your room. This craft is fairly simple and there are million different ways to make it.

What you need:

• Paper: You can use patterned paper, cardstock or just regular paper.
• Markers: These are to draw pictures or to create Japanese script on the fans so you can use straight black or a myriad of colors
• Popsicle sticks
• Paint: I would recommend these for the popsicle sticks and you can match the colors to the design you are doing.
• White Glue

Directions:

1. On the paper, you will need to draw an arch shape that is fairly thick. It should give you enough surface to draw on but still fit onto the ends of the popcycle sticks.
2. Decorate the arch anyway that you would like to have it. There are many Japanese translators available online so you could find your name and write your name on the fan in Japanese script.
3. After you have made the design, you can prepare the popsicle sticks. If you would like them colored, paint them and then allow them to dry completely before starting the next step.
4. Take a popsicle stick and apply a bit of white glue about one cm up the stick.
5. Place a second stick on top of the glue, fanning it out slightly. Add another drop of glue to the top popsicle stick and repeat until you have four popsicle sticks glued together in a fan shape.
6. Allow the glue to dry completely.
7. Once the glue is dry, add a short line of white glue to the top of the popsicle stick fan and place the decorated paper onto it. You will want there to be about 2 cms between the bottom of the paper and the overlapping popsicle sticks.

Allow the glue to dry and then you can decorate your wall or simply use as a beautiful, handmade Japanese fan.