2013 Koinobori Crafts

This Sunday, May 5 is Boys Day/Childrens Day (Kodomo no Hi) in Japan.

Our family celebrates by:

– Displaying Koinobori (previous posts with more info HERE and HERE)

– Making a samurai hat out of newspaper (planning to post about that soon)

– Eating Okosama Lunch (previous lunch HERE. this year I plan on making fried rice, ebi-fry, korokke, and purin)

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Craft #1

Since we don’t have giant koinobori (こいのぼり) windsocks to display outdoors, I decided to make a small koinobori bunting (ガーランド) to display inside our house. I made one koi for each member of our family. This little banner reminds me how much I love my little family!

To make your own, you will just need:

– felt

– googly eyes

– glue gun

– embroidery thread and needle

– glitter glue

– ribbon

I don’t have a pattern… I just free-handed it. Cut out your koi shapes, glue on the eyes with a glue gun, add scales using glitter glue, and embroider if you desire and attach a ribbon for hanging. Easy! Took me less than 2 hours, not including drying time for the glue. I think mine would look better if I had rainbow colored string or ribbon to string my koinobori.

There are so many cute koinobi garland ideas online! Here are a few that I thought were especially cute:

– Origami Koi Garland from DekiruNavi (would work double-time for Cinco de Mayo too!)

– Another koinobori felt garland idea, found on Rakuten. I love the pom-poms!

– A super simple and colorful koinobori garland by maki maeda’s blog

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Craft #2

In my craft stash, I found pieces of chipboard I had purchased at a craft store (Michaels) for less than a dollar per pack awhile ago. They turned out to be the perfect shape for making koinobori! My daughter decorated hers using oil pastels.

What crafts, food, or activities do you have up your sleeve for Kodomo No Hi (こどものひ)?  Please share (and send me photos)! Check back soon for more posts about Boys Day!

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こ：こいのぼりII (Koinobori)

This Saturday is Boys Day/Children’s Day, a Japanese holiday. We started the week by making paper koinobori. I thought a simple color-cut-paste koinobori would be appropriate for my young kids this year. You can make one too by visiting Nurieyasan HERE and printing the size koinobori you want.

My daughter’s favorite color is “rainbow”, so this is how she colored her koinobori:

My son doesn’t have an attention span, so his went mostly uncolored:

I think they turned out so cute! If we have the time this week, I’d also like to try making THESE origami koinobori by Zakka Life, THESE koinobori wafer snacks by Camo’s Handmade, and THESE koinobori sandwiches from CookPad. They all seem really simple to make!

Other related links:

1) Past posts I’ve written about Kodomo no Hi (Children’s Day): HERE and HERE and HERE

2) Beautiful photographs of koinobori at Omiyage Blog.

3) Follow my Kodomo no Hi Pinterest board.

こ：ことり

putiya.com

I love this sweet little song, called “Kotori no Uta” (The Little Birds’ Song). With Spring just around the corner (I hope), I find myself singing this song throughout the day.

Here are the lyrics (and my translation):

小鳥（ことり）はとっても　歌（うた）がすき  (little birds love to sing)
母（かあ）さん呼（よ）ぶのも　歌でよぶ (they even sing when calling their mother)
ピピピピピ (chirp, chirp, chirp…)
チチチチチ　ピチクリピイ

Lyrics from here.  (If you click on the link, you can also listen to the melody)

Kotori/little bird coloring page here, from sakunet.

こ：こいのぼり (koinobori)

Kodomonohi/Children’s Day isn’t until May, but my mind is already swirling with ideas! This is the first year that I get to celebrate こどものひ for real, because I now have a baby boy! I grew up with all sisters so this was a holiday that I never really celebrated growing up.

One of the major traditions on Children’s Day/Boy’s Day is to fly koinobori/carp windsocks.

Here are some cute ideas I’ve rounded up on the web so far that I want to try:

1) A special okosama lunch with cute koinobori and kabuto decorations from All About.

2) Make-it-yourself koinobori papercrafts here, here, here, here, here, here, and here! I don’t know which one to choose!

3) Cute koinobori bento idea from e-obento..
4) I want to teach my daughter the words to the koinobori song:

The Lyrics (and my translation):

やねよりたかい　こいのぼり (koinobori, taller than the roof)
おおきいまごいは　おとおさん (the big carp is daddy)
ちいさいひごいは　こどもたち (the small carps are the children)
おもしろそうに　およいでる (they are swimming happily)

And Nordstrom currently has this super-cute koinobori T-shirt (part of their Disney It’s a Small World series). I want it!

shirt from Nordstrom