[For Seniors] Tanabata decorations made with origami: Brightly decorate with stars, shell ornaments, and the Milky Way
Tanabata, the big event in July.
This year, why not try making a variety of Tanabata decorations so you can enjoy it even more than usual? In this article, we’ll share easy Tanabata decorations you can make with origami! In addition to the classic Milky Way streamers, shell garlands, diamond ornaments, and various fukinagashi streamers will brighten the walls of senior care facilities and bring a summery breeze.
You might also have decorations you folded as a child, or ones you made with your children or grandchildren as special memories.
Let’s level up your tanzaku wish tags this year with something more dazzling than usual! Enjoy chatting as you craft—What wish should I make this year, I wonder?
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[For Seniors] Tanabata decorations made with origami: Brightly decorate with stars, shell ornaments, and the Milky Way (1–10)
Sasa Leaf Papercraft
Real bamboo leaves are lovely, but ones made from craft paper are beautiful too.
The steps are very simple: cut construction paper into strips, fold each strip in half, and trim with scissors to form leaf shapes.
However, you’ll need to make a lot and attach them together, so take your time.
Use floral wire for the branch portions.
Since you’ll be using a hot glue gun for adhesion, be careful not to burn yourself.
The impression changes depending on the shade of green, so it’s hard to choose which one to make!
The tanzaku of Orihime and Hikoboshi
Fold the top left and right corners of the rectangular origami down to meet the bottom edge to make triangles.
Crease and unfold, then fold the corners along these creases.
Fold the origami along the first creases you made, flip it over, and fold both triangle corners and the top corner toward the center.
The head is now complete, so make a decoration with a square sheet of origami and attach it.
Make the body with a sheet cut to 1/2 size, attach it to the head, and you’re done! The great thing about this idea is that the body can be used as a tanzaku strip! Write your wish on it to finish.
streamers of a floral kusudama
Fold the origami paper in half twice to make a square, then unfold it once.
Fold both corners on the creased side into triangles along the center line, then fold them back outward.
Flip the paper over, fold both sides of the triangle to meet the center line, and then fold it in half along the crease.
In this state, round off the corners with scissors to create a flower part.
Open one of the four flower parts, turn the remaining three inside out, and glue them inside the one you opened.
Attach all four together to complete the kusudama! Finally, attach a streamer made from a different sheet of origami, and you’re done.
It’ll be fun to choose the colors for the kusudama and the designs for the streamers.
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[For Seniors] Tanabata Decorations Made with Origami: Brighten Up with Stars, Shell Ornaments, and the Milky Way (11–20)
Watermelon streamers
Draw wavy lines on one side of long, thin strips of construction paper, layer them radially, and glue them together; then overlap and glue all the ends to make a kusudama ball.
Attach long, thin strips of green construction paper to the top of a red sheet of origami, draw the seeds with a pen, make slits, and roll it into a tube.
Connect this kusudama ball to a streamer to finish.
When you think of watermelon, you think of red, but since we have the chance, it makes you want to use various colors of origami.
There are plenty of summer fruits, so making them as peaches or melons could be cute, too!
pom-pom streamer
Here’s an idea for using tissue-paper pom-poms as the decorative part of a streamer.
For the pom-poms, it’s great to use flower paper sold at 100-yen shops.
Since it’s already accordion-folded, you can simply fan out the layers to make a flower.
If you attach two flowers together, they form a sphere—and your pom-pom is complete.
Then hang an origami-made streamer beneath it with a string, and you’re done! Using different colors instead of the same color for the flowers can make it look even more festive.
It’s an idea you can really enjoy taking your time with, so be sure to try it during the Tanabata season.
Star tanzaku
After cutting the origami paper in half, place it horizontally and fold it in half by matching the short edges.
Open it after creasing, then fold the upper right corner down along the bottom edge to make a triangle and create a diagonal crease.
Fold the lower right corner the same way, then use the creases you’ve made to fold the right half into a triangle.
We’ll shape this part into a star.
Make a slit in the center of the remaining left half and fold it over to both sides of the star.
Attach the remaining half as a strip to the star, and you’re done! It’s so cute even though you can make it with just one sheet of origami.
If you stop partway through, it could also look like a shooting star.
Ring ornament of bamboo leaves
It’s the bamboo leaf version of the classic paper chain, a staple for birthday decorations.
Fold origami paper into long, narrow strips, make them into rings, and glue them; then flatten each ring and shape it into a leaf.
Glue three leaves together to make one bamboo frond.
Make as many as you like, thread another long, narrow strip of origami through the center of the leaves to connect them, and you’re done.
Hang it from the ceiling so it sways gently, and it will bring a fresh Tanabata atmosphere to the room.
You can also hang tanzaku wish strips and other ornaments to create a gorgeous bamboo decoration indoors!