All the crafts on these pages we make with our 1-9 year old students. It is easier for children to follow instructions if broken down into steps. Eg, Number 1write your name. Number 2, colour Santa etc. Think of modeling as time invested in setting up the activity. If you do it well it well they will require minimal supervision once things are under way.

Crafts are messy! As children love to make a mess make cleaning up afterwards easier by covering tables and floor with a plastic sheet. Teach the children to clean up after themselves! Complete the craft at the children's pace rather than yours. Spread it over a number of lessons if necessary.

Avoid the tubs of glue that Japanese Kindergartens insist on using that the children stick their fingers into and spread all over the paper, desk and themselves. Instead use the blue pritstick type.

Have a completed example of any craft you intend to do to show to the children. Be really excited about it! If the children are enthused and motivated they will concentrate on getting the craft done. Making one yourself in advance helps you when it comes to modeling too.

When you show them the completed craft ask them how they would make it. What materials, coloured crayons, tape, actions etc will they need. They gain a huge amount of vocabulary this way and they realise it too! If you want to use the example craft again next year, consider laminating it. Or just bin it and make a nice new fresh one next year and save yourself the hassle of trying to store it.

Play soothing back ground music if you wish them to concentrate. Songs with lyrics that relate to the craft are also recommended.

Naturally, we recommend Songs by The Magic Crayons.

Making and preparing crafts takes time and money and I'm not a fan of wasting either so... Most of the crafts within this blog will happily print on A3 or A4, use all the available paper space and can easily be printed or copied clearly. As I frequently prepare hundreds of these at a time they can all be cut out quickly using a guillotine with no tedious cutting out with scissors.

Japanese craft paper sizes are often different to International Paper Sizes (A4, A3 etc). The coloured craft paper you see in within these blog pages are smaller than A3.

Display completed crafts in the classroom or elsewhere in the school. Tell them this will happen in advance.