June 15, 2010

summer ideas- origami.

10 reasons why i LOVE origami.
1. it's free.
2. it requires thought.
3. all you need is paper and directions.
4. you make things that you can play with after.
5. it inspires creativity and confidence.
6. it is quick.
7. when you learn how to do it, you can teach others.
8. it's really cool.
9. it's good for boys and girls, young and old.
10. when your done, you can throw it away!!
and a bonus...
11. it builds teamwork!!

we love origami made out of dollars.
origami from the internet and origami books.
(just google origami for some fun sites.)

at the library, drew was so smart.
he got a book of cool origami, and a reference book of folds.
so, when the cool origami books says, "make a valley fold" he just looks up "valley fold" in his reference book to figure out what that means.
so fun!

my kids like making wallets, jumping frogs, biting fish and rabbits with ears that flap.
(we got the directions from books... but i'm sure you could google any of these and find great directions.)
we also LOVE this book on paper airplanes.
ellie won the paper airplane contest in her school.
we rock at paper airplanes.
paper airplanes are American origami.

give it a try!!
so fun.

note to parents-- let the kids figure it out by themselves.  at first, they will say they can't, it's too hard, they don't know how.  IF you sit down with them, act like you don't know what to do either.  (HA!  sometimes you don't have to try too hard to act dumb.)  Read the directions and say things like "Hmm.  What do you think they mean?"  Start slowly folding your paper in directions that you think is right and wait for THEM to say, "Hey!!  I get it... maybe we should do it like this..."  Use words like, "What do you think?" and "Hmm, this is a little tricky."  "Maybe it means..."  The trick is to teach THEM to problem solve on their own, not to look at you for directions.

IF they learn to figure it out on their own, they will spend HOURS doing origami by themselves while you fold laundry or read The Thief.

IF you do it for them, then YOU will have to spend hours doing it with them.  
Just a thought.

4 comments:

Rachel Ure said...

I will look into this. i am sure i can find some simple ones for tayson. and thanks for the book recommendatiopn too. always love a good series.

valerie in TX said...

LOVE your new blog layout, it looks faaaaabulous! As you can tell, my new layout is to NOT post anything! :)

Teachinfourth said...

Origami is fun, and I was asked to teach a class about it for the summer program at my school…I opted for guitar and photography for the students.

You have wonderful photos on your site.

I came here via cjane.

Coralee said...

I remember enjoying origami when I was younger. I think my kids are still a little young, but know they will enjoy it when they are older. Love your new pictures and blog layout - btw! :)

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