November 11th is National Origami Day. The folded paper crane is an international symbol of peace. However, there’s a lot more to origami than simple birds, and Origami Day is all about promoting the art of paper folding and showcasing incredible creations. Check out a book about “Origami” and start folding!
Read: The Pirate Girl’s Treasure: An Origami Adventure by Peyton Lueng. In this spectacularly original picture book, the story mirrors an origami activity: As a pig-tailed pirate girl travels through mountains, valleys, a cave and finally by sea to reach the treasure her grandfather has hidden for her, imaginative illustrations show different incarnations of a single folded sheet of paper within the scenes. Best of all, clear instructions at the end will let readers recreate the story with just a few folds and tears, transforming a piece of notebook paper into a mountain, hat, cave, boat and really cool pirate shirt.
Paper-folding is a wonderful hobby, and a wonderful group activity… for students it has many benefits socially and for the developing mind, but I just love it because you get to make cool stuff… with only a sheet of paper! Write your own story and include imaginative, transformed paper scenes!
Watch the video to learn how to fold paper. The video below moves slowly to allow students to follow directions. Pause the video as needed.
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