How to use origami as an educational tool?

Teaching origami in classroom is very easy. Origami requires absolutely no equipment other than one small sheet of paper. It is both safe and manageable and can be enjoyed by anyone. I usually cut different size of poster paper in square shape and use it to teach different origami projects to kids in Nursery class.


Using origami as an educational tool:

The German pedagogue and the founder of kindergartent, Friedrich Froebel (1782 – 1852) , was the first to introduce Origami into formal education.. Froebel recognized the value of children learning through play and exploration. He considered the manipulation of the paper as a mean for children to discover for themselves the principles of math and geometry. Piaget, the renowned child development psychologist held that “motor activity int the form of skilled movement is vital to the development of intuitive thoughts and the mental representation of the brain”.
“When the paper folds the mind unfolds”

Origami is an activity that requires both hands and activates the whole brain. According to a research done on the brain by Dr. Katerin Shumakov and Yuri Shumakov, when both hands are engaged, impellent motor impulses activate the language portion of the brain.

Benefits of using origami as an educational tool:                      
1. The origami training stimulating high motor activity with simultaneous use of the right and left hands will render different influences on the activity of the brain's hemispheres of children from different sex-age groups.
2. The motor skills of both hands and their asymmetry will change during dynamics of training with respect to the real cerebral lateralization type of children.
3. The asymmetrical bimanual activity during origami training influences the individual - psychological features of children of different sexual-age groups. The prevalence of the left hemisphere is reflected in verbal abilities (speed of verbal thinking), and prevalence right hemisphere is reflected on nonverbal abilities (nonverbal intelligence, spatial imagination).
4. The asymmetrical bimanual activity during origami training will affect the creativity of children of different age groups and will stimulate development of creativeness.

Scientific proof how origami helps to develop skills: Ph.D. thesis by Katrin and Yuri Shumakov (Left Brain and Right Brain at Origami Training)

Useful links and Related posts:

* Origami in Education and Therapy

* The Educational Benefits of Origami

Origami for Skill Development Among Children

Paper crafts, paper folding or origami is one of my favourite pastime and from few years I am teaching simple and basic paper folding/origami projects in my art/crafts class. As an interactive activity children enjoy following the instructions. I found that it appeals to the creative, inventive and constructive abilities of children.
Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding. It literally translates as ori (folding) gami (paper). In Japan, Children learn origami at their mothers' knees. In the West, children are learning it at school. Research has shown that paper-folding, particularly in the elementary school years, is a unique and valuable addition to the curriculum.


Origami is not only fun, but it is also a valuable method for developing vital skills. As a teacher or parent you can adopt this creative hobby for skill development among children. 
Therapists have found that origami has a modifying affect on their patients, and they often use it as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool. This post is about the benefits you get when you keep your kids busy with these art/crafts activities.



Origami for skill development: It can be adopted by educators, teachers, Psychologists, Physicians, Parents for educational, developmental, and therapeutic aspects. Origami is good for any age: from kids, those who start learning all by themselves, to persons of mature years who don't stop developing their own individuality. Schools have begun to realize the educational value of origami.  
It is a great hands-on activity and a wonderful resource that teaches students how to follow directions.

Below is a list of partial academic and cognitive skills involving Origami.

• Listening Skills, 
• Social Studies, 
• Visual Memory, 
• Reading Skills, 
• Sequential Memory, 
• Visual-Spatial Motor Skills, 
• Writing Skills, Concentration, 
• Verbal and Visual Memory, 
• Mathematics Eye-Hand Coordination, 
• Logical Reasoning, 
• Spatial Relationship, 
• Fine Motor Skills, 
• Problem Solving. 

Origami has a therapeutic effect on children. Many  have found Origami to be an inherently relaxing activity and its use as a stress reduction technique.

"Oriland.com" has mentioned 10 reasons to be involved in origami:
1. Development of fine 'motor skills' of both hands.
2. Development of intellectual abilities.
3. Development of creative abilities.
4. Activation of the Right and Left hemispheres of the brain.
5. Development of imagination.
6. Development of attention.
7. Development of memory.
8. Development of patience.
9. Emotional and aesthetic experiences.
10. Joy, satisfaction and pride in your own work!

Useful links and Related posts:
* The educational benefits of origami
* Origami in Education and Therapy
* The Educational Benefits of Origami
* Learn origami at the internet!
* 'Benefits of origami'
* Useful links and resources for paper crafts! 
* Origami - A Great Way to Train Fine Motor and Cognitive Skills

Interactive way of learning doubles with origami and crafts

I love to experiment new ways to make my teaching interactive. Last week I teach them addition with doubles. Kids do the addition sums from 1-10 in different ways and doing it with doubles makes the sum solving process easier.
Thursday was our art and crafts class and my project was to teach them origami double boat. We all know that learning origami helps in development of eye and hand co-ordination. So mixing of origami with drawing and maths results in an interesting and interactive activity.

Normally the origami boat creating process is difficult to follow for my class kids (age group 4 plus) and I try to find the ways to make it easier.


How to create double boat?              

This unique dual hulled traditional boat is called 'catamaron'. If you can make origami house then you can easily make this fold. It is made by inside reverse fold. You need to learn valley and mountain-fold.

Link: 'Make traditional catamaron boat'

You can see the process of creating crafts with double boat from the pictures. First they fixed the boat at their art book. Following pictures show the cut and paste (strips of light, and deep blue color poster paper)

I asked them to add double clouds at sky. A child came up with idea of drawing a rainbow which was liked by all kids and they followed it.

My students love to work at crafts projects. I feel that they may forget the 'addition with doubles' but they won't forget making or creating 'double boat'.

I hope to share more experiences with my readers. So keep in touch and don't forget to submit your comments.

More ideas while teaching doubles:

This is simple double house fold which is easier for young kids to learn and  drawing makes this origami project more interesting.

This is also a combine work of maths and crafts. Kids loved creating this crafts and they were happy to do addition sums while doing this activity.

Finished work

Useful links:


* Learn origami for the development of creative skills

Crafts and origami learning with kids

It is fun to teach crafts and origami to kids ( at early years).  I teach easy origami to kids in my Nursery class. I believe that origami helps in development of fine 'motor skills', intellectual abilities and creative abilities. As kids in our Nursery class are from the age group of 4 to 5 plus, even easy origami projects are sometimes difficult to follow, and kids need help at later steps for completing these tasks.

As you can notice from facing picture that I have mixed the drawing and origami together to make an interesting crafts.

As the outcome of this crafts was amazing, we selected it as a folder cover which we hand over to parents at 'Parents teachers meeting' as a record of kids learning.

How this crafts project was created?

1- First I teach them to make a simple house.
2- In second art/crafts class I told them to make a tree.
3- Third stage was to fix both origami projects at art book and finish it by drawing clods, grass, flower etc.
4- We fixed some pencil carving at the roof of the house to make it more attractive and appealing.

Get origami projects or crafts ideas online

Origami can be used for skill development for educational, developmental, and therapeutic aspects. Origami is good for any age as it provide an entertaining and creative feeling when you are busy doing it.

For kids at preschool or kindergarten stage you need to teach them easy origami which they can learn themselves. Your instructions should be clear and easy to follow. You can find lot of sites and links online where you can get ideas, projects details and even step by step tutorial helping you learn origami projects or crafts ideas yourself or for your kids. This post is helpful for teachers, parents who are interested to start teaching this creative activity for kids.

* 'How to origami' is full of easy projects for children. You can get an idea from the pictures I have loaded here. These easy instruction are enough to start learning with basic folds. As you can see that the 3rd picture shows a table chair made with origami folds which seems difficult to make, but as first two pictures show easy steps to follow, you can easily learn it. Even your kids can follow these instructions by watching these pictures or online videos.

* 'Free Homemade bookmarks, crafts and gifts' 

* 'Origami Resources' Helps you make Origami crafts, Origami Crafts for children, free videos on Origami, Origami Aeroplane, Origami Flowers, Origami Animals etc.

* 'Simple Kids Crafts': Daily, Easy, Educational, Functional Children Arts and Crafts projects for children of all ages using easy to find materials such as recyclables, egg cartons, cardboard, paper, boxes, string, crayons, paint, glue, fabric and pompoms, pipe cleaners, beads, ribbons, construction paper and more. They offer toys, games, school crafts, experiments, FREE printable coloring pages/templates and craft recipes.

* 'Easy origami forkids'

* Paper the World offers simple origami of models that focus on endangered animal species.
It educates and teaches some charming origami animal figures to children so that they can enjoy the art and creativity of folding paper and making beautiful things from such common material.

Learn origami for the development of creative skills

Origami is an ancient art, which is very popular among children as well as adults. Despite of having fun from this good pass time/hobby, origami has some benefits in skill development.

Origami can be used for skill development by educators, teachers, Psychologists, Physicians, Parents for educational, developmental, and therapeutic aspects. Origami is good for any age: from kids, those who start learning all by themselves, to persons of mature years who don't stop developing their own individuality.
What is happening when we are doing origami?

Body level:
Your hands are made active, they give impulses to your brain, and activate your left and right hemispheres. Tactile, motor and visual brain's zones are made very active.

Soul level:
Your emotions are painted with joy, satisfaction, and pride in your own work. They broaden your emotional self-image.

Mind level:
Your memory, non-verbal thinking, attention, 3D-comp-rehension, imagination are working hard.


More benefits?

"Oriland.com" has described 10 reasons to be involved in origami:

1. Development of fine 'motor skills' of both hands.

2. Development of intellectual abilities.

3. Development of creative abilities.

4. Activation of the Right and Left hemispheres of the brain.

5. Development of imagination.

6. Development of attention.

7. Development of memory.

8. Development of patience.

9. Emotional and aesthetic experiences.

10. Joy, satisfaction and pride in your own work!

Source link: 10 Reasons to be involved in Origami

Where to learn origami?
You can find many books from internet, but to start learning there are many sites, which provide free stuff.
Go to the article: learn origami


HOW ORIGAMI HELPS TO DEVELOP CHILDREN

Scientific proof how origami helps to develop skills:
Ph.D. thesis by Katrin and Yuri Shumakov

Left Brain and Right Brain at Origami Training

* More reading: ORIGAMI BENEFITS

Related posts:

* Learn origami at the internet!

* Useful links and resources for paper crafts!

Learn origami at the internet!

There are many sites, which provide you step up step tutorials or lesson to learn origami which is called paper folding.

1- Origami club is a free site where you learn origami.

Origami club belongs to City plan.co.,Ltd and is a resource site to learn origami for FREE. There are lot of origami projects which can be made and even you can take a print out of those easy instruction based diagrams.
Few pages:

* fun origami
* fruits and vegetables
There are 2 ways to learn origami, first is animated way and second is diagram of step by step instructions.

These are few of the pages, you may find artwork for cloths, furniture,

Site is updated monthly and several new origami artworkds are produced, so better to keep checking for it.

2- Various articles on different aspects of origami and related subjects Joseph Wu Origami

3- Folding paper toys that you can make yourself at: The toy maker

4- Learn about the history of origami, how it relates to math, and about Eric's work with origami; as well as, order books and learn to fold insects, dinosaurs, and other objects.
- Eric's Origami Page
- Diagrams on paper folding
- Origami organizations
- Personal origami pages

5- A site created by Melissa Johnson. These links provide information for the origami enthusiast or the beginner.Origami Sources on the Web
* This page provides links to web sites and pages dedicated
to using Origami in the classroom.
- Origami in the Classroom
6- Best Paper Airplanes .com is a free site that illustrates how to make unique folded Paper Planes that you'll find nowhere else - because these ten paper airpcraft models are original, copyrighted designs. Some are easy to bulid, some are flying origami as well as paperairplanes, but all are fun to fold and fly.
- Best airplanes.com
7- George Ho gives information about the benefits of origami.
- Origami & Mental Therapy

8- Formerly "Jasper's Guide to Paperfolding Instructions on the Web"
If you follow along with these handy guides, you can make your own beautiful models in just a few minutes
- Folds.net

9- You may find diagrams, puzzles, resources and news about origami.
- Origami-usa.org

Useful links and resources for paper crafts!

I love making paper crafts, because it is easy to make, you don't have to bother about buying expensive supplies, and easy to discard, when you are finished with your projects. But first let us know about paper craft, as it is different from origami or paper folding.

Definition of Origami: "Origami, the art of creating various shapes from a single piece of paper, is a pastime that has been enjoyed in Japan since ancient times."

I have collected some useful links and resources, which are mostly FREE to use. There are a lot of ideas to keep your child busy and not only children but adults can also enjoy making these crafts.

1- DLTK's Crafts for Kids features a variety of fun, printable children's crafts, coloring pages and more including projects for holidays, educational themes and some of our children's favorite cartoon characters. The site is run by "Leanne, a mom with two girls and husband.

* DLTK's Crafts for Kids

* Note on Crafting with Preschoolers

2- Crafts bits provides resources for teachers, therapists, and craft enthusiasts. Craftbits.com is an independent craft website.
Site is created at sunny Brisbane on the east coast of Australia. At Craftbits.com you can find free crafts, free craft projects, diy craft gift ideas, christmas crafts, kids crafts, sewing crafts, candle making and more.
* Paper cragts page

* Kids crafts page

3- * Tips and techniques at paper crafts section at "Michaels.com.

4- Paper crafts magazine blog with news and paper craft ideas.
* Paper Crafts projects

5- 'Family fun.go.com" has some good paper craft projects at: 3D paper crafts for kids

6- "Creative Park" presents every kind of papercraft- from simple toys to intricate crafts, there's something for all the family! - and it's free to download!
Make fun with 3D paper craft
There are a lot of origami ideas and these ideas can be downloaded