Origami builds patience, focus, and determination

Learn to make an Origami Zoo here.

For the past several months, I have been working with a group of restless kids.  Everyday was a battle to get them to focus on their homework, until I realized before we could do anything done, they simply needed to learn how to focus.  So we began doing origami.

 First, we made the Jumping Frog. It was pretty brutal - I had to constantly encourage them to not give up. The following week we made the Fish and they remained determined to complete the project.  After using the cute templates succesfully, we were ready to move into more advanced ground, and make origami from scratch.

I love origami.  Now I'm not naturally good at it, my spatial reasoning skills are below average, but that is exactly why I love origami.  There are many educational benefits of origami, from developing academic skills to social and creative skills.  And it only takes a single square piece of paper!


Visit the Origami Resource Center for more information on the benefits of origami across the curriculum, as well as some super creative ideas (Star Wars origami, anyone?).