The ancient art of Japanese paper folding, origami, dates back to at least the sixth century when Buddhist monks first brought paper to Japan. Today, origami is a blend of ancient and modern techniques, using single sheets or multiple sheets of square paper to create intricately folded designs that mimic patterns found in nature or that demonstrate geometric and mathematical concepts.
Origami can be used in the classroom, not only as a fun, fine motor-skills building activity, but to reinforce important scientific and mathematical concepts or to bring new interest to familiar topics. Children of all ages seem to enjoy origami, some to the point of complete distraction. I began teaching children origami to reinforce the concept of a frog’s life cycle with third grade students. The sequence of folds required to make a jumping frog mirror the stages of the animal’s life cycle. I found if I taught the students how to make the frog while discussing the animal’s life stages from egg, to tadpole, to changeling, to adult, students were able to better remember the natural sequence. They quickly taught their friends how to fold frogs, and before long, my classroom was a jumble of jumping!
Origami was an instant hit. Not only were my students practicing fine motor control that would eventually help them master handwriting, they were quiet and thoroughly engaged. Their attention spans were increasing. Their sense of sequence was improving. Students in my class borrowed every origami book they found in the library. They conferred daily with each other about newly discovered designs. I was thrilled!
Soon, my brilliant idea turned into a classroom management nightmare. I began to find miniature zoos of folded animals tucked into desks. I was forced to remove the paper from the supply shelf because they were wasting it. I even confiscated pads of post-it notes from otherwise, well-behaved kids. Some students were so completely hooked into folding paper they were not paying attention to lessons. The more fidgety students gravitated to origami because it gave them something productive to do with their hands. Although they were less disruptive to the class, these were the kids that could not fold and listen at the same time. I wanted to continue to use origami to enhance my lesson plans and to stretch my students to think creatively, but the distraction factor was almost overwhelming.
I quickly created a structure allowing my students to explore origami during free periods. I kept the paper in a secure location and handed it out during appropriate times. Students learned to look forward to origami as a relaxing change of pace after hard academic work. I asked our building Math Specialist if he would be willing to share new origami designs with my class as a reward for good behavior. I use origami to teach sequence, following directions, to bring life to repetitive lessons, like spelling practice, or to celebrate the end of curriculum units. Origami can make mathematical concepts, like symmetry and fractions, more fun to learn. There are incredible resources on the Internet and in libraries for teachers who want to bring this ancient art form alive for new generations. Here are four lesson ideas that can bring origami appropriately into a classroom setting.
Newton’s Jumping Frog
The origami jumping frog is a concrete example that can help students understand Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion or ideas about energy and energy transference. The folds of the frog effectively demonstrate how energy can be manipulated to create a makeshift spring from a flat sheet of paper. The frog is an effective model that can illuminate the scientific process through inquiry, experimentation, and recreation. If you use heavier paper, the frog jumps more like the real thing. Move the legs wider apart or closer together, and the frog may become a long jumper or a flipper. The design of the jumping frog can be tweaked in subtle ways that result in differences between the ways each frog jumps. These are fun opportunities that might eventually lead to discussions about engineering and more complicated principles of physics.
Make a “Spelling Catcher”!
Some teachers and students may be familiar with the simply folded “cootie catcher”. Ask students to write their first and last name along with the spelling lesson on the front. Inside, students write spelling words on the flaps. Under the final flaps, have students create sentences using the spelling word chosen. Then, students can help each other study at centers through a fun, interactive, hands-on approach that appeals to many types of learners.
Celebrate the 100th Day of School by folding 100 of something!
Students enjoyed this year helping celebrate the 100th day of school by folding 100 origami rabbits! Actually, I think we only made it to 68 this year, but it was a fun way to talk about numbers, grouping, and counting.
Frog Olympics
At the very end of the school year I host Frog Olympics for a bit of fun. Everyone participates and has multiple opportunities to compete in a risk-free setting. Frogs compete in the long distance race (across the room) in multiple heats, the long jump, the flip competition, and the fashion contest.
