Origami Lesson Plan for Kids With Model Suggestions

I spent another afternoon teaching origami to grade schoolers yesterday at Crescent Heights Elementary. This was a first for me in one way, as I didn't have any of my own kids in the class. I knew the teacher because she had taught both of my older children, during which time I visited their classes.

Mine or not, it is always fun, and it seems every one of them takes some interest and pride in making the models. Given I have now done this so many times, I though I would share a very broad lesson plan. This is for a class of 25 students with one additional adult helper.

TWO HOUR LESSON PLAN

:05 minutes - introductions and getting to know each other a little

:10 minutes - Explain the history of origami. "Complete Origami, An A to Z of Facts and Folds" by Erik Kenneway can help prepare you, as well as a little web research. Make sure you explain your interest as well. My dad taught my class when I was in grade school and he became interested after spending three years stationed at Yakota Air Force Base in Japan.

:10 minutes - Show the different types of paper you can use included foil, patterned, makeshift and specialty paper. Talk about size of paper and how it creates different difficulty levels and effects the look of the completed models. You would be surprised at how fascinated they are be this. Most of them think of one type of paper and one approximate size.

:5 minutes - Show the different books and instruction resources they can find to learn how to fold, and how the instructions themselves are labeled. I also show them my two favorite books, A John Montroll one and one which my dad gave me from 1961. I also show "Origami by Design" by Lang pointing out specifically the math algoriths in Chapter 14.

:10 minutes Show and tell time. I present models I have folded and some that I have made art out of. I have them guess what the simple ones are supposed to be. Simple models sometimes only suggest what the model is and it can be fun to listen to the various interpretations. They also like the realism of the more complex models.

Notice that we are 40 to 45 minutes in and they haven't touched a piece of paper. It doesn't matter. If anything they are geared up to start folding and they have a little background to work from.

As my general rule, I come with four models in mind, broken down as follows.

:15 minutes A simple one that does not require accompanying folding instruction hand outs. It still needs to be cool enough that it is worth folding.

Recommended 1: A simple box or candy dish. Bring bite sized, wrapped candy to "test" the success of the models completion by throwing a few pieces in each. Make sure it is VERY simple to fold. I do a variation on the fortune teller (cootie catcher) that just about 3/4 of the kids already know how to make.

:20 Minutes Two progressively harder ones, that while still simple, introduce more difficult folding techniques and a simple base.

Recommended 2: A paper balloon or a tumbling toy. My favorite to do is the tumbling toy and I sometimes will do the third model as the paper balloon depending on the age.

Here is a link to the video instructions on how to do a tumbling toy.

:25 minutes
Recommended 3: The paper balloon or the crane.


:10 minutes I then make enough of a classic model such as a crane or an inflatable frog to hand out to everyone as a gift. All told about 2 hours of fun and while the kids still have plenty of energy you are likely to be just about spent.

I also like to leave enough paper behind that they have some to practice other models with.

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On another note, here are a couple of recent models I have made.

The Starfish and the Seahorse from "Undersea Origami" by Lang and Montroll are now part of my window aquarium.



I made a baby with diaper for an artist friend whose wife is expecting. Very cool that he used the model in a promotional graphic for a grassroots civic art happening.

Some Origami Notes on Paper Size

Whenever anyone picks up and starts to play around with Origami they usually don't give much thought to paper size. Traditional, craft store ready, multicolored, white sided paper is in abundance and approximately seven inch square size paper is supplied with most sets of Origami kits. For those starting out or teaching elementary students in classes of 20 to 30 this is just fine. Picking up a 100 sheet package is no big deal and not too expensive.

But there are several reasons to vary your paper size. Using several Montroll models from his Origami for the Enthusiast book, I will endeavor to illustrate.

Reason Number One: Two create different looks for the same model. Especially when putting together a display. Sometimes the class of kids want to combine their efforts into a much bigger display. Say that you are creating fish and other sea life for a hallway display. By creating different sized models of the same fish you can create a school like effect complete with younger fish.

I habitually make the Tyrannosaur, often leaving it at the table I'm sitting at, and do so with whatever paper is available whether a gum wrapper or a tablet page sized to a square. Even though I like the model on it's own, when combined with several different sizes of paper you can develop a sense of family. I have included a small red paper clip to give you an example of scale on this one.

Reason Number Two: To conquer a model. There are some models that are more difficult to complete than others, and when you graduate to some of the more difficult pieces it can get frustrating. The solution: go buy yourself a bunch of large sheets of paper to work with. Sometimes when looking at some of the models in books or online I wonder how they possibly could have folded something like what I am seeing. Often they are done using much larger paper than is readily available to the occasional folder. Go to Uwajimaya or get some online. There are 9 inch square sized sheets available at Amazon, but I would go even bigger if you can find it.

Two models that frustrated me a bit before I worked through them were this Tarantula and what I call the creepy looking baby.

Though they started from much different sized paper, the larger Tarantula helped me understand the folding instructions enough to successfully complete the smaller sized one. The smaller one is actually less messy than the larger one for it as well.

The baby is a Robert Lang model, and comes complete with diaper. I never would have successfully folded this one without the larger paper size. Additionally, I like the resulting size of the model as it is almost "doll" sized when complete.

Reason Number Three: To challenge yourself. Once you have a model down, the challenge then becomes to see how far you can miniaturize it. The smallest Tyrannosaurs above are pretty small, but I like to see if I can even go smaller. I once made some cranes and some penguins as small as I could, then stiffened the paper with a clear lacquer spray and attached them to earring backs.

Reason Number Four: So people can find them. OK, so this reason may not apply to you, but recently I left a turtle for people to find at a local park. No one found it, at least that I am aware of. Now if I had just gone with the larger paper, I think it would have been difficult to overlook. I like the smaller version better, and when using plain paper it loses a little something. But sometimes you just have to go larger.

Reason Number Five: To size correctly to your display. I chose a specific type and size of a paper for the Montroll turtle model mentioned above, so that it would fit nicely into a shadowbox display I was working on. The one pictured was an early pass at something I did on a bigger scale (meaning number of turtles, not size of paper) for my son. I like the effect the checkered paper I used gives to the end result.

There are certainly more reasons, so please provide any others that might come to mind.

Origami From Space

I had some fun teaching origami again last week. This time it was to kindergartners which means the ages ranged from 4 at the youngest and 6 at the oldest. It is actually a pretty good age to begin learning origami techniques and folds, as well as talk about geometric shapes.

Given their ages, it isn’t likely that they are going to be able to do anything too complex and by keeping the models relatively simple, you can also quickly run around the room to make certain everyone stays up to the latest fold.

Also helping was the use of the newest kind of overhead projector, which actually takes a video of your images and projects them on the wall. This way, as long as you stay within the red dots that light the flat surface you choose to set the projector on, everyone can watch as you demonstrate the actual folds. By placing the folding instructions next to you, they can also see how the real project relates to the diagramed one.

The kids at Crescent Heights Elementary were incredibly well behaved and remained interested and engaged for two full hours. Whew.

Simple models that are fun and very doable for kids of that age include the candy dish (that you test by putting candy in it) ((they love that)), the paper balloon (also known as the waterbomb) or any simple sound producing toy model. I have one that is a favorite of mine, and if I can find the diagram online will link to it.

Also on the origami front, I was tipped to this interesting news.

Some University of Tokyo researchers have teamed up with members of the Japan Origami Airplane Association and are hoping to develop a paper aircraft capable of surviving the flight to the Earth once launched from the International Space Station.

Pink Tentacle writes about it and there is a BBC video on it from TechLifeBlogged.

If they come up with a design and materials that work for them, they may want to also talk to Bigelow Aerospace. Bigelow has been busy launching privately funded inflatable space stations up into space for a few years now. It may be more cost effective to go through the ISS.

“Bigelow Aerospace is dedicated to developing next-generation crewed space complexes to revolutionize space commerce and open up the final frontier to all of humanity. At Bigelow Aerospace, we're building the future today!”

Happy folding.

Some Origami Notes

Since I was off teaching origami models to my daughters second grade class on Thursday, will be teaching the history of origami and some folding techniques to a seventh grade class on next Tuesday, and am gearing up for my son's first grade class following that, I thought I would post some quick information for those interested in paper folding.

Favorite origami artists and sites.

Hands down: John Montroll
A mathematics teacher, Montroll has written over 20 origami books including my second favorite "Animal Origami for the Enthusiast" which he published in 1985. Among his many contributions, John Montroll introduced the term double rabbit ear fold. Though his books aren't necessarily for beginners, if you have an active interest, they are both challenging and rewarding. It is my second favorite only because my favorite is the one my Dad owned, which he bought in Yakota Japan and it was published the year I was born. He has since passed on the book to me.

Close second: Robert Lang
Dr. Robert J. Lang was born the same year as myself (and my Dad's origami book) and is an American physicist who is also "one of the foremost origami artists and theorists in the world. He is known for his complex and elegant designs, most notably of insects and animals." (Wikipedia) His book Origami Design Secrets is amazing and includes mathematical formulas for calculating how to get certain designs and features out of designated areas of your paper. I featured him and some of his designs in an earlier post.

Great starter sites:

OrigamiUSA, which used to be called The Friends of Origami Center of America, is headquartered in an autonomous space in the Museum of Natural History in New York. I have visited and sat down for some folding a few times there, but there web site has just about everything you need to get started or take things further. They also sponsor folding contests for children.

Alex Barber has had a site out their for some time which, if you were interested in origami you have likely already found. www.origami.com. The site has a good database and a large number of links to other sites.

I also ran across a relatively new site by a recent convert to origami, called Happy Folding. What I like is that she includes online video instructions on how to do some models. She has, with John Montroll's permission, presented a video demonstration on how to fold the Tyrannosaurus Rex model. I have memorized this dinosaur model and sometimes fold it to pass the time, leaving it for whoever wants to pick it up when I'm through.

Origami Supplies:

My favorite place is Uwajimaya in Seattle. They have the best supply of Origami paper and supplies at a very reasonable price. The problem is that I don't get up there as often as I used to so they visits are infrequent.

Second, and particularly good for me due the convenience is Tacoma Art Supply. Friendly staff and right downtown, I can find a number of different kinds of specialty origami paper there. I bought most of the paper for the thousand cranes I folded there as well as some very large sheets.

Age Groups:

All. I have taught 4 and 5 year olds, as well as adults and every grade in between. They all seem to have fun and if you select the right projects, everyone has a model they can successfully fold.

MSL Camp at the Institute

For four weeks in August, selected students from around the South Sound participate in a four week summer camp with an important focus. The Math, Science & Leadership (MSL) program at the Institute of Technology is a multi-year program that begins with a summer camp for students who will be entering 7th - 11th grades here in the South Sound.

The goals of the program are to help students recognize and develop their potential to excel in math and science, ease the transition from middle school to high school and high school to college, encourage the pursuit of math and science electives at the high school level and to pursue postsecondary degrees in these fields.

Believe me, we need more scientists and engineers.



I spoke to a class of eighth graders in during the second week and enjoyed myself greatly. They were outgoing, respectful and interested in the discussion. My focus was on origami and its relation to mathematics. In particular I highlighted Robert Lang, a noted physicist and engineer, who has authored or co-authored over 80 technical publications and 40 patents on semiconductor lasers, optics, and integrated optoelectronics.


He has also presented several refereed technical papers on origami-math at mathematical and computer science professional meetings. His profile on CBS 60 minutes was shown during the discussion via the web in a smart classroom, and the feature noted the applications of origami to engineering problems ranging from air-bag design to expandable space telescopes.

And then of course we made cranes.

Escaping Cranes Two: Red Version

I had a number of positive responses to my display of escaping cranes. One person convinced me to make another with their selected color scheme so that it would look good in their home.

The colors are red, gray, white and black, and though I wasn’t thrilled with the way they filled the glass container, I really like how they look escaping up into the sky.

With the first one I used about 80 or so cranes but with this one, given the container was slightly smaller I ended up using closer to 60 or so.

Escaping Cranes

I have made what I will brazenly call art from origami before. I will take the simple classic models like the frog, or some complex models from John Montroll, and create them in sufficient number that they can then be woven into a larger work. My favorite involves many Montroll turtles making their way across a sandpaper based beach to a blue felt based ocean from four corners.





I have been working toward doing something with a thousand cranes. The frame is complete and the cranes have been folded with a couple hundred to spare, but I have yet to put it together.



Feeling anxious about it, I threw something together in the meantime, which I call Escaping Cranes. Here is what it looks like. Of course like most photos of a three dimensional object, it loses a little something in the flattening out. Hopefully I can find some space to work on the other project. It will be seven by eight by six feet in size and needs some room for it to come together.