origami and beyond

i've written a little about origami here, and thought i'd post the address to a WONDERFUL website of origami creativity ... even if you're not a young one, this is still an awesome site to tour. It's called ORILAND, the creation of Yuri and Katrin Shumakov. You've got to allot some intense online time to touring through this site ... including the photo's of some of their exhibitions!
http://www.oriland.com/index.asp

origami recycling at the school breakfast program

our school breakfast program includes those individual bowl packs of cereal. have you ever looked at them? the paper label/seal is just about square.
how it works:
each child carefully peels the seal off his or her cereal bowl. the child brings the seal to me when he or she clears their breakfast things. i take them home, spray them with sanitizer spray (i'm rather phobic about germs), and fold them into origami. the child can exchange a new seal for an origami at his or her next school breakfast.
yes, this is rather time consuming, so why do it?

• firstly, it shows children by example that environmental consciousness is a positive thing ... it reduces some of the waste by re-using something they would otherwise just throw away, and recycles.
• secondly, origami is a wonderful way to teach math. take a look at your child's math book some time. then compare some of the geometry lessons to origami. symmetry. lines and angles. geometric shapes. wow.
• thirdly, origami is also a tool for promoting learning. how? we start off the year with simple origami (the cup, the samurai hat ... patterns a child can replicate with a square of paper). we progress through the year with more intricate designs. at present, the designs include owls, penguins, tulips, hapi coats, inflatable rabbits ... i don't push the kids to learn, and i rarely demonstrate. i simply tell them that they can find books on origami in the library (oohhh a boost for reading!) and praise them when they come up with a design they folded themselves. it teaches children to seek the information, and learn it on their own, rather than expecting mom or dad to buy it at the store.
• finally, origami was popular in my house when i was a child. why? because all six kids were dyslexic, and small motor development was a challenge. origami is a great way to develop small motor skills ... not to mention that it was self-reinforcing, since the reward was in folding something really neat out of a plain square of paper.

birthday treats

healthy treats:

• carrot sticks and curls ... much easier for kids to eat than baby carrots, because they're not quite as hard to bite when you have a loose tooth. packed in snack baggies with small dixie cups of fat free ranch seemed to be a real hit, especially if the sticks and curls are cut thin. (to make curls, use a vegetable peeler to peel strips from carrots. chill the carrot peels in cold water and they'll curl)
• if there are no peanut allergies, ants on a log are also pretty cool and easy -- put the peanut butter in a ziploc bag. snip off a small corner, squeeze onto celery sticks and decorate with raisins (those are the ants). dried currants or dried craisins (cranberries) also worked.
• jello. several flavors layered in clear cups are a rainbow in a cup. adding two packets of knox gelatin to a box of jello makes it stiff enough to cut with cookie cutters, or in simple stackable blocks. and blue jello with a couple gummy fish make a nifty edible aquarium.
• water. 6-12 oz bottles of water, chilled.