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.
