Origami: Fun Facts, Product Reviews & Craft Round-Up

Disclosure: I was sent these products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

We are on our third week of exploring Japan for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. If you missed our first two weeks we did new picture books to learn about Japan and crafts from Japan. Today we are taking a look at the ancient art of Japanese origami. I thought I would start with some fun facts since I shared a bit about the history of origami a few years ago. 

Origami Fun for Kids Kit & Fun Origami Paper -- Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of this kit and packages of origami paper free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

One of our favorite crafts is origami. Now I love origami for many different reasons including teaching math. Hazel loves creating the various things. Today we are sharing Origami Fun for Kids by Rita Foelker as well as two packs of origami paper: Japanese Bird Patterns and Kaleidoscope Patterns. 

Exploring Origami -- Global Learning for Kids: Japan

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Origami is something I have enjoyed for a long time and I have introduced it to Hazel many times: butterflies, various animals, exploring All About Japan. I have taken mathematics teacher courses on using origami in the classroom. It is especially great in geometry. Hazel has attempted origami a few times with me but she still struggles a bit with it. I think she needs to be a bit older to really get it, but for now we practice. 

History of Origami

Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding. Paper making was introduced to Japan by the Chinese in the beginning of the seventh century. The Japanese found a way to make a thin paper called washi. Washi was used for official religious record keeping and Buddhist writings. In Shinto religious ceremonies offerings for the gods were wrapped in washi paper as well as other things. Eventually people began to fold the paper into animals and decorations for the gifts. During the Muromachi period, it became the rule that gifts had to be adorned with decorations. Butterfly ornaments are often used in wedding ceremonies. (Source) Origami was originally called orikata, but it was changed to origami in 1880. Origami comes from two Japanese words: oru meaning to fold and kami meaning paper. (Source)

More Butterflies--Origami

Sharing Saturday is still open!! Please stop by to share your child-oriented crafts and activities or to be inspired by the amazing ideas already shared!

Since my post for Friday was on butterflies I thought I would show you some more butterflies I have made (and have given to Hazel to decorate though she seems to just like to play with them).  (The post on Friday included some children's books about butterflies.)

These are all made with a technique called origami. I love origami. I used it as a math teacher to teach different skills and have just always thought the Japanese art of paper folding was really neat. Some is easier than others and I will get into this more later. I am going to start by giving you a bit of the history of paper and origami. My sources for this history will be two books: The Simple Art of Japanese Papercrafts by Mari Ono and Origami Flowers by Soonboke Smith.

Asian and Polynesian peoples are known to have created ceremonial and utilitarian handicrafts by folding and wearing ti leaves, palm fronds, and pounded mulberry bark long before paper was ever invented. This was the origins of origami. The word origami is the Japanese word for paper folding. (Source: Origami Flowers)

Papermaking was invented in China at the beginning of the second century and was brought to Japan in the sixth century CE. The original paper brought to Japan was weak and the people demanded better paper. The Japanese discovered that a plant indigenous to Japan, gampi, was an ideal raw material for paper and they used a new method to produce it. This created washi paper. In the eighth century a new method was developed using hemp and kozo. This method is called the nagashizuki method. It allowed for unusally thin, strong, resistant paper to be made. With these developments the use of paper became more than just for official documents and transcription of religious texts because paper was more available.

Source

The origin of origami is not completely known. Parts of it began to appear in different areas of Japan. When paper became more available, it became common for people to make cranes and boats and use them as decorations. The first origami book, The Secret of One Thousand Origami Cranes by Hiden Senbazuru Orikata was published in 1797.

In 1873 at the Vienna World Exposition the world was amazed to see all the things made out of paper by the Japanese. Until 1853 Japan was very isolated from the world. (Source: The Simple Art of Japanese Crafts)

I have to admit my nephew loves origami. While I was at the Cape last time he was visiting and we did quite a bit of origami together. I left my book there so he and my mother could continue to make some. I meant to take some pictures of the things we made, but alas I did not and left them there.

Some of my sources for my butterflies!

Now onto our butterflies. While at the Mass Audubon Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary Gift Shop, I found an origami butterfly kit (see picture on top of collage above). This was the start of my idea. I had several butterfly crafts to try and thought it would be neat to do some out of origami as well. Unfortunately I had some difficulties with the instructions. After several tries, I decided to practice with printer paper so I would not keep wasting my good origami paper (and the paper in the kit was double-sided to make more colorful butterflies).

After figuring this one out with the printer paper, I have not gone back and tried it with the origami paper. However, I loved the idea of being able to do make some with Hazel's drawings and paintings. This has not happened yet, but it will.

This purple butterfly was made from the instructions in the book, Making Origami Animals by Michael G. LaFosse (bottom left in collage above).

This pink butterfly includes a pipecleaner body and antennae. It was made using the instructions in the Holiday Origami book by Jill Smolinski (bottom right in collage above). It had the butterflies as an introduction to spring.

This dual color butterfly was among the easiest I made. The instructions came from Hansbirkeland.

The cabbage butterfly was among the next easiest for instructions found on line. These instructions came from the Origami Club.

The instructions for this beautiful butterfly are also on-line at Fabric Origami.

Although this one looks simple, it has more steps than most of the ones I made. With fifteen steps, it is definitely not simple. I found this one at Origami-fun.

My final butterfly had twenty-one steps! It is a butterfly by Akira Yoshizawa. There are several videos on-line for the Yoshizawa butterfly. I found the instructions at this blog.

If you would like even more of a challenge than twenty-one steps, you can check out these books. They had 50-100 steps for the butterflies, but they were complete with their six legs and all. I did not adventure that much to try them. Sorry!

I would also like to share with you this wonderful book, Butterflies for Kiri by Cathryn Falwell. It is a wonderful story of how a girl who loves to draw and paint receives a gift of an origami kit on which her aunt had made an origami butterfly in the wrapping. Kiri tries to make the butterfly and has difficulty, but with practice eventually is able to make it. It has instructions to make an origami butterfly in it. I know I followed them, but am not sure which one it is anymore. I may have misrepresented one of the ones above (if I did I'm guessing the purple one) and its instructions came from here.

This is where I share...

Color Your Own Origami -- A Relaxing Friday Review on World Origami Day 2016

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me copies of these books free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

Did you know today is World Origami Day? I just found out this week. Various websites have information about it. The one I got this poster from is in America and celebrates if from October 24 through November 11, but most say it is November 11.

Chinese Meets Japanese with Chinese Origami for Children -- Product Review for Summertime Fun Series

Be sure to check out my on-line Thirty-One Review & Party!! Get all your summer organizing essentials!!

 

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of these products free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

 

Sometimes in the summer one needs some quiet or indoor activities due to various reasons--tired, busy momma, or bad weather. Origami is a perfect activity for those times. Today we are sharing a fun book where the Chinese culture meets the Japanese culture as well as some fun packs of origami paper to try out the various projects. The book is Chinese Origami for Children by Hu Yue and Lin Xin and illustrated by Samoo Tang. 

Math Lesson: Geometric Origami

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

I haven't done a math lesson post in awhile and here is a fun one! It goes along with the Geometric Origami Mini Kit by Richard L. Alexander and Michael G. LaFosse. 

This kit includes a booklet, a DVD and some mini origami paper. The booklet has instructions for six different origami items and the DVD demonstrates how to make all six. The nice part of having the DVD is sometimes origami instructions can be a bit confusing, so being able to actually see them is great. This is a fun kit that is very reasonable and each project lends itself to a math lesson. I made up a lesson for the first project for various ages and will give suggestions for the second one.

Beautiful Origami Paper Wreaths -- Crafty Sunday Review

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book (and the origami papers) in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Did you know that yesterday started World Origami Days? World Origami Days run from October 24 through November 11 each year. October 24 was picked because it was the birthday of Lillian Oppenheimer. She started the first origami group in the United States as well as being one of the founders of British Origami Society and OrigamiUSA. November 11 is Origami Day in Japan and thus why it was picked to end the celebration. (Source) In celebration of World Origami Days it seems we should create some origami, so today I am reviewing an origami book. All of the papers I am using I have shared previously but they all come from Tuttle Publishing. 

Origami Fun!

 

Disclosure: I was sent these books and packs of paper in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Wow, what a turn in the women's gymnastics the other day. I have to say I am happy that Simone Biles felt confident enough to walk away from the competition. She is a role model for our children. She knew she wasn't feeling right and stepped away. That takes courage and confidence. And it highlights the need to focus on mental health. The pressure she must have been feeling with all the press and such before and during the Olympics must have been awful, so knowing when to step away is huge in my mind. 

With the Olympics in Tokyo, we are continuing a focus on Japan. And a look at Japan is not complete without some origami. Today I am sharing two books--one for beginners and another for more advanced as well as four packs/books of origami paper. We will start first by looking at the packs of paper I used throughout this post. They are Origami Rainbow Paper Pack Book, Origami Paper 200 Sheets Mother Earth Photos 6" (15 cm), Origami Paper 500 Sheets Cherry Blossoms 6" (15 cm), and Origami Paper 200 Sheets Nature Photos 8 1/4" (21 cm).

Origami Fun -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing sent me these products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Want to learn origami? Or have your kids learn it? I have some great kits and books for you today for different levels of origami makers from beginner to master. Look at some of the fun things I made with these products.

Japanese Crafts -- Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

Disclosure: We were sent these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are our own.

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. This year I thought I would focus on Japanese crafts. I have written a few posts about Japan and Japanese culture over the years. If you want a general overview of the country and its culture you should check out my review here. When I looked at my shelf of books to review I saw a bit of a pattern and realized I had a collection of books about crafts in Japan. Part of what I love about these books is most of them also teach a bit about the culture.

Fun & Useful Math Books for Different Ages

 

Disclosure: I was sent these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Today we get to talk about one of my favorite subjects! MATH!! As a former high school math teacher, I always love talking math. My life has been a bit busier because I have been volunteering and subbing at the high school end of Hazel's school. My volunteer work is helping kids with their math and sometimes even being in the classroom as an extra adult to help. I love it! It feels good to be back in the classroom and especially without all the grading and politics! Today I am going to share four books that involve math, and they range for ages 7 through adult. We will start with the origami book. Origami is a fun activity to bring into the math classroom and there are so many math applications involved. The book There's Math in My Origami! 35 Fun Projects for Hands-On Math Learning by Fumiaki Shingu, shows how math can be taught in the origami projects. It is recommended for ages 7+.

Zen Origami Coloring Kit -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing sent me this kit in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Today I am sharing a fun kit that combines two of our favorite things--coloring and origami!! The kit is Zen Origami Coloring Kit by Nick Robinson. Two relaxing activities combined into one. 

Summer Animal Fun -- Summertime Fun Reviews

Disclosure: I was sent these products free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

 Summertime brings thoughts of many things--beach, heat, sunshine and animals. For me there are always new and fun things to see in nature and I like to share that with Hazel. What animals do you think about in the summer? We have so many different birds, bugs and frogs that come into our lives, so today's products are going to share those things with you. This year the town cleaned out some of the creek in our back yard and we discovered frogs around. So we will begin with Fabulous Frogs by Martin Jenkins and illustrated by Tim Hopgood. 

New Colorful Origami Papers -- a Crafty Weekends Review and Link Party

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing sent me these packets of origami paper in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

When I shared our Advent table a couple of weeks ago, I got the origami bug. I pulled out the two colorful (and a bit wild) packets of origami paper I had sitting on my review shelf. The first is Kaleidoscope Colors Origami Paper. 

Akira Yoshizawa: Japan's Greatest Origami Master -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me these products free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

I have several origami books sitting on my shelf to review and by a sample for an upcoming workshop at work. It was for bridesmaid card (for asking to be a bridesmaid) with an origami dress. The paper used at work reminded me of a 1930s dress which made me think of Hazel and her desire for a Kit Kittredge doll. I have to still check out the instructions and find the paper so I can make one for Hazel. However it got my desire to start some origami projects. I pulled out Akira Yoshizawa: Japan's Greatest Origami Master by Akira Yoshizawa. The photographer of the book is Kazuo Hamada.

Origami Toy Monsters & Once Upon a Time in Japan - Product Reviews and Giveaways!!

This notice contains affiliate links: Be sure to check out Little Passports' Blog for a fun and  Easy 4-step Halloween Craft.

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of this book and this kit free of charge for this review and are offering a kit to a lucky reader. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

Today I thought I would share two Japanese style things with you from Tuttle Publishing. With Halloween approaching Tuttle asked me to review and giveaway a copy of Origami Toy Monsters. This book and kit by Andrew Dewar and illustrated by Konstantin Vints has all the pieces you need to make some fun monsters. And they are not just any monsters but monsters that shake, rattle and move a bit. Some Hazel found a bit scary so we did not make those. Although the kit and book have origami in the title, it is not origami. The pieces are precut and punch out easily and some glue and toothpicks are needed for assembling (neither of which would be used in origami). 

National Children's Craft Day--Crafty Sundays Review

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books and kits in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Did you know March is National Craft Month and March 14th is National Children's Craft Day? So today I am sharing some craft kits and a book for kids. I have found most kids love doing origami, so two of them are origami products. The first is My First Animal Origami Kit by Joel Stern. 

Origami Fun -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: I was sent these origami paper sets in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Here is my long over due craft review. I now have a new computer but was able to get my photos back!! In the spring my math club group asked for a lesson involving origami. I pulled out some lessons that talk about geometry while making origami stars. I however forgot to take photos of the girls' projects. So I came home and made some more. 

We used six different packages of origami paper and then I made some other projects with Rainbow Patterns. 

A Look at Japan for Asian / Pacific Island Heritage Month

Disclosure: I was sent these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Multicultural Kid Blogs is hosting a blog hop today for this heritage month and I decided to focus mostly on Japan. I have a bunch of fun books to share with you to help focus on Japan and its culture. It is a mixture of coloring books, origami kits, a novel and an Asian cookbook. The first book I am going to share is another book in the Friendship Dolls Series from Candlewick Press. I reviewed the other two previously. Today's book is Dolls of Hope by Shirley Parenteau.