What Origami means?
Origami is the art of folding paper to give it a specific design of objects or things. The culture of origami was derived from Japan whereby “ori” means folding and “kami” means paper. The main aim is to transform the square piece of paper into a design. The origami artists of contemporary times avoid cutting or using glue in order to do origami.
Origami is a craft which is widely popular and basically deals with paper folding. This is basically handed down from the Japanese culture. Origami is used to make a variety of fine designs which are greatly appealing. For kids, it appears to be very interesting because of the various coloured papers. The origami papers are square and sometimes along with colours also consist of various patterns which are present on these papers.
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The History of Origami
The paper folding culture distinctly started from the countries of Europe, China and Japan. These traditions continued in these countries separately until 20th century.
Japan’s tradition of origami was mentioned in a poetry by Ihara Shaikaku in 1680 and said about the traditional butterfly designs used in Shinto weddings.
Europe had the tradition of folding handkerchiefs which were common in the 17th and the 18th centuries. This tradition was replaced consequently with the porcelain as was explained by the famous historian Joan Sallas. But this tradition was kept alive in Friedrich Froebel’s “Kindergarten” method which was alike to the napkin folding.
Another early traces of origami folding are found in “parajita” the styled bird which had its origin in the 19th century.
During early 1990s, Akira Yoshizawa, Kosho Uchiyama started the original origamis. They started various new origami styles like the wet folding, for instance.
Benefits of Origami
Origami has become a widespread art and craft because of its varied advantages especially for children it is an exciting thing to do!!
- It helps in growing the power of thinking and also the capability to solve problems. It stimulates thinking and brain gets conditioned to follow instructions as given.
- Improves the power to do things in an accurate way.
- Helps to develop the ability to follow directions in kids.
- Helps in making your memory sharp and also help the power of innovation and creativity to develop.
What is the Right Age for Children to Learn Origami?
Origami must be taught to kids in an age in which they are at least able to follow instructions as are given in the guides for making origamis. According to this, it is thought that by the age of eight a child is capable to learn origami online instructions by their own. Sometimes they may also need the assistance of the caregivers who teacher them this art or their art teacher.
Patience is the key to making origami as well as teaching origami to your kids may at first be a bit difficult. But once they are successful in creating their first origami they will get excited to make more of this art.
Keeping in mind that each child takes separate time to learn the kids must be dealt with perseverance and must be motivated in their every small effort to learn this art form.
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How to Teach Oriami to Kids and Beginners?
The learning of origami depends to a great extent to which age your kid belongs to. To teach the kids origami several steps can be followed:
- Before teaching the kid the teacher or instructor must make some of them previously so that the child remains motivated from the very beginning.
- Printing out the diagrams from tutorials and online photographs may be helpful for kids.
- Origami is an art of sheer patience. The person teaching kids origami must be slow and wait for the kids to complete a step before he or she hurries to the next step altogether.
- The instructor should always sit beside the child because sitting opposite to the child because it may prove to be confusing for the child since the origami becomes upside down for the kid.
- The child should also be told always to make precise and clean folds to get origami perfectly.
How is Learning Origami Good for Children?
The art of origami is used to make the brain get stimulated both physically and mentally. It also improves motor skills along with eye coordination. It also increases the concentration level in kids. Additionally, the cognitive skills get developed like that of following instructions, learning the skills of folding according to the directions.
Also read Origami paper : How To Choose The Right Origami Paper!
What are the Easiest Things to Make in Origami?
How to make an Origami Paper Boat?
How to make Origami Flowers?
How to Make a Paper Crane?
How to Make a Paper Rose?
How to make an Origami Heart?
SUMMARY
- The main aim of origami is to transform a square piece of paper into a meaningful sculpture. This art form also is a cultural representation of Japan from where it originated.
- The learning and knowing the art of Origami may help the kids to gain a lot of concentration which later proves useful towards the gaining of concentration in education.
- Learning Origami also helps children with their cognitive and motor capabilities
- Origamis also helps them learn how to coordinate, follow directions and also help to coordinate the hand and the eyes.
For these reasons, the kids from a very young age should be given an opportunity to learn Origami skills.
