Origami Geometry

Origami is an excellent way to combine Japanese culture, art, and geometric shapes into one engaging instructional activity! Scholars begin by listening to the story Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes and learn the origin of the word origami, geometry, and symmetry. Learners watch a short intstructional video depicting a simple origami project and locate shapes they recognize. Next, they practice origami themselves using the intructional prompts. Consider doing this yourself on a document camera, or having an experienced artist come speak to the kids about this practice. As learners fold, they pay attention to familiar shapes. There is a worksheet to solidify geometric concepts, and the instructional activity suggests taking pictures of the origami stages to create a PhotoStory presentation.