My daughter came home the other day asking to learn origami. Sadly, all I could remember from my youth was how to make a butterfly. And then I realized after about six tries that...um, I didn't remember that either.
After much searching, I'm so happy to have found Origami Club, or at least that's what I think it's called. If it looks intimidating, just skip right to the page called Easy Origami, and find a truly terrific resource for rainy-day craft projects with the kids.
You'll find tons of origami projects sorted by shape, style (like food, Christmas, or useful) and then ranked on a five-star scale from easy to...uh, get some help from your local art teacher. There's even a whole section on creating origami using newspaper. The instructions come two ways: in diagrams that are incredibly simple to follow, and animated videos, should you need a little more help with the rabbit wearing clothes.
For you super DIY-ers, there are also sections for printable origami paper, although unless you're doing the way easy projects, I'd say splurge on sheets of the real stuff, which are the right weight and thickness. (Hey, if nothing else, the free downloads make some cool wallpaper patterns for your cell phone.)
My goal: start with the doggie, but work my way up to the sumo wrestler. I mean, er, my kid's goal. -Liz
Get tons of free origami instructions for kids online at Origami Club.
