The Art of Origami

The other day, Boy Wonder came and asked me how to make for him a plant finder which he had seen in a science book. I had no idea what that was until I looked at the picture in the book he was reading. Only to find that it was something I was familiar with.

Remember that fortune teller (I couldn’t remember the name at the time) we used to make in primary school? Much as I tried to make it but all that was coming out was a boat. …… I then decided to Google Origami.

Origami is a Japanese art of paper folding, the word ori meaning “folding”, and kami meaning “paper” . This art form transforms a flat sheet of paper into a finished sculpture like animal sculptures, flowers, through folding techniques.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were so many shapes I could make with him on one of the weekends when I am home with him. It perked my interest for the art of paper folding again and I have made it my mission to look for the instructions for many of these sculptures to make with him. A site I found helpful was http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-fortune-teller.html.

You start with a square piece of paper and fold diagonally in both directions. Fold each of the corners into the centre point which should give you a diamond shape. You then turn it over and again fold each of the corners to the centre point. Fold it in half along the creases both ways and then open it up. You can then write the information you want on each segment.

I managed to follow the easy instructions and made the fortune teller but labelled it with information on plants that were described in his book. Here’s what we came up with Boy Wonder.



Hope the instructions were helpful. Have fun with your child making paper art!