Origami

Today I was looking for something that would be a fun adventure for me and my kids but something that would keep us at home.  My son is learning about birds in his first grade class so we decided to try and learn how to make an origami hummingbird.  Online we found some websites that were really good but I had a hard time following some of the instructions.

After one failed attempt at the hummingbird we packed in the car and headed to the library where we found a shelf full of origami and paper airplane books.  I was really impressed with the books and the pictures in the books.  My first grader was able to follow some of the instructions for the basic folds and he figured out a pinwheel on his own.  The other two needed help but loved decorating the finished paper products.  I have a whole bunch of 12x12 inch paper left over from some long-lost scrap-booking projects so we used those and the kids had a wonderful time.  We never made it to the hummingbird but a dog, two cats, a flower, many paper airplanes and many snowflakes later I think we managed to spend about 2 hours around the kitchen table.

Some of the books I really liked were Easy Origami by Didier Boursin and Totally Cool Origami Animals by Ann Kristen Krier.  We also found Paper Airplanes: Models to build and fly by Emery J. Kelly to be a lot of fun (although I think I'm going to be finding crashed airplanes in my house for years to come now!!).

Overall, I think this was great because the cost was nominal with borrowed books and left over paper.  We had a great evening and rediscovered the kitchen table in time for dinner!