I'm in love with origami cranes made from brightly colored origami paper. And I can still say that after having folded about forty of them for my daughter's birthday party last week! I used my origami cranes to create an origami crane mobile of sorts, which I hope to photograph soon, and share with you. But in the meantime, why not learn how to fold an origami crane and make some in your spare moments.
And a handy tip for those whose crafting moments are sparse : you can do all the folding just before the last step in which you form the head and tail, and then store your nearly created cranes flat in a big envelope for a later date. I think they'd look great in a Succah, are fabulous over a baby's bed or hanging just about anywhere! Their beauty though is somewhat tied to the fact that they look great in numbers, so the more the better really!
Once I got the hang of folding the origami cranes, I was able to fold five or six in 30 minutes, using origami sheets that are 8 inches square. I'd love to try this with starched fabric, which would certainly be a longer lasting version, though preparing the fabric with spray starch and then cutting out squares isn't exactly quick like whipping out some origami paper!
You can find tons of tutorials for folding origami cranes, either video or printed via Mr. Google, take your pick!
Note: My kids were really fascinted when I told them about the Japanese tradition of a bride folding 1,000 such origami cranes before her wedding! And I did a demonstration for the girls at the birthday party on how I folded the cranes and they were all amazed at how many steps it takes.....not sure at what age a child could really master something like this, but it's certainly worth a try as young as say eight if you have a child who's very exacting and detail oriented!
Has anyone done origami with their kids? Would love to hear about it!
