Learn Origami

A young child with slanted eyes sits at his mothers lap, she is working on some intricate design and the little boy is folding paper. I wonder why he is folding paper over and over again, but he just gives me a shy smile and continues. I wait patiently because by now I am very intrigued, and then he shows me a perfectly made paper dragon. This young child with the slanted eyes then tells me about Origami. Origami is the Japanese art of folding paper to make interesting and innovative designs. Flowers, animals, abstract designs are popular in Origami. Origami when translated literally means folding paper, because Ori is folding and Gami is paper.

People of all age groups enjoy origami, be it young, old, children or teenagers, this is one hobby that everyone can pursue and enjoy. You can challenge yourself and push yourself to take on projects that will require more skill and dedication. There are several ways in which one can learn Origami, the most common is to pick up a book on origami and ready away. But the problem with books is, they do not give the basic instructions, you will keep checking back to refer to something and waste time. What happens is that you get frustrated and quit. But some books are well written and have good illustrations.

Another way to learn Origami is by watching someone. The best way is to go to a person who knows the art of Origami really well, and then just practice with him or her. You can also mirror his or her movements as he is doing them and make notes. But this can be a bit confusing as well. The best way to learn origami is to combine illustrious books, notes and live demonstration. The live demonstrations give you an idea of how to go about it, where as the books with illustrations and notes help you practice and pick up the art. These days it is possible to learn Origami using the Internet, you can get tutorials and notes online and even watch origami videos on the Internet. There are even interactive tutorials available these days that allow you to discuss your problems and give you information about Origami. But do not think that you can learn Origami in a day or a week and start doing it on your own, because what will happen is you will get stuck, get frustrated and lose all interest in it. Just go slow, start with the basic and practice as much as you can. Then progress into more advanced levels of origami more gradually.

Origami, these days is being taught in school to hone and develop certain skills. Schools in the west start teaching origami from Grade 1 onwards, so as to give students an all round education. These schools believe that origami has certain benefits. These are:

• Developing behavioral skills. Origami requires patience for success, this teaches a child to pay attention to detail and to have patience.
• Cooperative learning is encouraged: Origami is an art that can be taught to thirty students at a time. When these students sit together in a room, learning an art they learn to cooperate and help each other.
• Enhances mathematic capabilities. Origami helps students in mathematical reasoning and also algebraic and geometric learning.
• Multi cultural awareness is built. Origami is a Japanese art, so while kids are learning Origami, they are also learning about Japanese and Asian culture.

Who knew an art from the land of the rising sun could be so useful in the various aspects of life.