Learn Critical Thinking with -Fun With Origami – My Review

Are you homeschooling teens?  Do you ever wonder how to teach them critical thinking skills?

There are really so many ways to approach this, such as teaching literary analysis, discussing current events,  historical perspectives, etc.  And these are all great ways to build up their thinking skills.

But sometimes it’s fun to practice these skills while doing art projects!

Origami can be a wonderful way to practice critical thinking!  This review is about how we did just that, using the book “Fun with Paper Folding and Origami”.

Fun with Paper Folding and Origami includes 42 activities, with complete, step by step directions.

The activities are divided into these categories:

1. Square Folding

2.  Diagonal Folding

3.  Paper Tearing and Cutting

Fun with Paper Folding and Origami is written for middle or high school aged children, as each of the projects requires multiple steps to complete, and lots of attention to detail.   Here’s some of our favorite folding projects from this book:

1.  The Windmill

2.  The Rooster

3.  The Chinese Junk (boat)

4.  The Frog

5.  The Pagoda

6.  The Secret Envelope

The instructions for these projects are clear, with detailed illustrations, showing each step.

 

Doing these paper folding activities not only helped my daughter think critically, they also built up her concentration, problem solving skills, along with perseverance and attention to detail, too. We loved taking “origami breaks” in our homeschool, especially during my daughter’s busy senior year.

And isn’t January a nice time to add a little art to your homeschool?

If you are looking for a fun, art oriented way to teach critical thinking skills, my family recommends Fun with Paper Folding and Origami.  It is written by Murry and Rigney, and is published by Dover, in their Game and Puzzle Activity Books section.