Lesson Plan for Teaching a Leisure Activity
Lesson Title/Topic: Origami Week 3
Duration: 2 hours
By participating fully in this activity, student will be able
Learning
Objectives/Outcomes to:
 Students will learn patience and
structure while learning and continuing a
new leisure skill.
 Students will learn how to follow
direction and stay focused on the
presenters while demonstrating the task.
 Students will be able to take the skill and
use it when they are on their own and to
teach others.
 Students will review bases and will learn
how create new objects and animals in
origami.
Introduction/Warm
Up
As introduction, take a few minutes to show
students what origami figures they will be
making. Students will be making a tropical fish, a
monkey and a Petits Cadeaux which is a
inflatable box.
The first figure (the tropical fish) will be used to
review the preliminary base. This is one of the
most popular bases and is frequently used. Each
student will have one piece of paper and
everyone will go over how to make a preliminary
base.
Preliminary Base:
1. Fold in half forming a triangle. Sharpen
the fold and unfold.
2. Fold in half the other direction forming
another triangle. Sharpen the fold and
unfold.
3. Fold in half forming a rectangle, hot dog
style. Sharpen the fold and unfold.
4. Fold in half the other direction, forming
another colored rectangle.
5. Holding the short side, bring your hands
together, collapsing the paper and
forming four triangular flaps.
Supplies/Equipment
Square 8x8 in paper
Examples of origami
figures.
Summary of
Tasks/Action
6. Bring together two flaps on the right and
two flaps on the left.
7. Flatten the preliminary base, pressing
firmly on the upper folded edges as well
as the inner folded edges under the
vertical centerline.
At this time the preliminary base is done. This
will help us to move into the first main task.
Tropical Fish
1. Start from the Preliminary base and make 3 pieces of 8x8
the open ends of the figure face
Origami paper for
downward.
each student.
2. Fold both lower sides of the first layer to
the center line. Crease well and unfold.
Turn the figure over and do the same on
the other side.
3. Taking the top layer only, raise the
bottom point and open up the pocket
with your thumbs. Fold in both sides
along the existing creases then close the
pocket. Crease well. Turn the figure over
and repeat on the other side.
4. Lift the tip of the lap on the first layer
and fold it up, aligning it to the top of the
figure. Turn the figure over and repeat in
the other side.
5. Fold the tip of the flap to the left, aligning
it to the left corner. Crease well. Holding
one finger on the right side of the flap,
fold the tip back to the right corner.
Crease well. Without unfolding the
crease you just made, fold the flap down.
Turn the figure over and repeat on the
other side.
6. Fold in both side corners to the center,
aligning the upper sides to the center
line. Crease well. Turn the figure over and
repeat in the other side.
7. Open up the spaces in between the two
layers one at a time, by lifting the bottom
points to the sides. Then, invert the
middle folds of each wing by pushing
outward. Crease well.
The Tropical Fish is done!
Inflatable box (Petits Cadeaux)
1. Fold the paper in half so that is forms a
rectangle with the color you want your
box to be on the inside. Crease well and
unfold.
2. Turn the paper over. Fold the paper in
half on the diagonal with your desired
color on the outside. Crease well and
unfold. Fold the paper in half on the
other diagonal, crease well, and unfold.
3. Fold the paper in half so it forms a
rectangle with your desired color on the
outside. On the left corner, open the
layers of the paper slightly and push the
corner down and inside the figure so that
it bends at the creases you made in step
one and two.
4. Do the same thing to the right corner.
You will end up with double-layered
triangle.
5. Fold the top layer of the left point up so
that it meets the triangle’s top point and
crease well. Do the same thing to the
point on the right side.
6. Fold the corners of the figure’s top layer
in to meet the center line and crease
well.
7. Turn the entire figure over. Repeat steps
five and six on this side.
8. Fold down the two top points if the
figure’s top layer and crease well.
9. Lift the small triangular flaps and fold
them down and to the side so that they
lie on top of the central flaps. Crease
both folds well and unfold.
10. Lift one central flap and insert your finger
into the flap’s pocket. Tuck the small
triangular flap into the pocket. Do the
same thing on the other side. Turn the
figure over. Repeat steps 8-10.
11. Fold all the layers of the top point down.
Crease well and unfold. Do the same
thing to the figure’s bottom point.
12. Check that all four triangular flaps are
tucked into pockets. Separate the figure’s
two layers and blow hard into the
opening at the figure’s bottom point to
inflate your box.
Your Inflatable box is done!
The next figure will use the bird base.
Bird Base:
1. Fold the front edges to the center,
forming a cone on the front. Crease very
firmly.
2. Fold the top triangle down along the top
edges of the cone, creasing very firmly.
3. Unfold the cone flaps, but leave the top
triangle flap in place.
4. Lift the front bottom corner only; the
paper will open to a large “yawning
mouth”.
5. Continue opening until the long side
edges meet at the center. Neatly flatten
all folds.
6. Turnover and repeat steps 1-5 on the
back.
7. The finished bird base has two wing flaps
at the top and a split at the bottom.
This fold will now take us into the crane with
only a few more folds.
Monkey
1. Rotate the bird base one-half turn so the
split is at the top- these will be the
monkey’s arms.
2. Bring the left lower edge (front layer
only) up to the horizontal crease. Crease
only form the corner to the vertical
centerline, and unfold. Repeat the right
lower edge.
3. Rabbit- Ear Fold: as you pinch the bottom
front flap in half, refold on the step two
creases, forming a slender protruding
flap known as a “rabbit ear.”
4. Flip the rabbit-ear flap to the left then to
the right to sharpen the fold at its base.
5. On the rabbit ear flap, separate the
Wrap-up/Reflect Closure
double layers, and press in the single
folded edge, squash-folding the flap flat
and symmetrical.
6. Fold the top corner of the kite shape to
the bottom corner.
7. Bring the newly created, short folded
edge down, forming the forehead.
8. Fold the narrow tip just under the
forehead.
9. Mountain-fold to the rear the corners at
the sides of the forehead.
10. Fold the bottom corner to the short edge
on the face.
11. Tuck the corner just folded up under the
two layers that will become the chest.
12. Narrow the arms: The front layers will
fold forward and tuck under the head.
The rear layers will mountain-fold to the
back.
13. Turn over
14. Narrow the body: Part if the fold will
extend under the arm layer.
15. Turn the back to the front
16. Fold up the bottom corners on a slight
slant.
17. As you mountain-fold the bottom corners
upwards to the rear, the two side corners
will flip down forming the feet.
18. Inside-reverse-fold the arms, the angles
can vary depending in the arm position
you chose.
19. Near the end of the arms, make and
Outside Reverse Fold for the hands, and
then an inside reverse fold for the
fingers.
The Monkey is Finished!
After each student has finished the spinner.
Debrief by asking them a few questions.
 What was the hardest figure to make?
 What figure did you enjoy making the
most?
 Did you feel that making more objects is
more fun than learning the basics?

Adaptations (For
Students With
Disabilities):
Safety Considerations
Which base was easier to make? Which
base was easier to make something
from? (Preliminary Base and Bird base)
 Did you learn anything new from these
figures?
Have a discussion with them as see what they
liked and did not like.
Using larger paper (such as scrapbook paper) can help students with
disabilities to make certain folds more precise. The bigger the paper the
easier the task of making origami is.
Giving students assistance when needed is also important when doing
origami. This is also important for students who do not have a disability.
Some potential Safety considerations are the use of scissors and paper
cuts.