Hello!

One of my kids is home from school for a staff work day, and we've been busy learning to make origami cranes and frogs. Once upon a time when I taught middle school art, my students collectively made 1000 paper cranes, so it's been fun to relearn the process and have all the crane making memories come flooding back.

In honor of our paper session, today I'm sharing some easy origami and paper project inspiration, art journal ideas, and a seasonal Halloween roundup.

1. Easy folded bunny origami. These cute bunnies are one of the easiest origami projects to make, and many preschoolers can successfully master these. How to make an origami rabbit.
2. Sadako and the 1000 Paper Cranes. If you're not already familiar with the story, Sadako was two years old when the atom bomb was dropped on her home town of Hiroshima. She becomes ill about ten years later and chose to fold 1000 cranes, inspired by a Japanese legend that a wish will be granted if you fold 1000 cranes. A beautiful story with a profound message for children. Read the book here.​
3. Crane folding steps. It's hard to find origami tutorials that are easy to follow, and I'm always happy to discover those with steps that make sense. We folded eight cranes this morning, using this technique from Skip to my Lou. This page also has some nice info on the history of folded cranes.
4. Jumping Frog Origami. More complicated, and probably best for kids 8 and up (maybe with some adult help), we made these jumping frogs.
5. Day of the Dead Paper Marigolds. With Dia de los Muertos coming up, make these easy paper marigold flowers with tissue paper and a pipe cleaner, wire, or string. A really easy paper folding project for kids of all ages, and beautiful any time of year. I also love making these as gift toppers.
6. Paper Airplanes that really fly. If you have a child who likes to throw things and/or make paper airplanes, we experimented with paper airplanes, and found a few cool techniques. The Eagle is our favorite, so definitely try that one.
7. Inspiring Media Art Journal Ideas [+Card Download]. I'm bonkers for Art Journals. This one is new on the blog - three different techniques that you can use solo or combine together to generate new ideas for your sketchbook. This includes three cards from one of my card prototype decks. Three Mixed Media Art Journal Ideas [Free Card Download]. Since you're already a TinkerLab subscriber, just fill out the form for your free download. Don't worry - you won't be added as a subscriber twice :)
8. Join one of our monthly art challenges. The October Art Challenge is underway, and you can get details about the November Art Challenge now :) These monthly challenges offer daily one-word prompts such as dripped, crop, or numbers. So fun, totally open-ended, and welcoming to all ages and skill levels.
9. Fun Halloween Crafts for Kids. I created a roundup of 16 ideas for toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age kiddos, made from mainly easy to find household materials such as cotton balls, cardboard rolls, string, and jars. 16 Halloween Crafts for Kids.​
10. Intentionally building empathy is more important now than ever. Stanford psychologist, Jamil Zaki, talks about how empathy can be developed like a muscle. An interesting and important read.​

Thanks for reading! If you enjoy the newsletter, feel free to forward it to a friend. And have a delightful weekend.

Your creative collaborator,

Rachelle Doorley

TinkerLab

Read my books: TinkerLab: A Hands-on Guide for Little Inventors + Creative Adventures in Cursive​

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