Origami Continued

The paper crane is perhaps the most popular and famous of all origami objects. Legend has it that 1,000 folded cranes will bring health and good fortune and it is customary to make 1,000 paper cranes for people who are ill with the hopes that they will recover. Each year millions of paper cranes are sent by people from all over the world to the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima as a symbol of peace and in memory of those who died as a result of the atomic bomb dropped on the city in 1945.
In the 1930's, a Japanese artist named Akira Yoshizawa began creating new origami designs and innovative techniques for folding paper never before seen. His work has greatly inspired not only Japanese people but paper-folders the world over. Today origami has become so popular that there are hundreds of origami associations and clubs in countries throughout the world including the U.S., England, Spain, Germany, Colombia, Israel and Singapore. It is not uncommon to find young American school children who know how to make one or two basic origami objects just like children do in Japan.

Suggested reading for children:
"Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" by Eleanor Coerr