Origami is an activity that strengthens several skills. Two of the most important are spatial reasoning and using a growth mindset to work through difficult challenges. In this video that was featured on the Kuriositas blog, a young man’s grandfather creates a beautiful origami dragon and tasks the grandson with making one of his own. The boy quickly gives up, but a fantastical sequence follows, taking him on a journey of imagination. The short animation (around 8 minutes) is a gorgeous masterpiece, and could easily lead to discussions about the history of origami, growth mindset, the cultural threads that connect generations, and much more. It might be difficult for young students to interpret, but they may be engrossed in the magical appearances of some of their favorite origami shapes.

For some previous posts that I’ve done regarding using origami in the classroom, click here. You can also learn more about practicing spatial reasoning skills in this recent article I wrote for NEO. Also, I’ll be adding this post to my Pinterest Board of Growth Mindset resources.