Skip to content

Origami Place

Discover paperfolding,
materials galore!

Teaching Tactics

Some basic guidance for those that wish to teach origami. Learn the vocab but don’t rely on it!

Use Books, Get Permissions & Tips!

  1. Distributing photocopies of other person(s) publications is NOT okay, unless permission is granted from the origami designer(s) and/or copyright holder(s).
  2. Encourage students to buy or borrow books; NOT to steal instructions, aka, make copies from published books. I recommend Nick Robinson’s Origami Kit for Dummies; it teaches techniques origami technique from beginners to advanced readers, covering every topic imaginable!  Open and print Lisa’s FREE base-to-make booklet for use and reference.
  3. Sometimes, there are difficult students.  I wrote Origami Teaching Cures to bring positive attitudes.  It’s a teaching guide to stop negativity for origami teachers, assistants, and advocates.
  4. Models can be pure or impure and a person who closely follows the rules of origami is termed a purist. Basically, a strict purist would not allow cuts, glue or other adhesives, nor the markings of writing utensils to be involved in the creation of a model. Most of our models are pure, but some do have creative impurities.
  5. The diagram uses a universal symbol-based language originated by the late origami master Akira Yoshizawa and by Samuel Randlett. Each diagram has images of the piece of paper and sequential-pictorial steps illustrating how to fold the final creation
  6. A handy paper-cutter, I use regularly and is perfect to use when teaching.  Shai, from Origami Israel a created a free 3D printed one, that uses a standard #11 X-Acto (craft knife) blade.  These blades can be bought relatively cheaply in packs of up to 100, so you’d never have to buy a new cutter again, just simply slide it apart and fit a new blade when required, just as you would with a regular Stanley Knife (box knife).  Watch the paper cutter making YouTube demonstration and using these paper cutter’s 3D printing files.