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[For Senior Care Facilities] Easy and Beautiful! Morning Glory Origami
Sudden question, but do you know when morning glories bloom? We tend to picture them flowering during the rainy season through summer—around July and August.
However, morning glories can be early-blooming or late-blooming depending on the variety.
Some late-blooming types are said to keep flowering until around November.
You can enjoy morning glories in full bloom for a long stretch of the year.
So this time, we’ll share some ideas for “morning glory origami.” We’ve gathered projects with simple steps and arrangement pieces that make use of origami morning glories.
They’re great to make together with seniors during craft recreation, and it would also be lovely for staff to make them and decorate the facility! Trivia about the season when morning glories bloom could also spark lively conversation.
[For senior facilities] Easy and beautiful! Morning glory origami (1–10)
Morning glory hanging ornament
What was the first origami you ever folded? Regardless of gender, I feel like everyone in Japan grows up with origami.
The classics are the crane and the samurai helmet, and I hear young people today can even fold hearts.
If someone can fold a morning glory, how about combining those and making a hanging morning glory decoration? A hanging ornament will surely bring a refreshing breeze.
First, add leaves to the morning glory you folded from origami.
If you layer dark green and light green, it gives a three-dimensional effect.
Use thin wire to strengthen the parts that connect the flowers.
Hide the wire by crafting vines out of green paper.
Easy! Morning glory curtain
Speaking of summer flowers, morning glories are the classic choice.
A curtain of morning glories can transform a room into a cool, refreshing space.
First, let’s make the petals, leaves, and vines.
Since the center of the flower is white, it’s ideal if you can prepare gradient-colored paper.
Consider using a variety of colors—blue, purple, red, and pink.
The leaves near the tip of the extended vine are small, so try making them in different sizes.
For the vine, cut the colored paper in a spiral, like a mosquito-repellent coil.
Once all the parts are ready, paste them onto a long, narrow sheet of colored construction paper—imagining it as a curtain—to create a scene of morning glories in full bloom.
Morning glory wall decoration
Morning glories that brighten summer mornings.
In haiku they are considered an autumn seasonal word, but nowadays they’ve become firmly established as a symbol of summer, right? How about making morning glories as a summer wall decoration? It helps you feel the season, and can also serve as a prompt to incorporate reminiscence therapy, such as sharing memories of morning glories! Here’s a method: fold shoji paper into morning glory shapes as you would with origami, then color them with watercolor paints.
Take advantage of the way watercolors bleed to enjoy color mixing.
Arrange them together with leaves and vines made by cutting washi paper, or mount them on a decorative backing made from washi or chiyogami for a lovely finish!
Ready in 30 seconds! Easy morning glory
Even if you’re not good at origami, no worries! Learn how to make a morning glory that you can fold easily in 30 seconds each.
Stack a sheet of origami paper cut into four pieces and crease it along the diagonal.
Open it once, make a cross-shaped crease, then squash-fold it into a square.
Cut the corners into a rounded petal shape, separate the four layers, and fold each one, making a small fold at the edge.
Finally, open the top and bottom petals, and while flattening the left and right sides, open it up—your adorable morning glory with layered petals is complete!
It spins so well! A morning-glory top.
This is a craft where you attach an axle to a morning glory shape made from origami so you can spin it and play.
When it’s not spinning, it has an angular form with a star pattern in the center, giving the impression that it could be seen as a morning glory, but the fun part is that when you rotate it, it clearly looks like one.
You combine five origami-made parts to create the morning glory shape, and by inserting each piece firmly, it becomes sturdy.
After that, just fix the parts in place, attach the axle, and it’s complete.
It ends up slightly concave toward the center, which also makes it easier to spin.
Origami Morning Glory Kusudama
Why not combine morning glory origami to make a cute “kusudama”? When you think of an origami kusudama, you probably imagine a beautiful ball shape.
Some people might feel it looks difficult to make because of the shape.
But you can do it simply by using two sheets of origami paper, folding two different parts, and assembling them into a ball.
If older adults are making it during a recreational activity and find some of the folds difficult, please try creating it together with the staff.
A morning glory-themed kusudama with its gentle feel can give you a sense of fulfillment when you make it yourself! It’s also a piece that staff can make and present as a gift to older adults, which they’re likely to appreciate.
Morning-after frame
We all want seniors who find it difficult to go out to be able to enjoy beautiful flowers, don’t we? This time, we’re introducing a frame decorated with origami morning glories.
It’s a simple craft: just attach origami morning glories to an origami frame.
We hope this lovely piece will give viewers the feeling of having admired real flowers! Morning glories are often associated with “summer,” but they bloom from the rainy season through around November.
Through this activity, even seniors who find it hard to sense the changing seasons may be able to feel them—and the conversation about their blooming period is sure to be lively.