Summer events like festivals and the opening of beach season excite both adults and children, but when the peak of summer arrives, many older adults choose to stay indoors due to the intense heat.
In senior care facilities as well, people tend to spend more time inside.
Even in a cool indoor environment, why not try origami activities that evoke the feeling of summer? Folding motifs like yukata, fireworks, and shaved ice may bring back fond memories of summers past.
Enjoy a wonderful crafting time while sharing those delightful stories from long ago.
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- Easy origami that delights the elderly. Enjoy a heart-lifting time with seasonal origami.
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[For Seniors] Enjoy and Stay Energetic This Summer! A Collection of Origami Ideas (1–10)
Orihime and Hikoboshi
These are Orihime and Hikoboshi made with three sheets of origami paper.
You fold them in three separate parts and then assemble them.
The head uses black origami paper, and the face is made from the white reverse side.
The other two parts are the upper garment and the lower garment.
Since the folds are the same as the balloon model up to a certain step, it shouldn’t be too confusing.
Insert the lower garment from underneath the upper garment.
Finally, glue on the face piece to finish.
Feel free to draw the facial expressions however you like.
Your very own original Orihime and Hikoboshi will surely turn out adorable.
Plump, three-dimensional wind chime
Here, we’ll introduce a three-dimensional wind chime made easily with origami.
Prepare two standard 15 cm square sheets of origami.
Fold one sheet into quarters to make a smaller square, then cut it out as if using a template.
When it forms a flower shape with four petals, thread a string through the hole in the center, apply glue to the outer edges, and stick them together.
Cut the other sheet in half, fold each half once, thread a string through, and glue it.
That’s it—finished.
A cool-looking wind chime really evokes the feeling of summer, doesn’t it?
sunflower
When you think of summer flowers, big sunflowers come to mind, don’t they? How about trying to fold a sunflower out of origami? With a quarter-size sheet of origami paper, you can make two petals.
Make four of these and you’ll have enough for one sunflower.
Use brown origami paper to create the center of the flower.
Then make the leaves and stem.
Make as many leaves as you like.
Once all the parts are ready, assemble them to complete the sunflower.
You can display it as is, or paste it onto colored paper for a nice seasonal touch.
If you want more petals, you can simply attach additional origami pieces to the back.
shaved ice
How about some delicious-looking shaved ice you can make from a single sheet of origami paper? To give the shaved ice a cool feel, you can use tie-dyed origami for the body.
First, fold the paper into a triangle in half, then fold it in half again.
If you think from the finished shape, the remaining steps are surprisingly simple.
And partway through, you actually tear the origami—rip, rip—and the torn edge becomes the pointed tip of the shaved ice, which is a clever twist.
Let’s also make a spoon-straw out of origami and stick it in.
Try making shaved ice in a variety of colors.
watermelon
A great recommendation for summer origami is a watermelon.
This watermelon can stand upright or be pasted flat.
You make it using two sheets of origami paper: one for the rind color and one for the flesh color.
Simply put, you fold the rind-colored paper around the flesh-colored paper.
Once it’s finished, folding it in half gives it a strong watermelon look.
When drawing the seeds at the end, it’s surprisingly easy to make mistakes, so it’s best to draw the ones at the edges and in the center first, then fill in the spaces between.
Try making a yellow watermelon, too!
cicada
Origami cicadas are relatively well-known, so some of you may have made one before.
Up to a certain point, the folding process is similar to making a samurai helmet.
Drawing eyes at the end or adding round stickers makes it cute, and making a bunch to perch on a tree sounds fun, too.
It’s fairly easy to fold, so please give it a try.
While brown or black is more realistic, colorful cicadas could be fun as well.
Sticking them on walls or glass windows also gives a nice seasonal touch.
Beer and edamame
We’ll introduce how to fold a beer-themed origami that forms a pouch and can even be used as an envelope, along with an edamame design that pairs perfectly with beer.
For the beer origami, yellow paper is recommended.
It’s also nice to add a message with a white pen, like tiny bubbles.
The edamame looks cute if you make it from a quarter-sized sheet of origami paper.
You can make two types: with pods and without.
After crafting such delicious-looking origami, you might find yourself craving the real thing! Give it a try yourself.