Occupational therapists (OT) are constantly looking for fresh ideas to help their clients achieve their functional goals. If you’re an OT looking for treatment interventions to support the development of a variety of skills, origami should be a part of your therapy toolbox! The art of paper folding offers a fun and versatile way to improve fine motor, executive functioning, and visual motor skills (to name a few).
Below are some of the skills that can be addressed by occupational therapists through origami activities.
Fine Motor Skills
Origami is a true challenge to one’s fine motor skills. Learning how to fold simple origami designs such as a butterfly or crane requires coordination of small muscles in your hands and fingers. Origami projects are perfect for children who are working on developing functional hand skills. For example, handwriting can be addressed by practicing forming letters and creating short messages on strips of paper before folding them into origami stars.
Executive Functioning
Occupational therapists take a holistic approach to therapy, making them experts in addressing various skill components, including cognition. The structured and sequential nature of origami aids in improving executive function skills such as initiation, working memory, and the ability to persevere through tasks until completion. The ability to sustain focus and self-correct are essential cognitive skills that can be strengthened through the art of folding.
Visual-Motor Skills
Origami requires you to visually interpret instructions and translate them into precise folding and manipulation of paper. This process requires accurate perception of shapes, lines, and spatial relationships, as well as the ability to plan and execute movements accordingly. Through origami, visual-motor skills can be practiced not only through folding but cutting as well! Using scissors to cut the right starting dimensions is one way to work on visual motor integration.
Tactile Stimulation
Folding, creasing, and shaping origami paper activates the sensory receptors in our fingers.
Occupational therapists are always looking for various ways to engage their clients with various textures, especially those with tactile sensitivities and specific sensory cravings. Incorporating different paper types provides an excellent avenue for exploration. Whether it’s the delicate touch of table napkin, the crinkly feel of crepe paper, the smoothness of printer paper, or the glossy texture of magazine pages, each type of paper provides distinct feedback. You can also experiment with heavier papers like card stock, postcards, or photo paper, each offering a sensory-rich experience.
Mindfulness
Occupational therapists are always looking for tools, strategies, and activities for mindfulness practice. Origami is the perfect activity to fully engage in the present moment. The repetitive nature of folding paper requires patience and concentration which induces a meditative state of mind. Once you get into the “zone” of folding paper, you might find that this may help alleviate worries about the future and build a stronger mind-body connection.
Social Skills
Origami is not just a wonderful solo pastime, it also makes for a great way to socialize with others who share the same interests. For example, completing a modular origami swan project as a team encourages everyone to share ideas, discuss techniques, and learn better ways of communicating with each other. Group activities are also a venue to practice turn-taking, negotiating conflict, and leadership skills.
Play Skills
There are a variety of ways origami can be used in play and therapy. Children who enjoy competitive games can do origami frog races or participate in paper airplane flying contests. Cooperative activities such as “pass the paper relay” where each team member can only fold one step of the origami pattern before passing the paper to the next person are a great opportunity to learn cooperative play.
The “Just Right” Challenge
In occupational therapy, the “just right challenge” refers to the therapeutic principle of providing activities that are neither too easy nor too difficult for the individual, but rather just right for their current skill level and abilities.
For example, in a pediatric OT session, the therapist might choose activities that are challenging enough to promote skill development and progress, but not so difficult that the child becomes frustrated or disengaged. Similarly, in adult OT settings, the therapist might tailor activities to match the client’s cognitive, physical, and emotional abilities, ensuring that they are appropriately challenged while still experiencing success
The best thing about origami is it can be graded up and down to match a person’s skill level. Origami is so versatile that it can address so many skills in a lot of different ways, which is why this art is being used as a therapeutic activity more and more. If you’re an occupational therapist running short on ideas, consider incorporating origami into your therapy sessions!