I’m excited to have Dana from Goods Giving Back on the blog today! She’s sharing a fun origami craft that you can do with your kids. She’s also sharing a great charity that benefits from cards made by kids. Crafting and charity are two things I’m passionate about so I was excited when she reached out about guest posting! I can’t wait for you to see her Origami Yoda! I really hope you’ll make a few to send to the charity she mentions in her post. 🙂
School is in session, which means daily schedules are packed not only with homework, but after school sports and activities as well. This doesn’t mean, however, that fun and easy family activities have to end! When you create homemade cards to send to Cardz For Kidz! it’s the perfect family affair. The mission of Cardz For Kidz! is to “uplift the spirits of hospitalized and/or traumatized children across the globe with homemade cards.” Each card is hand-delivered to a child in need of a pick-me-up, therefore this is not only a family-friendly activity, but each card you design will make a big difference in a child’s life. Another reason why this is a great family option? You can create cards in a matter of minutes and the activity doesn’t require a lot of set-up or complex materials. And since Star Wars is beloved by girls and boys and never goes out of style, today I’m going to walk you through creating a fun handmade card that is Yoda-inspired. The added bonus is that it even includes an origami finger puppet for the child who receives the card.
How To Make A Homemade Origami Yoda Card
To make the card, you’ll need the following supplies:
- Origami paper in brown and green or thin green and brown paper that are 6″ square. Please note: construction paper will not work well for the origami folding for this activity.
- Construction paper for the card and additional decorations.
- Pens, crayons, and stickers (if you have some) to decorate the card and write a message.
- Clear tape for the Origami Yoda holding pouch inside the card (not pictured).
How To Fold Origami Yoda
Instead of taking separate pictures in an effort to show you how to do each of the folds, I decided it’s best to go to the source. In the video below, the creator of Origami Yoda, Tom Angleberger, walks you through each step necessary to create the finger puppet that will accompany your card. https://youtu.be/ofLuU1iNbTY
How to Make The Homemade Card
After folding a handful of Origami Yoda, it’s time to create the card. You will also create a pouch that will hold Yoda. To make it super easy, I have explained it below as a two-step process.
1. Decorate The Front Of The Card
Origami Yoda will be tucked inside the card in a special pouch (more on that in part two). So this leaves plenty of room on the front of the card to decorate with light sabers, X-wing fighters, and TIE Fighters as well as a fun Yoda-inspired motivational phrase. For this project, the three phrases I used were:
- Awesome, you are!
- A wonderful day, I wish you.
- So smart, young Jedi, you are!
While the phrases don’t have to be in Yoda-speak, it’s definitely a nice tie-in with the overall Star Wars theme. You can use pens, crayons, or even stickers, if you have them, to spell things out and decorate the card. The designs can be as simple or as complex as you need them. For the first several cards, I kept is super simple. I couldn’t quite master a light saber, unfortunately, so I stuck with a fun phrase and a basic TIE fighter on the outside.
2. Give Origami Yoda A Home Inside The Card
To make the origami finger puppet a surprise, I designed the card to have a pouch on the inside that will hold Yoda. To make the “pouch” simply take a piece of construction paper and divide it into quarters. Take one of the four pieces and tape it to the inside of the card. As you can see in the picture above, I wrote a little message so that the child would know how to use Origami Yoda.
Where To Send Your Homemade Cards
After you’ve finished making your cards, please tell Ike that Dana from Goods Giving Back sent you and send your homemade card beauties off to this address: Cardz for Kidz/Ike Nwankwo 1495 Chevron Dr Sandy Springs, GA 30350 When Ike receives them, he groups them to be sent one of his member hospitals and each card is hand delivered to every child. So, your homemade card is guaranteed to brighten someone’s day. As Origami Yoda might say, “Such family fun you will have!”
Happy crafting,
Dana
