Origami Zoo

This has been the wettest, coldest Spring I can remember. I really hope that our garden survives the late snows.

I work with the children for my church calling and it’s wonderful. I only play the piano for singing time but have occasionally been asked to do more since there wasn’t a chorister several periods of time. I never realized how particular I was when children are being taught. I grit my teeth and fidget behind the piano some of the time.

A couple of weeks ago when we still didn’t have a chorister, I made a promise to the children that if they would memorize what they were suppose to I would bring a reward. The first thing that was asked was “what kind of candy/treat?”

I’m irked that children feel like they have to be given food. Feeling more determined than ever to do the right thing I went home and made fifty paper cranes over the course of the week. I’ve been making paper cranes for years and so it wasn’t hard to do it whenever I had a little spare time, like watching TV or movies. The next week all of the children passed off the song. I was feeling a little nervous about the whole paper crane idea. I know that some kids really like them and others, not so much. I decided to explain why I brought the prize I did. Since there are over twenty children I have no idea what everyone can or cannot eat or what their parents approve of. I pulled out the crane and they were all excited.

Since it was a big hit I decided that I could learn how to make other animals that I could use it as an incentive to learn the music. This last Sunday was Mother’s Day and the children were singing for everyone in church. There are a couple of children that really enjoy playing with the microphone on the podium instead of singing so I explained if they weren’t reverent or didn’t sing loud I wouldn’t be able to give them a turtle. It worked. This was the first time we didn’t have someone playing with the microphone.

I’m so glad that this new generation can appreciate the smaller things in life like Origami animals. (This way I can also memorize more patterns than just the crane. I often make cranes for little kids when I want something to do with my hands but I do get tired of just cranes.)