Activity:
Washi Ningyo
Washi Ningyo, otherwise known as Japanese paper dolls make a beautiful and delicate decorations, but they also make fantastic bookmarks! Encourage your child to read more with this delightful, origami-inspired doll. Created from card stock paper, origami paper and washi tape, your child will practice her fine motor skills as she cuts, folds and assembles an intricate paper doll.
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What You Need:
- White poster board
- Black construction paper
- Origami paper
- Washi tape, wide and thin widths
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Pencil
- Compass
- Glue stick
- Markers
What You Do:
- Help your child cut a bookmark-sized rectangle from the white poster board. She can trace it from another bookmark if it's helpful.
- Help her use the compass to create a circle that's 2 cm in diameter for the doll's head on the poster board. If you don't have a compass on hand, trace a soda bottle lid.
- Have her cut out one more piece from the poster board for the neck, this one should be 2 cm x 8 cm.
- Ask her to glue the neck piece to the back of the bookmark, allowing 4 centimeters of the neck piece to overlap.
- Now, have her glue the head to the neck, leaving a small portion of the neck showing.
- Ask her to tear or cut off a 3-inch piece of Washi tape, and fold it in half lengthwise, so it's long and thin. Fold this over the neck like a scarf to create the under-kimono collar, and glue it in place.
- Lay out the origami paper decorative side down. Fold the top edge of the paper down about 1 centimeter. Place the bookmark on top of the folded origami paper, right in the center. The fold of the paper needs to be just under the collar, and the collar should still be showing.
- Have her fold down the upper left corner of the origami paper towards the center of the bookmark. It should resemble a paper airplane fold. Repeat this on the right side, and glue both corners down.
- Ask her to fold the left side of the origami paper toward the center of the bookmark and repeat for the right side. The origami should now fit tightly around the bookmark. Glue it in place.
- Use a wide piece of Washi tape and tape it around the origami to create the obi (belt). It should be just below the kimono collar fold.
- Have her tape a thin piece of tape around the center of the obi tape.
- Cut out hair from the black construction paper and glue it in place.
- Finally, she can draw in the face using markers to complete her Washi Ningyo bookmark.
- Time to read!
