VBS Project 3: Origami Paper Cup
For the third day of crafts at Calvary VBS, we created this simple origami paper cup. The story was Jesus meeting the woman at the well. I suppose we could have created a well out of old cans or popsicle sticks. But the origami went over so well on Friday, I decided not to mess with success. Besides, we only had thirty minutes. That is not a lot of time for a craft project involving glue.
We started with a regular sheet of paper, which was folded diagonally. You cut the bottom strip off to create a square. Instead of using scissors, I taught the kids how to use their fingernail to sharpen the fold, then lick the fold and tear the edge off.
One boy was not impressed with this and asked if he could use the scissors. I told him that he could for the next one, but I really wanted him to learn this skill. I even went so far to say that he might need to know how to make a paper cup to survive in the wilderness one day. What if he was trapped on a desert island and just had a sheet of paper? What would he do?
Well, this idea really resonated with the kids. When I took a picture of the completed projects later, I found a couple of survival cups. Ha! That really cracked me up.
As with the paper boats, I brought in a special kind of paper for them to use. We created a second paper cup out of palette paper. I explained to them that this was a paper very similar to wax paper, which artists use to work with paint. With the shiny side on the inside fold, the cup was able to hold the water a little longer. Plus the exterior was like regular paper, therefore easy to decorate with markers.
Once we finished our folding of cups, cups and more cups, we passed around a pitcher of water. So yes, we actually drank from our cups. How exciting.
The Skinny on Paper Boats
Instructions
Materials
8.5 x 11 paper (or any rectangular sheet)
Extras
Crayons
Markers
Palette paper
This is Project 3 of four puppets and origami projects I shared in June 2010 during Vacation Bible School at Calvary Baptist Church.
