The possibilities in a square of paper

It's amazing what a square of paper can become. Thanks to the art of origami, a square of paper can become a flower, a frog, a fish, a hat, a bird, a box, and practically anything else you can imagine. It can become a way to teach kids about proportion and spacial relationships and following directions. It can become a way to spend a fun afternoon with your kids. It can become a beautiful work of art.

It can also become a way to help the people of Japan. The kids and I spent about a week folding origami cranes for the Paper Cranes for Japan project. For every paper crane sent in, up to 100,000, the Bezos Foundation donated $2 to Japan relief efforts, for a total of $200,000. I had never folded a crane in my life, but it was such a good project, I knew I had to try. Now I don't think I could forget how to fold a crane if I tried. The kids and I folded and sent 111 cranes. I helped the kids in Jammy's class fold 40 cranes, and joined other parent volunteers at lunchtime to help the rest of the kids in their school fold over 2,000 cranes.

Last I heard, Paper Cranes for Japan hit their goal of 100,000 paper cranes on April 11 , and cranes are still pouring in -- over 460,000 as of April 15! Studentsrebuild.org reports that they have received cranes from 49 states and over 19 countries. How cool is that?

This post and photos were inspired by the Photo Hunt theme of the week: Square. Feel free to leave links to your own Photo Hunt entries below.