Origami Maple Leaf Workshop

I was able to finally host my first origami craft session at the Wisteria Care Home Centre in August! Around a year ago I had gotten my grandmother to test out the maple leaf design that I made for the City of Westminister craft event. For the first time outside of my pharmaceutical work, I had the chance to work with seniors. Although I was a bit anxious, as soon as I entered the room I realized my initial worries were pointless as I could see everyone was quite excited to participate in the craft session.

I will be honest though, the craft session was not the greatest thing in the world. When starting the session the seniors restricted abilities and handicaps became very apparent. I noticed that they struggled to fold the paper and follow my moves. During the workshop, they jokingly complained to each other and mentioned how painting was a lot better than origami. But in the end, the seniors were satisfied with their results. Their faces lit up when they compared their maple leaves and shared with each other what they accomplished.

One senior even said that "Even though this craft was hard the important thing was what we accomplished: we overcame a challenge and could laugh at the end". Although it was an initial struggle at first this workshop taught me to readjust my instructions and learn to adjust to the right demographic. Since I was able to set up a monthly craft session with Wisteria, I look forward to the next month and being able to teach these seniors once again.

Image of all the seniors together

Liliana and I assisting the elders