Book Review: Bible Origami

It’s time for another book review. This one is Bible Origami, by Todd Huisken.

Book Description:

Keep your children’s hands busy during church services with Bible Origami. Instead of folding the service programs into paper airplanes, they can fold Noah’s ark, an oil lamp, or Joseph’s coat! As you develop the unique skill of creating these simple-to-intermediate origami designs, you will find opportunities to use them with all ages for lessons, activities, crafting, and everyday fun!

My Review:

I’ll be honest, paper crafts aren’t really my thing. When the author contacted me about reviewing the book, I almost turned him down because I don’t do crafts anymore. But I have kids who like crafts, so I decided to give it a try.

The book got points the first morning it was in our home. My daughters got a hold of it and made a basketful of staffs, snakes, and coats of many colors (except they used printer paper, so the coats were white, but they looked like something Joseph from the Bible might have worn, minus the color). And while they were folding paper, my husband and I got to sleep in a whole half hour. That’s huge at our house.

I made a manger (difficulty level 2 on a scale of 3) and it turned out okay. The instructions were good. The pictures inside the book are all black and white, which isn’t as fun as color photos would be, but color photos would probably double the price of the book, so I can see why the publisher went with black and white.

Some people learn best by seeing, others by hearing, and some by doing something. But in church, there aren’t a ton of activities for kinesthetic learners. I like that this is something that could be done in a classroom to involve another form of learning that isn’t often used.

The book delivers what it says it will: two dozen Bible-themed origami instructions. It’s worth looking into if you have crafty kids or teach them.

About the Author:

Todd Huisken is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Irvine, California.  He had a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Brigham Young University, a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of San Diego and has been in practice for 21 years.   Todd has served as the Assistant Director of Disaster Mental Health Services for the Orange County Chapter of the American Red Cross.  He has worked with victims from the San Diego Fires, Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina, and spent two weeks in Haiti following the earthquake in 2010.  He’s a writer, a runner and a paper folder.  Todd has been married to his beautiful wife for 26 years and they have three daughters and a son.  In their free time, the Huiskens try to make Disneyland their second home.