We all know that a necessary skill for personal, home, or professional life is being able to communicate effectively, but do high school students realize this?  One way to test their skills is through this Communication Origami activity! Great for all age levels!

Set

• Poll students to see if they believe they are effective communicators.  Do they give clear instruction?  Do they really listen? Answers will most likely vary.
• Tell students that they are about to find out!

Materials

• Origami Paper (affiliate link)

Activities

• Note: You may wish to assign a specific origami shape to each student prior to the game or provide a list of options and let students pick. Here are some great websites with easy origami shapes to choose from. The first is “Very Simple Origami For Kids and Easy Instructions” and the second is “MORE-IGAMI ORIGAMI“.
• Group students in pairs either randomly or intentionally and give each a piece of origami paper.  Once they know their shape, let the fun begin!
• Teach the importance of clear communication and listening skills by playing an origami game. Have student couples sit back to back and the “messenger” needs to give specific directions to the “listener” on how to fold, rotate, or turn a paper to create simple origami shapes. Share results. Switch roles and repeat with a new origami design.
• Discuss challenges and successes associated with each role. Which role was easier? Why? What could you have done differently to improve the outcome?
• How does this activity relate to or impact (choose one or all)…
  • Marriage
  • Family
  • Friendships
  • Dating Relationships
  • The Workplace
• Why are communication skills important in __________ (insert one or all from above)?
• What might happen in _____________(insert one or all from above) if ______________ failed to communicate effectively?
  Ex. What might happen in a marriage if couples failed to communicate effectively?
• Come back together as a group and discuss their answers. Depending on when you do this activity/game with your students, you could always revisit it periodically to see if their communication skills have improved!

Photo by Carolina Garcia Tavizon on Unsplash