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Folding origami peace cranes – a wish for world peace

Aim

To provide an understanding of the importance of standing up for peace. To learn about the sacrifices and achievements made by Canadian service members.

Objectives

Youth are expected to:

  • develop an understanding of the involvement and experiences of Canadians in times of war, military conflict and peace;
  • develop an understanding of the art of folding origami peace cranes as a wish for peace; and
  • develop an understanding of human rights and freedoms.  

Target audience

This activity is suitable for grades 7-12.

Sequence of events and anticipated time frame [60 minutes approximately]

(You can modify this activity to fit available time.)

  • Introductory discussion [5 minutes]
  • Video: Peacekeeping Monument [2 minutes]
  • Discussion: Convention on the Rights of the Child [10 minutes]
  • Activity: Folding origami peace cranes [30 minutes]
  • Conclusion [10 minutes]

Recommended materials

Introductory discussion [5 minutes]

What is war?

Brainstorm with youth on what they know about wars. Do they know of when our country fought in a conflict? You may wish to write down their responses.

Explain that wars are very dangerous for those who serve in them. You could discuss the conditions in the battlefields they face, such as difficult terrain, or extreme hot or cold weather.

What is peacekeeping?

After the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War, Canada and others in the international community decided to try to prevent future wars rather than fighting. This helped give rise to the modern concept of peacekeeping. Talk about this with your students.

War is sometimes like a more serious version of what you might see in schoolyard bullying. Countries like Canada have sent soldiers around the world to prevent bullying and keep peace.

What is peace?

Talk about what peace is. Ask students to define what they think it means. Possible answers are: peace is the absence of war; and peace lets people freely live their lives, as long as they bring no harm to others.

Who are peacekeepers?

Discuss how the term “peacekeepers” has become well known to people in many countries. Canadian service members have served around the world. As peacekeepers, they try to restore peace in far-away lands threatened by war. They have served in places such as Cyprus, Congo, the Golan Heights, India and Pakistan, the Balkans, Cambodia, Haiti, Rwanda, East Timor, Sudan and Mali.

We often think of Veterans as those who served in only the First and Second World War, and the Korean War. However, many Canadian Veterans have served in peacekeeping missions around the world since those wars. They are still doing that important work today. They are Veterans too.

Optional:

Peace and human rights discussion [10 minutes]

Talk about concepts of peace such as:

  • Actions: our own actions affect ourselves or those in our family, and other people in other places.
  • Acceptance: the importance of accepting those who are different from us.
  • Open-hearted: we should not fear people and cultures that are different.
  • Respect: we should respect one another and our world.

Share with your students The Convention on the Rights of the Child  and discuss.

  • Article 12: you have the right to your own opinion.
  • Article 16: you have the right to privacy.
  • Article 28: you have the right to a good quality education.
  • Article 38: children have the right to protection and freedom from war.

Ask students how they would feel without certain rights, or if someone took those rights away from them? Look at Article 38 together. How would it feel if your country was at war? Have any students in your classroom lived in a country at war? Canadian peacekeepers stand up for human rights and peace around the world.

Folding origami peace cranes [30 minutes]

War has affected people of all ages in the past—and continues to today. War affects those who are serving with military forces, like our Canadian peacekeepers. War also affects the citizens of the country where the conflict is taking place.

Story—How peace cranes began

Sadako Sasaki was a little Japanese girl living in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan on 6 August 1945. A few years later, when she was 11 years old, she was diagnosed with leukemia. This is a type of cancer caused by radiation from the atomic bomb. While in the hospital, Sadako started to fold origami paper cranes.

Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding (“ori” means folding and “gami” means paper). In Japan, there was a belief that if you folded 1,000 paper cranes, then your wish would come true. Sadako spent 14 months in the hospital folding origami paper cranes. She wished for her good health and a peaceful world.

Sadly, Sadako died when she was 12 years old. She had folded more than 1,300 paper cranes. Her friends and classmates raised money to build a memorial in her honour. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial was completed in 1958 and has a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane. Beneath the main structure hangs a bronze crane. It works as a wind chime when pushed against a peace bell from which it is suspended. At the base of the monument is a plaque that says:

This is our cry.
          This is our prayer.
          Peace in the world.

Although Sadako died at a very young age, her legacy continues. Every year, thousands of people around the world fold paper cranes as an expression of hope for a world at peace. There is a book about her that you may wish to read with your class called Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes .

Explain to your students that they will be folding origami peace cranes to hang in your classroom. The cranes they create will honour the Canadian peacekeepers who have served around the world. They will also represent your school’s wish for world peace.

Distribute origami paper (or squares of paper at least 5 cm x 5 cm) and watch this step-by-step instruction video of a youth making a crane. Or, follow the steps in Folding Origami Peace Cranes pdf instruction sheet.

Conclusion [10 minutes]

When the cranes are made, hang a flock of them in your classroom or school as a message of peace!

Discuss with your students what they have learned, their thoughts or feelings. Reflect on the importance of keeping peace. How can we can have a peaceful classroom, community and country?

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