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Join us in making ONE MILLION PAPER CRANES globally as a sign of community love and support during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
If you are feeling like most of the world right now, you have been riveted and shaken by the news of this health pandemic that is seizing countries across the world. COVID-19 as you know has changed our lives.
Not once in recent history have we seen people across countries rally to fight this dangerous virus that does not discriminate. Likely, we know someone within six degrees that has been affected by the virus.
Our hearts are with the essential workers who are on the frontlines; delivery people, grocery clerks, police officers, firemen, airline employees, and many more. And the ones who are truly front and center fighting our fight, our self-less healthcare professionals who’ve had to deal with dwindling protective gear and safety equipment.
Many people think COVID-19 has changed lives for the worse and that is true. It has led to many devastating deaths and financial hardships for businesses and struggling families.
But yet there is a positive surge happening at the same time. The flip side of the coin. Of communities #alonebuttogether who are lending hands and coming out with self-less acts of love, kindness and support for one another
What is the One Million Cranes Project?
My kids and I made 100 rainbow origami cranes to kick off the #ONEMILLIONCRANES Project.
We are encouraging everyone across the world to make and display paper cranes to get us to the goal of ONE MILLION CRANES across thew world as a sign of community love and support during the pandemic.
I have been thinking for so long of a community project that can be done globally.
As fitting to our mission here, it had to be COLORFUL and EASY. It also had to be accessible to anyone (no barriers to making) and symbolize hope and healing.
If you’ve followed us for a while you will know we are not just about cute and easy kids crafts. We love rainbows because they symbolize happiness, love and acceptance. We have chosen kindness as our cause over and again through the lens of color.
You may recall our Rainbow Rock Project which I helped my daughter launch to help raise money for the homeless.
And her recent Cupcakes for Koalas to help the Australian Bush Fire relief.
Or the book I authored My Color Is Rainbow, all about love, kindness and acceptance.
So it made sense for us to come together to make rainbow paper cranes to show community love during this tragic pandemic.
What do cranes represent and symbolize?
I’ve always loved the beauty of origami paper cranes. They symbolize happiness, hope, longevity and good fortune. There is a Japanese folklore around the meaning of 1000 cranes. One who folds 1000 cranes is granted a wish.
Elaborating on this myth, my wish is for the world to come together to make ONE MILLION CRANES because we need 1000’x the hope, healing and happiness. My wish is to come together as one to fight this pandemic and come out on the other side, stronger, healthier, wiser and happier as a show of our improved humanity.
What are the rules to join in the Million Crane Project?
Here’s the good news, there are NO rules!
I know we (especially busy parents all of a sudden faced with homeschooling children) have very little extra time.
Make 1 or 100, or whatever number crane you want, each will count towards the ONE MILLION GOAL.
Make sure to tag #ONEMILLIONCRANES and a photo letting us know how many you’ve made! I will try my best to share every single photo on my social media Instagram and Facebook stories.
What paper should I use?
We used 6″ square origami rainbow paper, but you don’t have to use origami paper! You can be creative and recycle newspaper, magazines, kids art (that would be gorgeous). You just need a square piece of paper!
Where should I hang the paper cranes?
We hung ours on the window because we want others to see the beauty in them, but recognize not everyone may have a front-facing window!
Hang them anywhere you want to in the home! If you don’t want to string them, tape the cranes up on the wall!
See, no rules. Make this as easy as possible for yourself.
How do you fold origami cranes?
We love this easy paper crane video tutorial by Jo Nakashima.
How do you string paper cranes together?
Since we made many cranes of many colors and and wanted to show them off per color, we decided to string them, 10 per color.
You will first need embroidery thread and a needle. You will make a knot on one end and thread your first crane all the way down the knot so it won’t slide off.
To thread, go through the bottom of the crane where there is already an existing hole underneath the middle of the body. Insert your needle through that hole and come right up on top of the middle of the crane, piercing the paper with your needle.
You will then decided the distance you want between cranes, ours was around 2 inches. You will then tie another knot two inches from the crane you just threaded. You’ll then thread the second crane and it should lay straight on your second knot.
Repeat until you have all cranes threaded.
We used very strong (yet removable) tape to hang our cranes on the window. They are holding up nicely and have not fallen!
Btw, stringing 1000 cranes together is called “Senbazuru” in Japanese.
How do I share my cranes with you?
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Take a photo as we would LOVE to see your cranes!
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If you share them on YOUR social media, tag #onemillioncranes and also tag our social media accounts as well so we can see them! You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.
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If you are not on social media (we understand not everyone is) please email us your photo to info@hellowondeful.co
We hope you will join us in this beautiful project and that it brings light, love and meaning to communities across the world. We will do our best to re-share your photos and credit you in our IG and FB stories!
We will also keep track of how many cranes are being made across the world, but remember, if we don’t know about yours, we won’t be able to count them.
So please make sure to tag and share #onemillioncranes!
Agnes Hsu is a mom of three and has been inspiring parents and kids to get creative with easy activities and family friendly recipes for over 10 years. She shares her love for creative play and kids food to her 2MM+ followers online. Agnes' commitment to playful learning and kindness has not only raised funds for charity but also earned features in prestigious nationwide publications.