• Includes illustrations of each paper fold and instructions in language appropriate for children as young as 4 years old.

• Presents a story that emphasizes life's successes, joys, creativity, and triumph over adversity.

• Provides an additional succinct summary of all the folding steps and a paper template for parents and teachers.

In this delightful "fold-and-tell," the author teaches children to create the traditional origami crane. Through inspiring, accessible prose interwoven with richly detailed illustrations that seem to burst exuberantly from their borders, Spread Your Wings and Fly cleverly combines clear folding instructions with a simple story of the ups and downs, missteps and wondrous flights that are part of life for all of us. 

The author's words conjure images of perennial delight in each folding step toward creating a finished bird: first it looks like a kite, then like an ice cream cone; at one moment the folded paper resembles a sailboat, at another an elephant with large ears. The story reminds youngsters that sails may lose their wind or ice cream may fall from your cone--but with the next fold of paper, children are brushing themselves off and moving on with their paper creations. For extra clarity, a separate, detailed step-by-step summary of folding instructions is provided for adults, along with a pattern for paper squares perfectly sized for small hands to fold. Spread Your Wings and Fly is a remarkable tool for parents, teachers, or anyone who spends time with children and wishes to share with them the gifts of storytelling, creativity, and craft.