I tend to believe that the more primitive and recognizable the form of the model is, the more it touches the hearts of people who don't know a thing about origami. At the hospital where I work there was a display of something like 100 really simple origami fox models that kids made. The foxes were made of paper of various colours with tiny googly eyes glued on. Most people found them adorable, and my colleagues kept asking why I was making some really weird and boring stuff when I just could be making something cute like those little foxes at the display? So, Martin16, even if you are going to make the Ancient Dragon right in front of a non-folders' eyes, don't forget to give it googly eyes! That's the only way to impress non-folders!

Sia25, give it a try. I wish I had something like that close to my place.

PaperWoman, make sure they use double sided coloured paper and the size isn't too small. I used 6 inch sheets for cranes and whales.

Last year had an origami workshop with 8 year-olds (my son's friends mostly). The boys preferred to focus on animals, although I would love to include a flower in the workshop as well. They found making cranes and whales pretty easy. Their hand-eye coordination is not yet well developed, but origami, actually, can help them to make a huge leap in that sphere. I've noticed that fold-by-fold intruction works well for them: you make a fold, and they attemt to repeat it (instead of showing them the whole process at once).