Decorate the heart with markers, glitter, or stickers when you’re finished if you’re using it as a valentine or other type of card. Make lots of small hearts and hang them on a string to drape around your house as a cute garland. If you’re a beginner, stick with origami paper, which is thinner and easier to fold. Choose metallic foil paper or gift wrap if you want a more glamorous craft. For sturdier shape, use thicker card stock. Try thinking outside of the box for materials. For instance, you could use napkins, tissue paper, or even newspaper pages for a fun challenge.
Write 8 fortunes on the inside of each corner. Open the corners on the side where they look like triangles. Each corner will have 2 fortunes. On the side where the corners form little squares, write 4 different things from the same category. For example, if you pick colors, write “red,” “blue,” “green,” and “yellow. " You could also use animals, seasons, types of shoes, etc. To operate the fortune teller, pinch underneath the corner flaps with your index fingers and thumbs. As you open and close your hands, so will the fortune teller.
You can also fill the balloon with water. To make a waterbomb base, crease a square piece of paper along both diagonals and then in half, unfolding in between each new fold. Bring 2 opposite edges together so that the paper collapses into a triangle. If the paper doesn’t collapse easily, you may need to re-crease the folds.
Once you’ve folded your plane, it’s time for take-off! Throw it in the air just like you would throw a football and watch it soar. Host an origami airplane contest with your friends. See who can make the plane that will fly the farthest.
Attach your star to a stick and place it outside, like in a garden, to watch the wind spin it around like a pinwheel. You can also use a star as a festive topper for a present.
You can attach your lily to a pipe cleaner stem or add paper leaves to make it look more realistic. Group a bunch of lilies together for a lovely centerpiece or even for a wedding bouquet.
Mix and match paper colors for an artsy effect. You can decorate the flowers with glitter or paint after you fold them for extra embellishment. Once you’ve mastered 1 shape, try a more advanced variation or another shape. You won’t improve if you never push yourself. Origami takes lots of practice. Start a daily origami routine and try to practice for at least 10 minutes every day.
To make the frog jump, set it on a flat surface and press down on the back of its body. Release it quickly to watch it spring up. This is a great activity for young kids, who will love playing with their finished frogs.
You can keep your birds as flat shapes or, if you want them to be more 3D, gently pull the head and tail apart further. You can also blow air into the bottom of the bird to inflate them slightly. Stringing paper birds together makes a sophisticated garland or piece of wall art.
Get creative with your dragon! Make a horn, add spikes to the tail, or embellish the wings with tiny pleats. There is a more basic version of the dragon if you’re a beginner.
Another common symbol is a circle with the top half shaded and the bottom half white. That indicates that the colored side of the paper should be facing up. Starting with the correct side prevents you from having a shape that’s made from the blank side instead of the colorful one.
A straight line indicates a crease that was formed by a previous fold.
A “fold and unfold” direction may also look like a line with an arrow at both ends. Fold the paper in the direction of the normal arrow, then unfold it towards the hollow arrow. You might also see a line that curves, almost making a circle, and points back to where the line started. This indicates a mountain fold.
If you’re supposed to rotate the paper by a certain degree, like 45 or 90, the number will be inside the circular arrow. Sometimes there will be a fraction inside the arrow, instead of a degree. For example, if it says “1/4,” you’ll make a quarter turn.
For instance, if there’s 1 line, it means to repeat the step on 1 other side or flap. If there are 2 lines, repeat the step on 2 other sides or flaps, and so on.
