Origami Tulip Instructions

Diagram Instructions

1. Start with your paper coloured side up. Fold in half, then in half again, as shown. Crease well, then open out again.	2. Turn the paper over and fold in half diagonally and in both directions. Crease well and open out once again.

3. Holding the points shown, bring them both down to the centre point on the bottom line. Flatten model. This is called a waterbomb base.

4. Fold bottom corners of front flaps up to the top corner. Repeat this on the back as well.		5. Turn the front flap to the left, like turning the pages in a book. Do the same to the other side of the model.
6. Move the upper flaps toward each other, and tuck one into the other, as far as it goes.		7. When you flatten this, make sure the distances A & B shown are equal.

8. Repeat steps 6 & 7 on back of model, to get this.	9. Blow into base of tulip to inflate and shape the flower.	10. Peel each petal down, slowly and carefully. Your tulip is now finished. You can pair it with the flower stem as pictured.

Origami Lily Instructions

1. Start with your paper coloured side up. Fold in half, then in half again, as shown. Crease well, then open out again.		2. Turn the paper over and fold in half diagonally and in both directions. Crease well and open out once again.

3. Holding the points shown, bring them both down to the centre point on the bottom line. Flatten model. This is called a waterbomb base.

4. Fold the top triangle into the centre and unfold. Using this crease, open out the triangle and flatten.

5. You'll need to repeat step 4 on all four of the flaps of the waterbomb base. The model will now look like this.		6. On the uppermost diamond, fold the outside corners into the centre line, crease well then open.		7. Fold the whole model in half and open.

8. Using the creases made in step 6 and 7, lift the bottom point of the model (the uppermost layer only) up to the top point, bringing in the sides of the model at the same time, as shown.

9. Repeat steps 6, 7 and 8 on each if the four sides. The model should now look like this.		10. Now fold down each of these triangles, on all four sides.		11. Rotate model upside down, so the open part is at the top.
12. Fold the outer flaps toward the centre and flatten.		13. Repeat step 12 on all four sides of the model. The model should now look like this.		14. Fold down all petals, opening the flower as you go.
Completed Lily!

Origami Flowers

Some of the most beautiful origami models are the origami flowers... they look so stunning when made with either plain of pattered paper, and displayed in groups! 

If you are a beginner, I would recommend starting with the Blossom and then the Lily, they are both great traditional designs, and people love receiving paper flowers as token gifts: they are so thoughtful and sweet: and what could be more personal than something made with your own hands? :-) 

Easy Origami Rose Flowers

If you haven't folded any origami model before, welcome to the fun of folding origami rose flower. Since we are dealing 3D-model here, it might be very hard for you to start with 3D origami rose initially. There are many sites giving instructions for 2D-models (you can search the web using "origami" as a key word). If you are confident with 2D-models, then you can start with "Easy Origami Roses" here. They are easy compared to other intermediate/advanced models but you might find them to be difficult since they are one dimension higher than 2D-models. If you are becoming comfortable with these roses, then you can start work on Standard Rose or Spiral Rose. But before start working on Easy Origami Rose Flower, you need to know some basics of origami folding techniques known as valley-fold and mountain-fold. They are shown in How To Make Origami page. After you learned what valley-fold and mountain-fold are, you need to practice these folding techniques with some simple origami models. If you have not folded an origami crane before, it is a good practice to learn it now. Origami crane will teach you not only valley and mountain folds but also more advanced technique called "inside reverse-fold".

Origami for Kids

This Origami for Kids section is especially designed for beginners. For a child who has never done origami before, it will take some time before he gets used to the process. Once he has experienced the joy of origami, he will eagerly decipher the origami instructions (called diagrams) by himself.

A child as young as 4 years old can fold paper if an adult sits beside him and coaches him along.

      

At 8 years old, a child who is familiar with origami can follow origami instructions independently. He may need help at the challenging steps so be sure that you are available when he needs you. Photo: "Mette Unit 1" by 8 year old child.

If you are an educator and want to teach origami for kids, consider the age guidelines below. Photo: swans by 4th graders, L. Surber. Read more about this kind of paper folding here.

• Kindergartners: you can teach 2 or 3 cooperative kindergartners at the same time. Choose very simple models that produce recognizable models such as animals.
  
• First Graders: it is most effective to teach in small groups of 4 or 5 children. You can teach the entire class at the same time, but you must be flexible and understand that some kids will not follow instructions and end up with their own creations. Again, choose easy models first, and if the class is receptive to this art form, then progress to harder models.
  
• Second Graders: by second grade, you can definately teach the entire class at the same time. Show them how the finished model will look like so that they have an incentive to follow along in the folding sequence.
  
• Third Graders and up: at this age, you can teach beyond the traditional origami models. Modular origami is great for teaching math and dollar-bill origami is great to make as presents for Father's Day

Watching a child’s eyes light up when he completes an origami for kids model
is priceless! However, teaching children how to do origami is not as easy as falling off a log. Prepare yourself with these tips to ensure a successful paper folding session.

Make An Origami Scrapbook or Ring Binder 2

We used an inexpensive cardboard A4 ring binder to store our origami models, divided into three sections:

• First, we hole punched various pieces of coloured card for the front of the binder, onto which we stuck our models. Some pages we filled up model by model, as we finished them, dating them and adding one or two comments along the way. Other pages we "themed" - using a dark blue piece of card as a background for our various fish models, and adding some stickers to make it look more interesting. We attached our models to the card with a glue stick.
• Second, we added a number of plastic sleeves into which we slipped the origami instructions we had printed out, ready to try.
• Third, we used sticky-tape to attach a large envelope to the inside back of the ring binder, in which we store our origami paper safely.

Make An Origami Scrapbook or Ring Binder 1

One of the downsides of origami is having an annoying collection of paper creations cluttering up the house, and nothing in particular to do with them!

The majority of the origami models at Activity Village are "flat" and therefore lend themselves to an origami scrapbook or ring binder.

Your child can store their precious work, show it off when they want to, add to the individual pages with drawings, writing, stickers, or other embellishments, and date their models so that they have a record of their achievements and progression.

What is Origami

Origami is a fascinating and creative craft for kids, especially if you can find origami models appropriate to their age. Not only will children get a real sense of satisfaction out of making these fun origami models, but they will be getting practice at following instructions, increasing their manual dexterity, and producing a fun and decorative end-product. Enjoy these easy origami models, specially adapted to make paper folding fun for children! Simple photo instructions and videos make folding easy. We have origami for all sorts of holidays and occasions and for every day too - explore below!

To follow traditional origami diagrams and instructions you must learn, and be able to follow, various symbols and techniques. Our testers found them difficult to understand. So, to make our origami as clear as possible for children, we have photographed our models each step of the way. We hope that you and the kids can follow along easily!

Please note: the instructions come in pdf format so that you can read them online, save them to your computer, or print them out.

Perry-Gami

Perry Bailey's site with various models in pdf and gif formats, including a coot - bird, sparrow, cobra bookmark, heart airplane - Throw your Heart Away, dragon, dollar bill dragon, dollar bill Starship Enterprise, dollar bill Klingon D-7 Cruiser, talking heads, C3PO - the one you see above, butterfly, cartoon dragon, typing paper turtle, spaceship, dollar bill cat, dollar bill change basket, racing starship, columbine from pentagon, American eagle, columbine, ant, bunny, space shuttle, puppy, dancer, heart, slug, pumpkin, eyebrows, squirrel, frog and fly, one-rose vase, katana - sword, pyramid, bouncing spider, fish, chair, Marc Kirschenbaum's unicorn, chrysalis, water dragon, dollar bill bull, duck, dollar bill limosine, swan, bird mobile, sorcerer, three fin spaceship, damsel, elephant, fire lizard, simple heart, simple unicorn, dragon in the water, dragon mage, gryphon, flapping hummingbird, meditating man, penguin, swan, and flying saucer - UFO!

Techniques of Origami

Many origami books begin with a description of basic origami techniques which are used to construct the models. This includes simple diagrams of basic folds like valley and mountain folds, pleats, reverse folds, squash folds, and sinks. There are also standard named bases which are used in a wide variety of models, for instance the bird base is an intermediate stage in the construction of the flapping bird. Additional bases are the preliminary base (square base), fish base, waterbomb base, and the frog base.

History of Origami 3

In the early 1900s, Akira Yoshizawa, Kosho Uchiyama, and others began creating and recording original origami works. Akira Yoshizawa in particular was responsible for a number of innovations, such as wet-folding and the Yoshizawa–Randlett diagramming system, and his work inspired a renaissance of the art form. During the 1980s a number of folders started systematically studying the mathematical properties of folded forms, which led to a steady increase in the complexity of origami models, which continued well into the 1990s, after which some designers started returning to simpler forms.

History of Origami 2

The earliest evidence of paperfolding in Europe is a picture of a small paper boat in Tractatus de sphaera mundi, a textbook on astronomy, from 1490. There is also evidence of a cut and folded paper box from 1440. It is probable that paperfolding in the west originated with the Moors much earlier; it is not known if it was independently discovered or knowledge of origami came along the silk route.

In Japan, the earliest unambiguous reference to a paper model is in a short poem by Ihara Saikaku in 1680 which describes paper butterflies in a dream.[6] Origami butterflies were used during the celebration of Shinto weddings to represent the bride and groom, so paperfolding had already become a significant aspect of Japanese ceremony by the Heian period (794–1185) of Japanese history, enough that the reference in this poem would be recognized. Samurai warriors would exchange gifts adorned with noshi, a sort of good luck token made of folded strips of paper.

History of Origami 1

There is much speculation about the origin of Origami. While Japan seems to have had the most extensive tradition, there is evidence of an independent tradition of paperfolding in China, as well as in Germany, Italy and Spain, among other places. However, because of the problems associated with preserving origami, there is very little direct evidence of its age or origins, aside from references in published material.

In China, traditional funerals include burning folded paper, most often representations of gold nuggets (yuanbao). It is not known when this practice started, but it seems to have become popular during the Sung Dynasty (905–1125 CE). The paper folding has typically been of objects like dishes, hats or boats rather than animals or flowers.

What is Origami 1

Origami (折り紙?, from ori meaning "folding", and kami meaning "paper" (kami changes to gami due to rendaku) is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, which started in the 17th century AD at the latest and was popularized outside of Japan in the mid-1900s. It has since evolved into a modern art form. The goal of this art is to transform a flat sheet of paper into a finished sculpture through folding and sculpting techniques, and as such the use of cuts or glue are not considered to be origami. Paper cutting and gluing is usually considered kirigami.

The number of basic origami folds is small, but they can be combined in a variety of ways to make intricate designs. The best known origami model is probably the Japanese paper crane. In general, these designs begin with a square sheet of paper whose sides may be different colors or prints. Traditional Japanese origami, which has been practiced since the Edo era (1603–1867), has often been less strict about these conventions, sometimes cutting the paper or using nonsquare shapes to start with.

The principles of origami are also used in stents, packaging and other engineering structures.

Learn How To Create Beautiful Origami

Paper-folding is a wonderful hobby, and a wonderful group activity... and for kids it has so many benefits socially and for the developing mind, but I just love it because you get to make cool stuff - with only a sheet of paper!

 

It's incredible to watch an ordinary piece of paper transforming into a three dimensional form, and the more complex the design, the more incredible this process becomes.

I have a great collection of instructions on the site ranging in difficulty from very easy ones to some harder ones, and for the real enthusiasts, there are some links to some AMAZING folding… You will never believe these things came from one piece of paper - its just mind boggling what some people can do!

Origami Instructions

Are you looking for origami instructions?  You've come to the right place!  Here you'll find out how to make many kinds of neat and ingenious items. Our instructions consists of actual photographs of the folding process to help you along. 

Did you know that origami came from the Japanese words "Oru" meaning "to fold" and "kami" meaning "paper"? And that's exactly what we do here - fold paper!


There's nothing quite like the joy you get from transforming a plain square piece of paper into a container, animal, flower, etc.