European Paper Folding

Children are shown to make a variety of familiar objects by folding and cutting and pasting squares and rectangles of paper.

 

Material

 

 

Presentation

 

A. House

 

  1. Fold paper in half.
  2. Open and fold edges to middle.
  3. Do same the other way so you end up with 16 rectangles.
  4. Cut along creases to 1st intersection on each end.
  5. Show the children that the middle sections will form the roof, and how to cut out or draw door, windows, and other details. It is important to do any coloring or painting before pasting the house together.
  6. Fold two center rectangles together forming roof peaks.
  7. Join ends of house to peak.

 

B. Bed

 

  1. Fold paper in half.
  2. Open and fold edges to middle.
  3. Do same the other way so you end up with 16 rectangles.
  4. Cut along end creases on the two ends. (Do not cut the center fold.)
  5. Bend the head and foot of the bed up. (These can be trimmed and shaped if desired.)
  6. Fold the end rectangles together and paste.

 

 

C. Box

 

  1. Fold the paper into 16 rectangles and cut creases as in steps 1 - 4 above.
  2. Fold end rectangles together to form sides of the box.
  3. Repeat using slightly larger paper for lid.

 

D. Basket

 

  1. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for box, above
  2. Cut a strip of paper to form a handle, and attach.

 

E. Chair

 

  1. Fold square into thirds. You will need to show the children how to do this by measuring, or by folding the edges in 1/3 of the distance and creasing.
  2. Cut the creases along the two ends.
  3. Fold the back of the chair up.
  4. Join the end squares together to form the base of the chair.

 

 

 

F. Table

 

  1. Follow steps 1 and 2 for chair, above
  2. Fold squares together to form base of the table.
  3. If desired, the side can be cut out to form table legs.

 

 

 

 

G. Animals

 

Additional materials

Medium or heavy weight colored paper

Crayons or felt-tipped markers

yarn

 

 

Children enjoy drawing a simple animal on a folded piece of paper, and then cutting it out so that it can stand. This works well for any animal with a fairly straight back, whether it stands on four legs or two. It is important to place the animal's back along the fold, so it can stand easily.

 

Show the children how to decorate their animals by curling paper "fur", cutting out and curling triangle fish scales, adding yarn details, etc. They might like to make a tiger, a kangaroo, or a zebra. In fact, they can make a whole "zoo"!

 

H. Christmas Star

 

  1. Using a square of paper (origami paper or silver or gold foil are spectacular), make a mountain fold along the diagonal. Open and repeat along the other diagonal
  2. Make a rectangular valley fold. Open and repeat, to form squares.
  3. Cut 1/3 of the way up the valley folds.
  4. Fold the edges back to the center of diagonals, forming points of the star.