Easy Origami Pig DIY: Beat The Boar-dom With This Cute Craft!

Origami is an amazing ancient craft that is most often connected with Japan (though it also has roots in China and Europe), which is based on folding paper into elaborate 3D shapes and structures.

Translating from Japanese as 'folding paper', origami is the art of folding a single sheet of square paper, which is coloured on one side and plain on the reverse. Traditional origami doesn't include cutting, glueing or taping - focusing instead on making neat, precise folds - and so it is great for kids who enjoy a challenge, or who want to learn a new craft and skill.

What You'll Need:

A square of pink origami paper

A  black pen

The first step is to place your square of paper on a clean surface, turning the square by 45-degrees so that you are working with a diamond shape (with the corners at the top, bottom, left and right).

Fold in half to make a crease from top to bottom, then unfold, and fold in the other direction, to make a crease that runs from left to right. Next, take the left corner, and fold it inwards toward the centre line - then repeat on the right. Then fold the entire shape in half, bringing the top corner down to meet the bottom corner.

You should now have a shape that is a rectangle at the top, with a triangle at the bottom. In order to make the pig snout, fold the two pointed corners - which are at the bottom of the triangular shape - upwards. Fold it until the triangular point comes above the line of the rectangle, and then fold only the top sheet of paper down, bringing the tip of the triangle down in line with the bottom of the shape - this will create a white square/diamond shape, which will become the pig snout.

To make the pig ears, simply fold down the top corners, creating small triangular shapes at the top right and left of the paper shape. Now the basic pig shape has been completed, the last step is to take a black marker pen, adding two small dots for the pig's eyes, as well as adding another two dots in the nose in order to complete the pig origami.

If you don't have pink origami paper, you could always use normal paper - or alternatively, you could neatly glue two sheets of paper together - one pink and one white - with a thin layer of glue stick or PVA. If you are organised, you could always have the kids paint a thin layer of acrylic paint onto a white sheet of paper, letting it dry before using - or have the kids colour one side of a sheet of paper with pens or coloured pencils before starting this easy origami task.

Although making this origami pig is easy once you know how, it can be a good idea to use a piece of scrap paper - something from the recycling, or even an old sheet of newspaper - to practice with. Once you have done a practice run, you will feel more confident about making a brilliant origami pig.