How To Make An Origami Tiger With Kids

Image © kuprevich, under a Creative Commons license.

Some easy origami instructions only make pieces of paper folded in half, but we're feeling much more creative!

The ancient art of paper folding inspires many fun activities that all ages can enjoy and numerous origami projects. Whether you are a beginner or just looking for a new project to do with the family, origami animals are a great starting point.

This project is all about origami tigers. Their wild counterparts are found in rainforest, grassland, savanna, and mangrove swamp habitats in countries like China, India, and Cambodia. No two tigers have the same markings; great inspiration for your finished tiger origami.  

Choose from an origami tiger face, or full tiger origami model, with step by step instructions, and some extra ideas. This activity will make everyone 'chuff' with joy.

The difficulty level on both these projects is easy.

Image © kryazhevaalena, under a Creative Commons license.

To Make This Origami Tiger You Will Need:

Square of origami paper one side plain, other side orange.

White paper to make the model eyes.

Black or brown pen for tiger stripes.

Glue.

Bone folder (optional to crease paper).

Image © freepik, under a Creative Commons license.

1.Lay your piece of paper white side up and fold in half to make a triangle, leaving the tip at the bottom.

2.Fold each side down toward the bottom tip. This smaller shape looks like a diamond.

3.Next, take the top flap on each side and fold them up and across to make the tiger's ears. This part of the origami tiger model will see the points sticking out over the edge, with a small triangle of the bottom paper layer showing each side.

4.Pull the small triangles mentioned above over the previous ear folds and crease.

5.Then fold over and crease the top triangle, so the top of the tiger head is flat.

6.At the bottom of your origami tiger model, fold the top layer of origami paper up 2.5cm to form a triangle.

7.Turn over and repeat the previous fold on the front, only this time fold the tip of paper over. This will be the tiger nose.

8.Colour in the tiger nose, and draw a line down from the nose tip, that joins up with a smile.

9.Add tiger stripes around the edge of the face.

10.Cut out white circles 2.5cm wide to make the eyes. Colour a black circle, (leaving a semi-circle indent facing towards the centre of each) in the middle of each eye, with a 0.5cm border round the outside. Stick on the eyes and your origami tiger is complete.

Image © ocipalla, under a Creative Commons license.

This tiger origami project makes a full tiger model and uses the same materials as above.

1.Place a square piece of paper plain side up and rotate to form a diamond.

2.Fold in half top to bottom and left to right to make a crease each way, then open back out.

3.Fold in the left side of the diamond to meet the centre crease.

4.Fold the origami paper in half top to bottom.

5.Fold in the top layer of paper, on the bottom end 1/3 of the way up. Repeat the same step on the back, then turn over again.

6.Fold in the right-hand side halfway between the edge and the centre crease and open back out.

7.Fold over from the top right tip down towards the bottom of the nearest crease line.

8.Open out this part and flatten out into a diamond shape. This is the origami tiger face.

9.Fold the bottom of this diamond up about halfway to form a muzzle, then crease the tip of this triangle over to form the nose.

10.Colour in the nose and add in your tiger eyes above, the same as the origami tiger face (above).

11.Add stripes either side of the face.

12.Finally, add some stripes along the paper running from top to bottom along the body of your tiger origami.

Why not search for some pictures of habitats tigers live in and see if you can draw your own, or make a 3D environment that you can add some other easy origami for kids projects to?