How To Make An Origami Shark: Easy Step By Step Guide
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Origami is the art of paper folding, which is often linked to Japanese culture. The word origami translates from Japanese as oru ('to fold') and kami ('paper'). The ancient craft has become a popular choice for kids and grownups around the world.
With endless possibilities at your fingertips, origami is an ideal craft to do with children of any age. Not only is it fun and colourful, but it is also a great way to develop hand-eye coordination. Origami is focussed on folding paper to create fantastic 3D shapes, including animals and flowers.
Although origami may sound complicated, it's the ideal DIY project for you and your child to work on together. We recommend trying easy origami first such as stars or sharks.
If you're looking make a shark, we have a guide on how to make a paper shark here for you. If you're looking for other easy origami instructions, why not follow our easy to make pig origami tutorial?
So let's get started with our shark origami!
Image © Hakase_/iStock
You Will Need
To make the easy shark origami, you will need the following:
- 1 square of blue paper (origami paper if possible)
- A black felt pen (for your kids to draw the detail on your origami shark)
- Scissors (for adults only!)
Time: 20-30 minutes plus extra for adding finishing touches on the shark.
Skill Level: Easy (5+ with adult assistance)
How To Make Your Paper Shark
- Prepare your blue square sheet of paper, ready for folding your shark. Your pen and scissors can be put to one side for now.
- Fold your piece of paper in half to start with, so the opposite corners meet. Unfold the paper, you will notice a centre line going through the paper. Take the opposite corner of the paper, and equally fold into the middle, when you do this with the corner, it will look like 'wings' or like folded wings for a paper aeroplane.
- Take one side and fold it inwards to meet the centre crease, created previously by folding it in half then do then repeat with the other side. Following this fold the top point downwards, so it meets the upper bottom then smooth the fold of your shark.
- Once you have done this, the paper should be a diamond shape, this will make the sharks tail! Take the long part of the paper and fold it in, with the sides meeting in the area which you folded in the step before.
- Unfold the paper, and cut two diagonal lines into the 'wings' that are folded into the paper. Next, tuck the tail again, this time, so it meets the middle of the paper. This will make the tail of the origami shark.
- Fold the paper together, so it is flat, but fold the tail out so it 'pops' out, and you will see the tail begin to take shape, the cut you made earlier at the top can be popped out to make the upper fin, and the lower part can be folded out to make the tail fins.
- The final step is to add finishing touches to your shark, including eyes and a mouth. Now, this can be done via drawing on with a pen or alternatively you could use googly eyes to bring your shark to life!
Tips And Tricks
- If you don't have any origami paper for your origami shark tutorial, you can use plain paper, ideally the colour of your shark. For your first attempt at making an origami shark, it may be worth buying a pack of coloured paper/ origami paper incase any mistakes happen when you are paper folding.
- Once you've finished your easy origami for kids, you can make a game using your origami shark.
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Bachelor of Science specializing in Cinematography and Film/Video Production
Olivia ThristanBachelor of Science specializing in Cinematography and Film/Video Production
With a degree in Film and Television Production from Staffordshire University, Olivia is a writer who is passionate about photography and loves to watch documentaries. When she's not working on her writing, Olivia can usually be found experimenting with baking, collecting Lego figures, getting creative with polymer clay, and searching for the best pizza joints in the West Midlands and beyond.
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