By Show Me Step by StepPublished
Based on a video by Easy Origami and Crafts.
An origami dinosaur is a great rainy-day fold to make with a dinosaur-mad grandchild. This one is a triceratops, with a horned frill, four legs and a pointed tail, all from one square of paper and no cuts or glue. The folder at Easy Origami and Crafts rates it between easy and intermediate and talks you through every crease. Their version is adapted from an earlier origami triceratops design, with a few small changes.
Standard origami paper (kami) is thin, crisp and colored on one side, which is exactly what this model wants. An 8 inch square gives a dinosaur about the size of a hand. Smaller 6 inch squares work but the horn folds get fiddly. Printer paper trimmed to a square works for practice, though it is thicker and the final folds get bulky.
Children around eight and up can usually manage this with a little help on the reverse folds. Younger kids can do the first few creases and then hand it over. Let them pick the color. Green is classic, but a purple or orange triceratops is more fun. Draw eyes on with a marker once it is done. If the reverse folds frustrate a young folder, pre-crease those steps for them and let them do the final shaping, which is the most satisfying part anyway.
Fold a herd in different colors for a dinosaur birthday party table. Glue one to the front of a folded card for a dinosaur-lover's birthday. String a few on thread for a mobile over a bed, or tuck one into a lunch box as a surprise.
Ready for another? Try an origami dragon or an origami frog. Brush up on the basics in how to make origami, or make a soft friend for it with a crochet dinosaur.
10 steps · about 13 minutes.Check off each step as you go and your progress saves automatically.
Lay the square colored side down. Bring one corner to the opposite corner to make a triangle, line the points up exactly and press the fold hard. Unfold it. Fold the other diagonal the same way and unfold that too. You now have an X of creases. They are guide lines for nearly every fold that follows.
Tip
Match the corners before you crease. A sloppy first fold throws off the whole model.
Take the top right corner and fold it in so its point lands where the diagonal creases cross. Crease it well. Repeat with the other three corners, then unfold all four. The paper should now show a square of creases inside the X. Nothing is folded down yet, these are all reference lines.
Tip
Use the X creases as a target. The point should land right on the center.
Fold the paper in half horizontally and unfold. Then fold the bottom edge up to that middle crease, and the top edge down to it, creasing both. Unfold them. Fold the paper in half vertically and unfold. Fold it in half again and keep it folded. The square is now covered in a grid of guides.
Tip
It looks like busywork. Every one of these creases gets used later.
With the paper folded, open the right side a little at the top. Push the corner in along the diagonal creases you made earlier so it folds inside itself. That is a reverse fold. Do the same on the left side. Rotate the paper and repeat on the other two corners. Then fold down the two small top flaps.
Tip
If a reverse fold fights you, open it fully and re-crease the diagonal sharper.
Flip the paper over. Using the existing creases as a guide, fold a new diagonal that runs from the top point to the middle of the right side. Line up the corners before you press. Do the same on the left side. Flip back and fold up the two small flaps at the bottom, then turn it over again.
Tip
Align first, then crease from the point outward so the fold stays straight.
Fold the paper in half. Carefully bring the straight edge up to meet the diagonal edge above it and crease. Then fold part of the paper back down, lining it up with the fold you made. To make the following step easier, turn the paper sideways and unfold this last step so the creases are ready.
Tip
Take this one slowly. It is the trickiest alignment in the model.
Open the paper again. Fold the left side over the right, using the two small diagonal creases you made as your guide. Then fold part of it back to the left along the other lines. The result is the long dinosaur base, with layered body sections at one end and spiky points at the other.
Tip
Hold the layers together as you fold so they do not slip apart.
Fold the head section diagonally and crease it well. Unfold it, then use those lines to reverse fold it, pushing the head inside so it angles away from the body. Turn the model over and repeat the same fold on the other side so both halves match. This gives the triceratops its neck and head.
Tip
Pre-creasing both directions makes the reverse fold drop into place.
On the first layer of the head, bring one corner to another to make a short reference crease, then unfold. Fold the edge to the end of that line, close the corner and leave it folded up. That is the first horn. Turn the model over and make the second horn the same way, starting with the reference crease.
Tip
Feel free to change the horn angle. It is the easiest spot to personalize.
For the front legs, gently pull the head layer back a little so the legs drop down. At the back, fold the corner to form the hind legs. Finish by folding the last corner on the head into a small third horn on the nose. Stand it on the table and adjust the legs until it balances.
Tip
A tiny dab of glue inside the head holds the horns if it will be handled a lot.
Keep going
How to Marble Paper With Shaving Cream - Easy Kids Craft
How to Make a Paper Dinosaur - Easy Origami Triceratops
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