How to Make a Paper Fan

Pull together everything before you start folding. You need paper in a few colors (Maggy uses white, blue, and red), a glue stick, some clear tape, scissors, and two wooden craft sticks for the handle. Thinner paper folds up neater than thick cardstock, so reach for that if you have a choice.

Start with the blue paper for the middle of the fan. Fold the sheet into thirds, lining up the edges as you go. You can measure with a ruler for even thirds, or just eyeball it and adjust until the folds sit right. Press each crease flat, then cut along the fold lines to free your three center strips.

Now cut the white and red paper into long strips the same width as your blue ones. Fold each sheet in half a few times first so the strips come out even, then cut along the creases. You want six strips of each color in total. Keeping the widths matched here is what makes the stripes line up later.

Join the strips end to end so each color becomes one long band. Run a thin line of glue along about half a centimeter of the edge, then press the next strip on top. Work in sets of three for each color. Line the edges up carefully as you stick them, because neat joins here keep the stripes straight across the whole fan.

Time to glue the colors together into the stripe order. Lay them out blue, white, red, white, red so the bands repeat evenly. Glue each color to the next along the top edge, then flip and smooth as you build one long striped strip. If one end came out uneven from the earlier gluing, just trim it straight before you move on.

This is the fun part. Fold the striped strip back and forth like a concertina, roughly a centimeter for each fold. Flip the paper over with every crease so the pleats zigzag. Keep the folds lined up and press each one sharp. Take your time here, since even pleats are what give the fan its clean round shape. Trim the last fold so both ends match.

Squeeze the pleats together and wrap a bit of tape around the bottom, about a centimeter up, to hold the folds shut. This becomes the center of the fan. Then glue a wooden craft stick to each outer edge with a generous line of glue near the bottom. Press hard and hold. Line the second stick up to the same length so the handle sits even.

Now the reveal. Bring the two sticks together and let the pleats spread into a full round fan. Give it a gentle squish at the top to open it all the way. There you go, your very own paper fan. Cut out a few little paper stars and stick them on if you want extra flair for the 4th of July.