Folding a Paper Crane

All you will need is some time, a piece of square paper, and optionally something like a ruler to help you make the folds. If you don't have a square paper, I will cover how to make one out of normal printer paper and some scissors.

You can skip this step if you already have square paper.

Start by having the paper in front of you in portrait orientation. Grab either the top left or top right corner of the paper. You will bring it down diagonally until the top part of the paper is flush with the side. Press down on the fold creasing it. Cut off the rectangle on the bottom, you should now have a square!

This step will feature four folds. The first two folds you will fold the square diagonal. So top left corner to bottom right corner and then top right corner to bottom left corner. Next you will fold it in half top to bottom and left to right. Afterwards you should have 4 different folds splitting the square into 8 different sections.

Take your square and fold it along one of the diagonals so you have a triangle. Have the point facing you. You want to fold the corner to the inside. So the top left and top right tip of the triangle, will end up sandwiched between the two layers of bottom tips of the triangle. Once you are done, you should have a small diamond with the open end facing you.

Hold the diamond, so the open end is on the bottom or facing you. The left side has two flaps on top of each other. You will be taking the top flap and folding it so the bottom left edge of the diamond ends up flush with the center fold running up and down on the diamond. Repeat on the right side.

This is similar to step 3 with folding the corners to the inside. Start with the left side, unfolding the fold you did in step 4. Taking the left hand corner of the diamond, fold it on the inside, using the folds you made in step 4 to allow it to fold in. Repeat on the right side.

Flip the paper over. Now repeat steps 4 and 5 on this side. After you are done, you should have a kite shaped paper.

Hold the kite so the longer point is at the bottom. This should be the same side as the open one. Grab the top layer at the bottom point and bring it upward. It should naturally fold so you end up with two equal sides mirroring each other. Flip it over and repeat on the opposite side.

Hold the paper so the open slit is on the bottom. Grab the top layer of the left side point. Fold so the bottom left edge of kite is flush with the center of the kite. Flip it over and repeat on the right side. Flip it back over so the smaller side is on the left.

Grab the left side top edge and fold it along the center line.

Grab the top layer of the bottom point and fold it so the bottom point meets the top point.

Grab the top layer. You will fold the right side to the left side along the center line of the point you just folded upward in the last step.

Repeat steps 8 to 11 on the right side. You should now have a 5 sided shape with a tip on each side of center sandwiched between the top and bottom layer.

Grab the left tip and pull it toward the left until the edges of it are flush with the bottom left of the top layer. Repeat on the right side.

Using either the left or right tip, which ever is your preference, fold it down to form the head of the crane.

Fold the top layer in the middle of the crane down to form the wings. Flip over and repeat on the other side.

Open up the wings and puff it out a little. You now have your own crane to enjoy!