How to Make a Paper Worm Slinky

I attended a folding workshop a few weeks ago, and this was by far my favorite craft. It's one of the few origami creations that is forgiving in that you don't need to crease and cut perfectly. You can be a few millimeters off and it will still work. It's really satisfying to having the whole thing come together, especially when you make the worm really long.

Paper

Scissor

Take a piece of paper and fold the lower right corner of the paper over to touch the left edge. This should create a right triangle, with a small rectangle of paper on top. Fold that rectangle over the triangle's top edge, creasing tightly. Unfold and cut the rectangular tab off. When you unfold the triangle, you should have a square.

Although you could make your worm with the square we made in the first step, I find it easier to make the worm with smaller pieces of paper.

Fold the square in half vertically. Crease tightly, then unfold. Now fold the square in half horizontally, creasing tightly. When unfolded, the square should have two perpendicular lines running through its center. Cut along these two lines so that you end up with four smaller squares.

If you want an even smaller worm slinky, you can repeat this process to the four squares we just cut out.

This is where the actual origami part begins.

Take one of the squares we cut out in the previous step, and fold it in half diagonally (lower right corner touching upper right corner). Rotate the triangle we just folded so that the longest side of the triangle is horizontal and faces you. Take the right corner of the triangle and fold it so that it touches the opposite edge. The top edge of the folded paper should be parallel to the bottom edge of the original triangle. Do the same with the left corner of the triangle. Your paper should now resemble a tiny take-out box.

Grab the top edge of the paper (from the original triangle) and fold it over the top of the "take-out box". Crease tightly, and unfold everything.

The paper should resemble a diamond with a triangle creased on top. Fold this triangle over, and refold the take-out box, this time without the double top flap.

With your take-out box, fold the left flap in half vertically. Crease tightly, and stick your finger in the resulting pocket. Squash on the fold to create a kite-shaped flap. Tuck the upper edge of the kite into the take-out box's pocket.

Fold the triangle flap above the take-out box in half horizontally, so that you get an upside down triangle that touches the top edge of the take-out box.

The resulting folded contraption will be one of the worm's sections. Repeat with the other three squares.

This step is where our worm slinky starts to grow and take shape.

Take one of the worm's sections and place it into another section's front pocket. Flip the two over and tuck the top fold of the bottom section into the back pocket of the above section. The two sections should now be locked together.

Repeat with the other two squares until you have a small worm consisting of four sections. If we do this repeatedly, we'll soon end up with a super long, fun-to-play-with worm slinky!

Other than the traditional worm slinky, we can make other paper creations with these worm sections. If we can get it long enough, our worm can be curved into a full circle that looks like a origami Christmas wreath. The longer our worm slinky is, the easier (and more satisfying) it is for us to mold into different shapes.