Origami Box- a Story Makes It Easy to Learn

Knowing how to make an origami box is a great skill.  A hand folded box elevates any gift.   A quickly folded box makes sharing chips fun. An origami box is a great place for small objects. Everyone should know how to make one.  I teach the skill to all of my students in grades k-5 and they always remember it because I use a story to help them remember the steps.

 Paper- any type will work, but construction paper is the easiest to learn and use the first time

scissors

Square the paper.  Fold the bottom left corner to the opposite edge.  This step just requires practice, it is important to line up the edges and stress that in paper engineering that the folds are always creased with the handles of the scissors, a pencil or your finger.  Cut along the edge.  Save the rectangle for a book marker, gift tag or another tiny box.

Explain that you are going to tell them a story to help them remember the steps. I retell each step as I add the next step to reinforce the sequence and allow everyone to have ample time to do each fold. (The folds are in bold print.)

 Once upon a time there was a tall, tall mountain. (Fold the squared paper triangle in half to make  a tall, tall mountain).  You are going to go to the peak of the tall, tall mountain to seek your fortune. (have them walk their fingers up the tall, tall mountain)

So , Once upon a time there was a tall, tall mountain. You went to the peak of the tall, tall mountain to seek your fortune. The fortune teller said he forgot his fortune teller, so you need to make one.  (open up the tall mountain into a square and fold each corner to the center, be careful not to overlap the edges. This is the first step in a paper fortune teller)

So , Once upon a time there was a tall, tall mountain.  You went  to the peak of the tall, tall mountain to seek your fortune. The fortune teller said he forgot his fortune teller, so you need to make one. The fortune teller said “You should have a party!! You need food and a refrigerator!

(Fold the right side of the fortune teller to the center line, then fold the left side , so it looks like a side by side refrigerator) Remember to crease the folds with the scissor handles

So , Once upon a time there was a tall, tall mountain.  You went  to the peak of the tall, tall mountain to seek your fortune. The fortune teller said he forgot his fortune teller, so you need to make one. The fortune teller said “You should have a party!! You need food and a refrigerator! (Open the refrigerator all the way) Holy cow! You have a lot of food!  You should have a fancy party!  Everyone is going to wear ties!  So you have to make the ties. (fold the top edge down to the center line, then fold the bottom edge up to the center line) I have drawn on the fold lines to make them easier to see in the photos.  Be sure to hold up your ties and admire

So , Once upon a time there was a tall, tall mountain.  You went  to the peak of the tall, tall mountain to seek your fortune. The fortune teller said he forgot his fortune teller, so you need to make one. The fortune teller said “You should have a party!! You need food and a refrigerator! Holy cow! You have a lot of food!  You should have a fancy party!  Everyone is going to wear ties!  So you have to make the ties. Everyone at the party wants to play four square.  (Open the tie without unfolding the sides and notice the folds form sets of four square courts.  The center four squares will form the bottom of the box) I have shaded them to make them easier to see

So , Once upon a time there was a tall, tall mountain.  You went  to the peak of the tall, tall mountain to seek your fortune. The fortune teller said he forgot his fortune teller, so you need to make one. The fortune teller said “You should have a party!! You need food and a refrigerator! Holy cow! You have a lot of food!  You should have a fancy party!  Everyone is going to wear ties!  So you have to make the ties. Everyone at the party wants to play four square. Now everyone is hungry and needs snacks and you need boxes to serve them. (The sides of the box are made from the other sets of squares.  Fold at the edge of the four square court, push the paper up from behind and push in to form triangles, then fold over the rest of the squares to finish the side.  Repeat with the other side) This is a little tricky, but with practice it becomes automatic.  Add snacks and enjoy your box

To make two boxes that fit together, trim ¼ of an inch from both sides of the large triangle just after you have squared the paper.  This box is very versatile.  For our Mother’s day gift we added the paper flower from the Instructable How to Make Easy Paper Spiral Flower for DIY Projects By StylEnrichDIY in CraftPaper.  We used a Dixie cup to trace our circles, which fit the box perfectly.