How to Make an Origami Crane (with Pictures)

How to make a crane (bird) in origami.

One sheet of origami paper, or a square piece of paper.

Fold the origami paper into a triangle, joining the two opposite corners and pressing down on the forming crease.

Fold into a smaller triangle, joining the two bottom corners.

Be sure to look at the pictures. Describing this only in words can get confusing!

Open up the bottom flap, hold down the inside seams together, and align the top seam with the ones you are holding down (see images).

Flip the paper over, and repeat. Be sure to hold the inside seams together, or else the paper will unfold.

The final product should look like a square, with layers.

Be sure the corner of the square where all the edges of the origami are is facing you, so at the bottom (it should look like a diamond, looking at it like that).

Bring the bottom edges to the center seam (this seam is from a previous fold). Repeat on the other side, then flip over and do it again, making sure you leave the top corner unfolded.

Also, be sure crease the seams with your nail to leave them crisp, because the seams will be used in the next step.

The final product should look like a geometric ice cream cone.

First on the first side, unfold the flaps you folded on the last step. Be sure the seams are still crisp and visible.

Take the bottom corner (only the first layer) and bring it upward. It could look like a ‘wide open beak’.

Then, bring the edges back into the middle seam, so that it looks like image 3.

Do the same thing on the other side.

Recall what you did in step #5. We are going to do this again, only with the ‘legs’.

Make sure what is pointing toward you is a long diamond shape, but the bottom half (the one closest to you) is open down the middle.

Fold the bottom sides to the middle, but do not let them fold past the opening in between the ‘legs’. Do this on the other side, then flip the paper to repeat.

This is when the neck and the tail form.

So, the ‘legs’ should be able to kind of open up, on the side facing out (see pictures). Open the sides and fold the ‘leg’ upward. This will be what forms the neck and tail.

There should be the trace of a previous seam, when you fold up the ‘legs’.

This is when you can kind of see where the wings are, and where the neck and tail is.

In this step, you will replicate the movement you did in step #8, to create the head. Pick one of the ‘legs’ you just folded up, and open it slightly. Bring the point of it downward, so that the neck part will still be long, and the head is small.

Fold the wings down, making sure not to fold downward too much to not tear the paper.