All models

How to fold an origami bumblebee

Pleat a yellow strip into a small head and a fat body with stripe ledges, snip the neck and fold the edges behind into round shoulders and a sting. Fold a pale piece into a V of wings.

You need: A 6.6 × 15 cm yellow strip and a 16 × 8 cm pale blue piece; scissors, glue and a black pen. Hard, 20 steps, about 25 minutes.

Steps

  1. Head pleat: top down. Stand the yellow strip up, yellow side up. Fold the top down on a crease 2.8 cm from the top.
  2. Snip the neck. Snip along the top fold from each side, stopping 9 mm from the middle.
  3. Slim the head. Fold the flap's long sides in over it, 1.6 cm from the middle. The flap will be the head, narrower than the body.
  4. Head pleat: back up. Fold the flap back up on a crease 4 mm lower. The ledge is the neck, with the head above it.
  5. Round the head. Fold the two top corners of the head behind on slants, so it's round.
  6. Stripe pleat 1: up. Fold the bottom up on a crease 7 cm from the bottom.
  7. Stripe pleat 1: down. Fold it back down on a crease 3 mm higher, leaving a ledge across the body.
  8. Stripe pleat 2: up. Fold the bottom up on a crease 5.4 cm from the bottom.
  9. Stripe pleat 2: down. Fold it back down on a crease 3 mm higher, leaving a ledge across the body.
  10. Stripe pleat 3: up. Fold the bottom up on a crease 3.9 cm from the bottom.
  11. Stripe pleat 3: down. Fold it back down on a crease 3 mm higher, leaving a ledge across the body.
  12. Round the shoulders. Below the head, fold the two top corners of the body behind on slants.
  13. Taper the back end. Fold the sides behind on long slants, from the edges at the first ledge to 1.6 cm from the middle near the bottom.
  14. Fold the sting. Fold the bottom corners behind on slants that meet at the middle, so the body ends in a sting.
  15. Wings. Set the body aside. Take the pale piece, white side up, lying across.
  16. Wings: fold in half. Fold the top half down to the bottom edge, so it's pale blue on both sides.
  17. Wings: round the ends. Fold all four corners behind on big slants, so both ends are round.
  18. Wings: fold a V. Fold the left half over on a slant through the middle, so the two wings make a wide V.
  19. Turn the wings. Turn the wings so the point of the V is at the bottom.
  20. Glue on the body. Glue the body on top, the point of the V under its chest, so the wings spread up and out behind the shoulders.

Buzz, buzz!

Colour the head and a band under each ledge black. Add two white eyes and two curly feelers.

What to fold next