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How to fold an origami dragonfly

Fold a square into a long thin body with a blunt head, then fold two strips of pale paper into wings with rounded tips. Glue the body across both pairs and draw on big round eyes.

You need: 1 blue square, 2 pale blue strips about 1.5 times as long as its side and a third as wide, a glue stick and a black pen. Medium, 11 steps, about 8 minutes.

Steps

  1. Body: corners in. Start with the blue square, white side up, like a diamond. Fold the left and right corners in to meet in the middle.
  2. Body: thinner. Fold the new left and right edges in to the middle again. Now it's long and thin.
  3. Body: turn it over. Flip the body over so the smooth blue side faces you.
  4. Body: head and tail. Fold the top point behind to make a flat head. Then fold the sides of the bottom half a little behind, so the tail gets thinner towards the end.
  5. Front wings: new strip. Set the body aside. Take a pale strip, white side up, lying long ways.
  6. Front wings: fold in half. Fold the strip in half the long way, top edge down to the bottom edge.
  7. Front wings: round the tips. Fold the four corners at the ends a little behind, the bottom ones a bit more, so the wing tips are round.
  8. Back wings: new strip. Set the front wings aside and take the other pale strip, white side up, lying long ways.
  9. Back wings: fold in half. Fold it in half the long way, just like the front wings.
  10. Back wings: round the tips. Fold the four corners at the ends a little behind, the bottom ones a bit more.
  11. Glue it together. Glue the front wings just above the back wings, then glue the body down the middle on top, its head just above the front wings.

Zip and hover!

Draw two big round eyes on the head, then a few lines across the tail.

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