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How to fold an origami helicopter

A kite folded in half makes the cabin, with a white windscreen in its nose. A strip becomes the tail boom with a fin, and two dark strips make the rotor blade and the skid. Glue it all together.

You need: A 15 cm square and a 15 × 3.5 cm strip in orange or yellow, two dark grey strips (rotor and skid), scissors, a glue stick and a white pen. Medium, 15 steps, about 15 minutes.

Steps

  1. Cabin: crease. Cabin first. Put the square white side up, turned like a diamond. Fold the top corner down to the bottom corner, crease, and unfold.
  2. Cabin: kite. Fold the two left edges in to lie along the crease, making a kite with its long point to the left. The white tip on the right is the windscreen.
  3. Cabin: fold in half. Fold the bottom half behind along the crease, so the flat folded edge is at the bottom. That's the belly.
  4. Cabin: tail and roof. Fold the long point behind about 8 cm from its tip, for the back of the cabin. Fold the top point behind about 1 cm to make a flat roof.
  5. Cabin: round the nose. Fold the sharp tip of the nose behind, just a little, so it looks rounder.
  6. Boom: new sheet. Set the cabin aside. Take the 15 × 3.5 cm strip, white side up.
  7. Boom: fold in half. Fold the strip in half along its length, top edge down onto the bottom edge.
  8. Boom: tail fin. Fold the left end up on a slant, about 4 cm from the end, so it stands up and leans back a little. That's the tail fin.
  9. Rotor: new sheet. Set the boom aside. Take a 20 × 2.5 cm dark grey strip, white side up.
  10. Rotor: fold in half. Fold it in half along its length, top edge down onto the bottom edge, and glue it shut.
  11. Rotor: taper the ends. Snip each end on a slant, from the bottom corner to about 2 cm along the top edge, so the blade tapers.
  12. Skid: new sheet. Set the rotor aside. Take a 14 × 2 cm dark grey strip, white side up.
  13. Skid: fold in half. Fold it in half along its length, top edge down onto the bottom edge.
  14. Skid: turn up the tip. Fold the right end up on a gentle slant, starting about 4 cm from the end, so the tip curls up like a ski.
  15. Put it together. Glue the cabin's belly over the top edge of the skid, nose over the tip. Glue the boom behind the back of the cabin and the rotor behind the roof.

Ready for take-off!

Draw a side window, a door, the windscreen frame, the rotor hub and a little tail rotor on the fin. Then fly it around the room: wop-wop-wop!

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