All models

How to fold an origami jack-in-the-box

Fold a blue box whose lid swings open, a zigzag spring, and a clown head with a pointy red hat and a white face. Glue the clown on his spring in the box.

You need: A 7.5 × 15 cm blue strip, a 1 × 12 cm grey strip, a 9 cm square red on one side and white on the other, glue, and a black pen. Medium, 14 steps, about 15 minutes.

Steps

  1. Box: fold in half. Start with the blue strip, blue side up, standing tall. Fold the top half behind. The front square is the box, the half behind is the lid.
  2. Box: open the lid. Fold the lid back out on a slant from the box's top right corner, so it sticks up behind the box like a lid flipped open.
  3. Clown: new sheet. Set the box aside. Take the red square, red side up, like a diamond.
  4. Clown: the face. Fold the bottom corner up, on a line about 2.5 cm below the side corners. The white triangle is his face.
  5. Clown: hat brim. Fold the top of the white triangle back down a little. The red above it is a tall pointy hat.
  6. Clown: hair. Fold the side corners behind, so the red edges either side of the face look like tufts of hair.
  7. Clown: round the chin. Fold the two bottom corners behind a little, so his chin is round.
  8. Spring: new strip. Set the clown aside. Take the grey strip, grey side up, lying across.
  9. Spring: first bend. About 1.5 cm from the left end, fold the rest of the strip up on a slant, so it stands straight up and shows white.
  10. Spring: second bend. About 3 cm further on, fold the rest over on a slant again, so it lies across to the right, grey side up.
  11. Spring: third bend. Another 3 cm on, fold the rest up on a slant again.
  12. Spring: last bend. Fold the last bit across to the right once more. Stand the zigzag up on its corner and it's a bouncy spring.
  13. Spring: stand it up. Stand the zigzag up on its corner, so it rises like a spring.
  14. Pop him up. Glue the bottom of the spring to the top edge of the box, and the clown's chin over its top end.

Pop goes the clown!

Draw his eyes, a big round nose and a wide grin, a white pom-pom on his hat and a star on the box.

What to fold next