All models

How to fold an origami ostrich

An accordion fold and two snips give the black body its fluffy fringe, and its back corner folds up as white plumes. Pink strips fold into a neck with a reverse-folded head and two striding legs.

You need: A 10 cm square, black on one side and white on the other; pink paper for strips of 1.8 × 15.75 cm and 2.4 × 10.5 cm; scissors, glue. Hard, 19 steps, about 35 minutes.

Steps

  1. Fold in half. Black square, white side up. Fold the top edge down to the bottom edge. The fold along the top is the ostrich's back.
  2. Accordion: half. Fold the left edge over onto the right edge.
  3. Half again. Fold the right edges over onto the left fold.
  4. And again. Fold it in half once more the same way, to a narrow stack 1.25 cm wide. Crease hard.
  5. Snip the fluff. Cut a small triangle off each bottom corner of the stack, 7.5 mm up the sides and meeting at the middle of the bottom edge.
  6. Open it out. Unfold the last fold.
  7. Open again. Unfold the next fold.
  8. Open to the body. Unfold the first one too. The bottom edge is a row of fluffy black feathers.
  9. Round the body. Round off both top corners: the front from 1.6 cm along the back, the back end from 1.4 cm along it.
  10. White plumes. Fold the bottom back corner up on a slant, from 3 cm along the bottom to 3.4 cm up the back: the front layer to the front, the back one behind.
  11. Legs: new sheet. Set the body aside. Take a pink strip 1.8 × 15.75 cm, white side up, standing tall.
  12. Fold the strip. Fold it in half lengthwise, the right edge over onto the left edge, so it is pink on both sides.
  13. Two legs. Fold the top half down, on a crease across the middle that rises a little to the right, so the end swings out ahead: two striding legs.
  14. Feet. Fold the last 1 cm of each leg forward along the ground: two big toes.
  15. Neck: new sheet. Set the legs aside. Take the pink strip 2.4 × 10.5 cm, white side up, standing tall.
  16. Fold the neck. Fold it in half lengthwise, the right edge over onto the left edge. The fold is the front of the neck.
  17. Snip the beak. Cut off the top back corner on a slant, from the top of the fold to 1.3 cm down the open edge.
  18. Head forward. Outside-reverse-fold the top 1.5 cm forward, on a crease from the front fold: a small head with a flat beak.
  19. Put it together. Glue the bottom 2.6 cm of the neck behind the front of the body. Glue the legs' top fold behind the body, 3.4 cm below the back, near the middle.

Tall and fast!

Draw a big eye with long lashes on the head and a smile line along the beak. Stand it up against a wall or a toy.

What to fold next