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How to fold an origami snow day

A snow-day build. Fold a smoking cottage, a pine, a snowman, two children in coats, hats and scarves, a sled with a curled runner, a snowball pile and a rabbit, then stand it up.

You need: 28 pieces: sky-blue A4; white, green, blue, grey, red, navy, purple, yellow, ginger, dark-brown, skin, brown (sizes in steps). Scissors, glue, pens.. Challenge, 93 steps, about 100 minutes.

Steps

  1. Sky: crease the middle. Start with the sky: a sky-blue A4 sheet lying long. Fold it in half, short edges together, and open it. It bends on this crease to stand.
  2. Snowy pine: new sheet. Set the sky aside. For a pine, take a 14.3 cm square of green paper, white side up, turned like a diamond.
  3. Snowy pine: crease the diagonal. Fold the left corner to the right corner, crease, and unfold.
  4. Snowy pine: make a tall kite. Fold the two upper edges in to lie along the centre crease.
  5. Snowy pine: tuck the white tip. Fold the white point at the bottom up behind, along the line between the side corners.
  6. Snowy pine: fold the top down. Fold the top point down, about a third of the way down the tree.
  7. Snowy pine: and back up. Fold it back up, creasing a little below the first fold, so a row of branches sticks out at the sides.
  8. Snowy pine: top down again. Fold the whole top down again, about a third of the way up from the bottom edge.
  9. Snowy pine: and back up again. Fold it back up, creasing a little below the first fold, so a row of branches sticks out at the sides.
  10. Snowy pine: pull down the pot. At the back, fold the point of the white flap down so a white triangle sticks out below the tree.
  11. Snowy pine: flatten the pot. Fold the bottom point of the white triangle up behind, to give the pot a flat base.
  12. Snow: new sheet. Set the pine aside. For the snow, take a 29.7 × 10 cm white strip, long side across.
  13. Snow: fold in half. Fold the bottom edge up to the top edge. The fold is the front edge of the scene.
  14. Snow: slopes. Fold the two top corners behind on long, gentle slants, for soft snowdrifts.
  15. Cottage: new sheet. Set the snow aside. For the cottage, take a 10.8 cm square of blue paper, white side up.
  16. Cottage: top edge to the middle. Fold the top edge down to the middle of the sheet. This coloured band becomes the roof.
  17. Cottage: chimney strip behind. Fold a strip about a finger wide (an eighth of the sheet's width) on the right edge behind. This strip becomes the chimney.
  18. Cottage: crease the roof. Fold both top corners down so the top edges meet in the middle. Crease well, then unfold.
  19. Cottage: snip the chimney free. Cut along the right-hand fold, from the top down to where the roof crease meets it. This frees the top of the chimney strip.
  20. Cottage: fold the roof. Fold both corners down again on their creases. On the right, leave the chimney strip behind: it stays standing up.
  21. Cottage: top the chimney. Fold the top of the chimney down a little, so it is lower than the roof's peak.
  22. Smoke puff 1: new sheet. Set the cottage aside. For the chimney smoke, take three light-grey squares: 1.6, 2.2, 2.9 cm.
  23. Smoke puff 1: round it. Fold the four corners behind, each by a slightly different amount, for a soft, lumpy puff.
  24. Smoke puff 2: new sheet. Set it aside. Take the next puff, a 2.2 cm square.
  25. Smoke puff 2: round it. Round it the same way, a little lumpy.
  26. Smoke puff 3: new sheet. Set it aside. Take the next puff, a 2.9 cm square.
  27. Smoke puff 3: round it. Round it the same way, a little lumpy.
  28. Snowman head: new sheet. Set the smoke aside. For the snowman's head, take a 5.2 cm square of red paper, white side up.
  29. Snowman head: fold the hat. Fold the top edge down about a quarter of the square, so a red band shows like a hat.
  30. Snowman head: sides behind. Fold the left and right edges behind a little, so the head is as tall as it is wide.
  31. Snowman head: round it. Fold the two bottom corners behind a lot and the two hat corners behind a little.
  32. Snowman: new sheet. Set the head aside. For the snowman's body, take a 8.7 cm square of red paper, white side up.
  33. Snowman: fold the scarf. Fold the top edge down a narrow strip, so a red band shows like a scarf.
  34. Snowman: corners behind. Fold all four corners behind: the top ones a little, the bottom ones a bit more.
  35. Snowman: round it. Fold the eight new corners behind, just a little, to make a round snowball.
  36. Girl's legs: new sheet. Set the body aside. Now the girl. Start with the legs: a 6.4 × 1.5 cm piece of navy paper, long side across.
  37. Girl's legs: narrow it. Fold the top and bottom edges behind to meet in the middle at the back. Press hard: a stiff strip.
  38. Girl's legs: bend the ends. Fold both ends down on slants from the bottom corners, so they hang straight down: two legs in snow trousers.
  39. Girl's coat: new sheet. Set the legs aside. For the coat, take a 6.4 × 3.9 cm piece of red paper, white side up.
  40. Girl's coat: sides in. Fold the left and right edges in to meet in the middle: the two fronts of a warm coat.
  41. Girl's coat: shoulders. Fold the top outer corners behind, 8 mm along each edge, for round shoulders.
  42. Girl's hair: new sheet. Set the coat aside. For the hair, take a 3.2 × 3.6 cm piece of ginger paper.
  43. Girl's hair: round it. Fold all four corners behind, 8 mm along each edge.
  44. Girl's head: new sheet. Set the hair aside. For the head, take a 2.4 cm square of skin-tone paper.
  45. Girl's head: round it. Fold all four corners behind, 5 mm along each edge: a round face.
  46. Girl's scarf: new sheet. Set the head aside. For the scarf, take a 5.5 × 1.1 cm piece of yellow paper, long side across.
  47. Girl's scarf: narrow it. Fold the top and bottom edges behind to meet in the middle at the back.
  48. Girl's scarf: hanging end. Fold the long end down on a slant from its bottom corner, so it hangs down like the loose end of a scarf.
  49. Girl's hat: new sheet. Set the scarf aside. For the hat, take a 2.9 × 3.5 cm piece of purple paper, coloured side up.
  50. Girl's hat: cuff. Fold the bottom edge up 7 mm. Its white back is the turned-up cuff of a woolly hat.
  51. Girl's hat: round the top. Fold the two top corners behind, 1.1 cm along each edge, for a snug round top.
  52. Boy's legs: new sheet. Set the hat aside. Now the boy, folded the same way. Start with the legs: a 6.4 × 1.5 cm piece of navy paper, long side across.
  53. Boy's legs: narrow it. Fold the top and bottom edges behind to meet in the middle.
  54. Boy's legs: bend the ends. Fold both ends down on slants from the bottom corners: two legs.
  55. Boy's coat: new sheet. Set the legs aside. For the coat, take a 6.4 × 3.9 cm piece of blue paper, white side up.
  56. Boy's coat: sides in. Fold the left and right edges in to meet in the middle.
  57. Boy's coat: shoulders. Fold the top outer corners behind, 8 mm along each edge, for round shoulders.
  58. Boy's hair: new sheet. Set the coat aside. For the hair, take a 2.9 × 1.9 cm piece of dark-brown paper.
  59. Boy's hair: round it. Fold all four corners behind, 8 mm along each edge.
  60. Boy's head: new sheet. Set the hair aside. For the head, take a 2.4 cm square of skin-tone paper.
  61. Boy's head: round it. Fold all four corners behind, 5 mm along each edge: a round face.
  62. Boy's scarf: new sheet. Set the head aside. For the scarf, take a 5.5 × 1.1 cm piece of red paper, long side across.
  63. Boy's scarf: narrow it. Fold the top and bottom edges behind to meet in the middle at the back.
  64. Boy's scarf: hanging end. Fold the long end down on a slant so it hangs.
  65. Boy's hat: new sheet. Set the scarf aside. For the hat, take a 2.9 × 3.5 cm piece of green paper, coloured side up.
  66. Boy's hat: cuff. Fold the bottom edge up 7 mm: a white cuff.
  67. Boy's hat: round the top. Fold the two top corners behind, 1.1 cm along each edge, for a snug round top.
  68. Snowball 1: new sheet. Set the hat aside. For a pile of snowballs, take three 1.7 cm white squares.
  69. Snowball 1: round it. Fold all four corners behind, 5 mm along each edge: a round snowball.
  70. Snowball 2: new sheet. Set it aside. Take snowball 2.
  71. Snowball 2: round it. Round it the same way.
  72. Snowball 3: new sheet. Set it aside. Take snowball 3.
  73. Snowball 3: round it. Round it the same way.
  74. Sled seat: new sheet. Set the snowballs aside. For the sled's seat, take a 6 × 1.4 cm piece of brown paper, long side across.
  75. Sled seat: narrow it. Fold the top and bottom edges behind to meet in the middle at the back. Press hard: a stiff strip.
  76. Sled seat: bend the ends. Fold both ends down on slants from the bottom corners: a seat on two short struts.
  77. Runner: new sheet. Set the seat aside. For the runner, take a 9 × 0.9 cm piece of red paper, long side across.
  78. Runner: narrow it. Fold the top and bottom edges behind to meet in the middle at the back.
  79. Runner: turn up the front. Fold the right end straight up on a slant from the top right corner, 5.4 cm from the left end.
  80. Runner: curl the tip. Fold the tip of the upright end over to the left on a slant: the runner curls back over the seat.
  81. Rabbit: new sheet. Set the runner aside. Last, a rabbit: a 6.8 cm square of brown paper, white side up, turned like a diamond.
  82. Rabbit: fold in half. Fold the bottom corner up to the top corner. The long fold at the bottom is the ground; the rabbit will face right.
  83. Rabbit: snip the tail. Snip 1.8 cm along the bottom fold from the left point, so the two layers of the point come apart.
  84. Rabbit: cotton tail. Fold each layer's point up and back on a slanted crease from the end of the snip, the front one to the front and the back one behind. It turns white.
  85. Rabbit: round back. Cut the top off in a round hump, from the rump over the back and down the chest to the ground. Snip the tail's top corners off so it looks fluffy.
  86. Rabbit head: new sheet. Set the body aside. For its head, take a 2.7 cm square of brown paper, white side up, turned like a diamond.
  87. Rabbit head: make a triangle. Fold the top corner down to the bottom corner.
  88. Rabbit head: corners down. Fold the left and right corners down to meet the bottom point.
  89. Rabbit head: snip the ears free. Cut along both slanted folds, from the outer corners about two-thirds of the way to the top middle.
  90. Rabbit head: ears up. Fold both flaps up so their points stand tall above the top edge, leaning out a little.
  91. Rabbit head: turn it over. Flip the head over so the smooth side faces you.
  92. Build the scene. Glue the pine behind the snow and the snow on the sky. Add the cottage and smoke, the snowman, the two children, the sled with its snowballs and the rabbit.
  93. Stand it up. Bend the backdrop gently towards you on the middle crease and stand the whole snow day up on the table.

Let it snow!

Dot white snowflakes on the sky. Draw the cottage's door and windows, the snowman's face and buttons, the children's faces and coat buttons, and the rabbit's eye.

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