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How to fold an origami sunflower

Fold a yellow square into a thin point, make one rounded cut and open it: sixteen petals in a ring. Glue a brown middle with seed dots on top and stand it on a tall stem.

You need: A 15 cm yellow square, a 7 cm brown square, a 4 × 22 cm green strip, an 11 cm green square, scissors, glue, a pen. Medium, 20 steps, about 20 minutes.

Steps

  1. Petals: fold in half. Yellow side up, fold the top edge down to the bottom edge. The middle of the fold is the middle of the flower.
  2. Petals: in half again. Fold the left half over onto the right half.
  3. Petals: into a point. Fold the left edge up onto the top edge, creasing from the top-left corner (the middle). A triangle.
  4. Petals: thinner. Fold it in half again from the same corner, the slanted edge onto the top edge.
  5. Petals: thinnest. And once more: a very thin point. Press hard so all the layers stay together.
  6. Petals: one rounded cut. Cut through every layer: start on the top edge 7 cm from the point and curve round to the other edge, 4 cm from the point.
  7. Petals: unfold. Open the last fold.
  8. Petals: unfold again. Open the next fold.
  9. Petals: and again. And the next one.
  10. Petals: nearly there. Open the left half back out.
  11. Petals: open it flat. Unfold the top half. Sixteen petals in a ring!
  12. Middle: new sheet. Set the petals aside. Take the brown square, brown side up.
  13. Middle: round it. Fold all four corners a little way behind to make an eight-sided round middle.
  14. Leaf: new sheet. Set the middle aside. Take the green square, green side up, like a diamond.
  15. Leaf: top edges. Fold the two top edges behind so they meet on the middle line.
  16. Leaf: bottom edges. Fold the two bottom edges behind onto the middle line too. A slim pointed leaf.
  17. Stem: new sheet. Set it aside. Take the green strip (4 × 22 cm), white side up, long edges at the sides.
  18. Stem: edges to the middle. Fold both long edges in to meet in the middle.
  19. Stem: and again. Fold the new long edges in to the middle again. Press hard: a thin green stem.
  20. Glue it together. Glue the petals to the top of the stem and the brown middle on the petals. Glue the leaf behind the stem.

Sunny!

Dot the brown middle all over for the seeds. It turns to face the sun all day!

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