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How to fold an origami windmill

Pleat a balcony into the tower and fold its sides behind into a taper. Fold two tan strips into sails that widen to their tips, fold a domed cap, and stand it up.

You need: A red 15 cm square, two tan strips 14 × 2.4 cm, a dark 6 × 4.5 cm piece, small scissors, a glue stick and a black pen. Hard, 21 steps, about 30 minutes.

Steps

  1. Tower: stage pleat. Start with the tower, red side up. Fold the top edge down on a crease 6 cm above the bottom edge.
  2. Tower: fold it back up. Fold the flap back up on a crease 5 mm lower. The little ledge left is the windmill's balcony.
  3. Tower: top behind. Fold the top 3 cm behind, so the tower is shorter than it is wide at the bottom.
  4. Tower: walls. Fold each side behind on a slant, from 4.3 cm in at the bottom to 6.3 cm in at the top. The tower tapers, and the parts behind are its side walls.
  5. Tower: level the bottom. Fold up the corners of the walls that poke out below the bottom edge, so the tower stands level.
  6. Sail 1: new sheet. Set the tower aside. Take a tan strip, tan side up, long edges level.
  7. Sail 1: crease the middle. Fold the strip in half, left end onto the right end.
  8. Sail 1: open it. Unfold it again.
  9. Sail 1: two snips. Snip 7 mm into the middle crease from the top edge and from the bottom edge.
  10. Sail 1: shape the blades. Fold each half of both long edges behind on a slant, from the end of a snip out to the strip's corner. Narrow at the hub, wide at the ends.
  11. Sail 2: new sheet. Set it aside and fold the second tan strip the same way.
  12. Sail 2: crease the middle. Fold the strip in half, left end onto the right end.
  13. Sail 2: open it. Unfold it again.
  14. Sail 2: two snips. Snip 7 mm into the middle crease from the top edge and from the bottom edge.
  15. Sail 2: shape the blades. Fold each half of both long edges behind on a slant, from the end of a snip out to the strip's corner. Narrow at the hub, wide at the ends.
  16. Cap: new sheet. Set the sail aside. Take the dark piece, dark side up, long edge at the bottom.
  17. Cap: white rim. Fold the bottom edge up 6 mm, so a white rim shows along the bottom.
  18. Cap: dome. Fold both top corners behind on a slant, 1.6 cm along each edge.
  19. Cap: round it. Fold the two corners at the sides of the slants behind a little too, so the cap is a round dome.
  20. Glue it together. Glue the cap over the top of the tower. Glue the two sails across each other in a big X, crossing at the middle of the cap.
  21. Stand it up. Open the side walls until they point straight back, and stand the windmill up on them.

Let it turn!

Draw lattice on the sails, a black hub, an arched door, white windows and a balcony rail along the ledge.

How to play

  1. Blow on the sails and pretend they're turning in the wind.
  2. Stand it on a windowsill next to a row of paper tulips.
  3. Make a few in different colours for a whole windmill village.

What to fold next