Make an Origami Animal
Square the paper, sharpen the first crease and make a creature from nothing but folds. A flat sheet develops a spine, ears, wings or a tail as one edge repeatedly becomes the guide for the next. The final animal may fit in your palm, yet every visible part is still connected to the original square. Origami is the Japanese name for paper folding, though folding traditions exist in several cultures. Diagrams use a visual language of solid and dashed lines, arrows, rotations and repeated steps. Beginner animals such as a fox face, fish or jumping frog teach valley folds and mountain folds before more complex models introduce squash, reverse and petal folds. Start with ordinary thin paper cut into accurate squares; expensive patterned sheets make early mistakes feel unnecessarily serious. Work on a firm surface, align corners before creasing and use a British Origami Society simple model or another creator-approved diagram. Credit the designer when you share a model or tutorial. Add this to your list and fold a small paper menagerie one square at a time.