How To Make An Adorable Origami Koala

Origami is, most simply, the art of paper-folding.

One of the most popular paper crafts around the world, origami originated in 17th century Japan and is still loved today. Popular among adults and kids today, paper crafts like origami are fun and easy, plus they develop some pretty useful skills, such as hand-eye coordination and concentration.

With just a piece of paper, a whole host of origami creations can be made, the most popular being origami animals and paper planes. While scissors and glue are common resources for paper crafts, many origami creations (like the origami koala face) can be made with paper alone! So here's our super simple step by step guide for an adorable koala origami project.

You Will Need:

-Square origami paper, grey on one side and white on the other side (20cm x 20cm).

-A pair of googly eyes.

-A black marker.

-A glue stick.

Making The Origami Koala Face:

1) White side up, rotate the square paper slightly so that the koala-in-the-making looks like a white diamond.

2) Lift the top corner and fold it down to meet the bottom corner, creasing the diamond in half, then unfold.

3) Bring the right corner over to meet the left corner, folding in half, then unfolding.

4) Bring the top corner over to meet the bottom corner again, folding the paper koala along the horizontal crease.

5) You should now have a triangle pointed downwards. Take the left corner and fold it over to rest on the bottom corner, with the left edge on the middle vertical crease.

6) Repeat with the right corner. The paper koala should now look like a small grey diamond.

7) Lift the right corner flap (resting on top of the bottom corner) and fold part of it backwards, diagonally. The crease formed should be a diagonal line going from the outer right corner to the middle crease, about two centimetres from the top corner.

8) Repeat with the left corner flap.

9) The two triangular flaps sticking out on the left and right will form ears for the origami koala. Taking the corner of the right flap, fold part of it inwards, to that the corner is about a centimetre away from the bottom edge of the flap.

10) Repeat for the left corner.

11) Turn the origami paper koala over.

12) Lift the bottom corner flap and fold it up to rest in the middle of the origami koala.

13) Turn the origami paper koala over to fold the bottom corner flap on the other side, so that it is also in the middle.

14) Turn over and the koala face is complete, now it's time to decorate!

15) Using a black marker, draw two circles on the face for the koala's eyes and colour in.

16) Glue one googly eye onto each black circle to give the origami koala some eyes that move!

17) For the koala's nose, draw a large vertical oval at the top of the white corner flap and colour in.

18) Add more details to the origami koala face, like fur on the ears and a nice warm smile.

-Take your time when folding your origami koala face, making sure the edges of the paper are nicely aligned before you fold.

-Make sure each fold produces a clear, sharp crease as these will help with subsequent folds and make your origami koala face more defined.

-Who says the origami koala face has to be grey? Use origami paper of any colour you like to make the origami koala face as colourful as you desire!

-Got glitter and stickers? Feel free to put them on your origami koala face too!

-Keep the origami koala safe on a shelf to show friends and family or use it as your very own origami koala bookmark!