How To Make An Origami Basket With Kids

There's a kind magic to the craft of origami.

Creating something from (almost) nothing is not just satisfying, it can also be beneficial to kids' understanding of geometry and boost their problem-solving abilities. Plus, origami is cheap, fun, and can be done at home with minimal mess.

Origami is the Japanese art of folding paper to make new 3D objects. While cranes, fish and boats are all popular shapes to create, an origami basket is a slightly more ambitious project that's nonetheless very achievable for children under 10.

So read on for our easy origami instructions and learn how to make baskets out of paper (before you move onto making origami bowls and purses).

A few pieces of 20cm by 20cm pieces of origami paper. Non-origami paper will do, but it should be square and easy to fold.

1. Fold each corner diagonally in half, then return it back out, so your square ends up with four folds intersecting in the middle.

2. With the square facing you, take the top and bottom corners and fold them towards the middle.

3. Fold the long, non-pointed sides in towards the middle and stand them upright to form the edges of the basket.

4. Fold up each of the 'pointy' sides and wrap the point over the side it's on, as if you were wrapping a present.

5. Use your nails to firm down the creases on what should now be a complete origami basket.

The above method is super easy, but you may want to extend the fun for a bit longer by creating a basket with a lid. Don't worry, it still counts as quick origami.

For this you'll need at least two pieces of paper. We'll also show you slightly different instructions for how to make a paper basket.

For The Basket:

1. Take your square, fold it in half two ways to create two creases down the centre, then fold all four corners into the centre, so it looks like a card envelope.

2. Make sure it's facing you as a square, not a diamond. Fold the top and bottom edges into the centre and unfold, then unfold the top and bottom triangles outwards.

3. Fold the left and right edges into the centre.

4. Take the bottom edge and fold it upright at a crease, so it's standing where it will be the edge of the basket.

5. Unfold the left and right creases so they are also standing upright, forming the sides of the box.

6. Repeat what you did to the bottom edge to the top edge.

7. Flatten all the flaps down to form your box.

For The Lid:

1. Take a new square of paper. Just like with the box, fold it in half two ways to create two creases down the centre, then fold all four corners into the centre.

2. Again, make sure the paper is facing you as a square, not a diamond. But this time, when you fold the top and bottom edges into the centre, leave an even gap on each side (the paper should not touch in the middle). Create a crease, then unfold.

3. Unfold the top and bottom triangles. Fold the left and right edges in towards each other, but again, leave a gap in the middle, with each side not touching. Leave folded down.

4. Like you did with the box, fold up the top end so it's standing upright. Open up the left side and right side, then bring up the bottom end to join them. Fold over all the flaps and strengthen the creases.

5. You should now have a box that's slightly larger than the original, which you can pop on top as a lid.

Why not use origami paper in a variety of colours to make a colourful assortment of different easy origami baskets?

Make sure that each origami fold you do is a firm fold, to ensure the best origami basket final product.

It's best to have more than one sheet of origami paper in case you make a mistake on one basket and want to restart.