You guys know that art that must be done precisely is not my jam.  I’m more of a make it up as I go kind of girl.  But some things are worth being precise.  These paper snowflake ornaments fall into that category.  You must follow a few simple directions and you get beautiful intricate amazingness.  Totally worth it.

And there are no excuses with supplies either.  All you need is some paper!  Let’s get started.  Your Christmas tree or your windows will thank you.

Credit due…

My inspiration for these ornaments started with the blog “Art with Mrs. Nguyen.”  I followed her lesson plan titled Radial Paper Relief Sculptures to the “T” with my co-op art class and it was a-mazing.  The results were vibrant and eye catching and they really got the idea of radial symmetry.  

Our paper sculptures were biggish at 12 x 12.

These snowflakes are going to use the same folding techniques on a tiny scale and without and backing, which makes them perfect as hanging ornaments or window decorations.

Working tiny….

To start you will need just paper and glue sticks.  That’s it.  I used colored copy paper and also vellum, a translucent paper.  Both were on the thin side and made for easy creasing.  You could use construction paper or even white copy paper.  Use what you have.

Your paper will need to be cut into one and a half inch squares.  A paper cutter is your friend with this project.

Three folds….

Mrs. Nguyen did a fantastic job illustrating each of the following three folds.  Since I am not a video expert I did break them down visually for you below.  But if you’re a hands on learner check out her video post too!

A huge variety of snowflake designs are possible just by combining three different folds.  

We practiced all three folds as a class in slo- mo before they attempted to design their snowflake.

The hat fold….

This one is pretty simple.  There are only three steps.

The kite fold…

This one also comes in at only three steps, easy peasy.

The Samurai fold….

I’m not gonna’ lie.  This on has a lot of steps.  It can be tricky until you do it a few times.  My class had multiple ages and for the kids with less fine motor control this was a lot to ask.  

If kids really struggled with this one they could design their entire snowflake from the first two folds.  Most kids really liked the challenge and ended up using more of this fold than anything else.  

Assembling folded paper snowflakes…

Our snowflake ornaments are held together by mounting them on a piece of the same one and a half inch folding paper that they are made from.  Mounting our folds on such small paper allows the base to be invisible.  Our snowflakes will be floating.

Take your “base paper” and fold it into fourths and unfold it.  These crease lines will guide where your folded paper.  Each snowflake will start with four of the same fold glued to the tiny base paper.  Subsequent folded pieces can be glued behind, inside of or between the first set.  

Displaying your folded paper snowflakes…

Compared to the penny above you can see how tiny these snowflakes ornaments are.  Glue a ribbon loop to the back and hang them on your Christmas tree, on your window, or as a gift wrapping embellishment.  

If you love these folded paper snowflakes please be sure and share this post on your favorite social media channel. 

Every share helps me to bring you more fun projects and more free printables!