Whale

A blue origami whale from a single square: a “kite” base, the nose tucked in, a fold in half and the tail up. You trace the fold lines and the drawing through the camera right onto the square — the eye, smile and belly land in place on both sides.

• Easy
• 1 3½ × 3½ in square
• 6 folds
• 0 glue

Make it with your phone cameraLesson code: 1887

On VanGami the template appears over your sheet through your phone camera — no printer needed. Trace it, cut, fold and glue. Below are all the steps in text.

What you’ll need

• Letter sheet — office paper, 80 gsm (20 lb)
• Markers
• Pencil — and eraser
• Scissors — small
• Glass — phone stand

Steps

Trace

1. Outline. Trace the solid line — the edge of the piece. You’ll cut along it.
2. Fold lines. Trace the dashed lines thinly, without pressing hard, as on the screen, and write its number next to each line — that’s the order of the folds. Each step will tell you which way to fold: you’ll fold with the drawing side down.
3. Draw. Copy the drawing with thin lines: the picture on the screen is your guide. It doesn't have to be exact to the millimeter.

Color

4. Color the whale. Color everything blue except the white belly; the stripes on the belly are blue too. Color the eye and smile black and the cheek pink. The whale is drawn twice: that’s its right side and its left side.

Cut

5. Cut out: square. Cut with scissors along the solid line. Turn the sheet, not the scissors — the cut will come out neater.

Fold

6. Drawing side down. Flip the square drawing side down and turn it so one corner points toward you.
7. Center crease. Fold the square in half — top corner onto the bottom corner — and unfold. There’s now a crease across the middle.
8. Kite base. Fold the upper left side to the center crease, edge to crease, then do the same with the lower left side. You’ve made a “kite” with a sharp point on the left.
9. Nose. Fold the blunt right corner to the left — with its tip exactly where the corners of the “kite” meet. That’s line 4; right now it’s on the underside.
10. Fold in half. Fold the whale in half along line 1, the center crease: top half down, edge to edge. The folded parts stay inside.
11. Tail. Turn the whale so its head points left. Fold the narrow end on the right up along line 5 so its bottom edge stands straight up — that’s the tail.
12. Whale from both sides. Your whale is done. Flip it over: on one side it swims left, on the other it swims right.

Done. Done — ready to show off.

Make it with your phone camera

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