Origami · folding only · Challenge · about 30 minutes

Eight-Point Modular Star

No scissors · No glue · No adult help needed

  • 8 × Small squares of paper, four in each of two colors, 75 x 75 mm (3 x 3 in)
Finished

Blue dashes: valley fold (toward you). Pink dash-dot: mountain fold (away from you). Thick line with scissors: cut. Yellow: glue.

  1. Start. Start with one small square, white side up. Every unit is folded the same way.

  2. 1. Valley fold: Fold the bottom-left corner up to the top-right corner to make a triangle. Crease it well.

  3. 2. Valley fold: Fold the triangle in half: bring the left point over to the bottom point. This is one unit.

  4. 3. Fold and unfold: Fold the unit in half the other way, top point to bottom point. Crease it and unfold: this center crease is your guide.

  5. openopen slitclosed fold

    4. Check: Find the pocket between the two middle layers. It opens along the long edge and along the slit side; the folded side stays closed.

  6. make 8

    5. Check: Fold seven more units the same way: four in each color.

  7. 6. Put together: Turn a second unit one eighth of the way around and slide it into the pocket of the first, through the open sides. Its folded edge stops on the first unit's crease.

  8. 7. Put together: Slide a third unit into the pocket of the second unit the same way. Keep all the square corners together in the middle.

  9. x 4

    8. Put together: Keep adding units around the circle, each one into the pocket of the last, until seven units are joined. Alternate the colors.

  10. 9. Put together: Close the star: open the last unit's pocket around the first unit's free edge, then slide the last unit into the seventh unit.

  11. 10. Push: Press the center flat and push each unit in until every folded edge sits on its neighbor's crease and the eight points are even.

If something goes wrong