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A flat green paper windmill with four slanted sails around a square middle with white and green triangles.
The finished project.

Origami · folding only

Flat Folded Windmill

  • Growing (level 3 of 5)
  • 10 min
  • 8 steps
  • Ages 6–11 (a guide, not a rule)
  • No scissors
  • No glue
  • No adult help needed
Start Making Print

This flat windmill starts with a blintz fold: all four corners meet in the middle. Then each point folds back out at a slant, so it pokes past the edge like a sail. Four sails in a turning pattern make the windmill. It stays flat, so you can put it in a card, on a window or on a picture of a farm.

Before you start

You need

Decorating (optional): Draw a door and windows on paper below it, or a stick for the windmill to stand on.

No square of origami paper? No origami paper? Fold the corner of a printer sheet over to the opposite edge and cut or tear off the extra strip to make a square.

How to place the paper before the first step
Your paper: Put the square down like a diamond, with one corner pointing up and the colored side facing up.
  • Valley fold: blue dashes. Fold toward you, like a valley.
  • Crease: a thin gray line where you folded before.

Step by step

Each step shows what to do (left) and how it should look after (right).

  1. Step 1: fold and unfold, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 1 result Result
    Step 1 of 8 Fold and unfold Fold the top corner down to the bottom corner. Press, then unfold.
  2. Step 2: fold and unfold, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 2 result Result
    Step 2 of 8 Fold and unfold Fold the left corner over to the right corner. Press, then unfold. The creases cross in the middle.
  3. Step 3: valley fold, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 3 result Result
    Step 3 of 8 Valley fold Fold the top corner and the bottom corner to the middle, where the creases cross.
  4. Step 4: valley fold, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 4 result Result
    Step 4 of 8 Valley fold Fold the left corner and the right corner to the middle too. Now you have a smaller square.
  5. Step 5: valley fold, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 5 result Result
    Step 5 of 8 Valley fold Make the first sail: fold the point of the top flap back up with a slanted fold from its left corner. The point pokes out past the top edge.
  6. Step 6: valley fold, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 6 result Result
    Step 6 of 8 Valley fold Fold the right flap's point out the same way, starting at its top corner. It pokes out past the right edge.
  7. Step 7: valley fold, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 7 result Result
    Step 7 of 8 Valley fold Fold the bottom flap's point out, starting at its right corner. It pokes out past the bottom edge.
  8. Step 8: valley fold, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 8 result Result
    Step 8 of 8 Valley fold Fold the left flap's point out, starting at its bottom corner. All four sails now turn the same way.
A flat green paper windmill with four slanted sails around a square middle with white and green triangles.

You made it!

Yours may look a little different. That is part of making things by hand.

Print the steps

If something goes wrong

The sails are different sizes.

Start every sail fold exactly at a corner of the small square, and end it at the same spot on each flap.

One sail points the wrong way.

Turn the paper a quarter turn after each sail so you always fold the top flap from its left corner.

The flaps do not meet in the middle.

Unfold and line each corner up exactly with the point where the two creases cross.

Helpful hints

  • Turn the paper a quarter turn after each sail: every sail is then the same fold.
  • Sharp creases keep the windmill flat.

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