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PlayOwl
An open pop-up card: a brick tower with a clock and two lower wings stand up from a green lawn in front of a blue sky.
The finished project.

Paper craft

Pop-Up Building Card

  • Challenge (level 5 of 5)
  • 40 min
  • 9 steps
  • Ages 9–14 (a guide, not a rule)
  • Uses scissors
  • Uses glue
  • Adult help suggested
Start Making Print with template

A box pop-up is two cuts and three folds: the strip between the cuts folds forward and makes a step. This card uses three strips side by side: a tall, deep one for the tower and two short ones for the wings. Glue the finished page inside a colored cover so the cut holes are hidden.

Before you start

You need

Decorating (optional): The page comes colored. Add more windows, a flag on the tower or people on the path before you cut.

No card stock printed with the pop-up page? Plain paper works for the pop-up page, but the boxes stand up less firmly.

For the grown-up: Help keep the slits straight and stop exactly at the end of each line; slits that run too far make the building wobble.

Use blunt-tip scissors and cut away from your fingers.

How to place the paper before the first step
Your paper: Print the pop-up page at 100% (Actual size) on card stock. Check that the 5 cm bar measures 5 cm. Lay it picture side up.
  • Valley fold: blue dashes. Fold toward you, like a valley.
  • Mountain fold: pink dash-dot. Fold away from you, like a mountain.
  • Crease: a thin gray line where you folded before.
  • Cut: a thick solid line with scissors.
  • Glue: a yellow area marked "glue".

Step by step

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

  1. Step 1: cut, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 1 result Result
    Step 1 of 9 Cut Cut out the card along its outer edge.
  2. Step 2: mountain fold, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 2 result Result
    Step 2 of 9 Mountain fold Fold the card in half along the middle line with the picture outside: the bottom half goes behind the top half.
  3. Step 3: cut, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 3 result Result
    Step 3 of 9 Cut Cut along the four solid lines through both layers, starting at the fold. Stop exactly at the end of each line.
  4. Step 4: fold and unfold, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 4 result Result
    Step 4 of 9 Fold and unfold Fold the wide middle strip up along the end of its cuts. Crease it hard, then fold it back down.
  5. Step 5: fold and unfold, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 5 result Result
    Step 5 of 9 Fold and unfold Fold each short side strip up the same way, crease hard, and fold it back down.
  6. Step 6: unfold, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 6 result Result
    Step 6 of 9 Unfold Unfold the card and lay it flat, picture side up. The strips now have creases at both ends and in the middle.
  7. Step 7: push, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 7 result Result
    Step 7 of 9 Push Fold the card in half the other way, picture inside. As it closes, push each strip toward you so it folds forward inside the card.
  8. Step 8: glue, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 8 result Result
    Step 8 of 9 Glue Fold the cover sheet in half. Put glue only on the corners of the back of the closed card, both sides, then glue it inside the cover with the folds lined up. (The card closed flat, back side up, ready for its cover.)
  9. Step 9: draw, shown on the paper Do this
    Step 9 result Result
    Step 9 of 9 Draw Open the card to a right angle and write your message on the lawn in front of the building.
An open pop-up card: a brick tower with a clock and two lower wings stand up from a green lawn in front of a blue sky.

You made it!

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

Print the steps

Template

Print the template at 100% (Actual size), not "Fit to page". Then measure the check bar with a ruler: it must be 5 cm (2 in) long.

  • Pop-up building page (preview, not to scale) Pop-up building page · 170 × 200 mm. The tower is 40 mm wide and pops up 50 mm (about 2 in). Print at 100%.
Print the template

If something goes wrong

The card will not close flat.

Check that every slit reaches the end of its line and that the strips fold forward, not backward.

The tower leans to one side.

The two tower slits must be the same length. Trim the shorter one to the end of its printed line.

A strip stays flat when the card opens.

Close the card, press hard along all the creases, then open it slowly.

The pop-up is stuck to the cover.

Glue goes only on the corners. Gently peel the strip free before the glue dries.

Helpful hints

  • Crease every fold with the edge of a ruler: sharp folds make the boxes square.
  • Open and close the card a few times before gluing it into the cover.

An original PlayOwl project.

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    Folded Greeting Card

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