Paper craft · Challenge · about 40 minutes
Pop-Up Building Card
Uses scissors · Uses glue · Adult help suggested
- Card stock printed with the pop-up page, 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 in (Letter) or A4)
- Colored paper or card for the cover, 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 in)
- Blunt-tip scissors
- Glue stick
- Ruler (to check the scale bar and to help crease)
- Colored pencils or markers
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.
Safety: Use blunt-tip scissors and cut away from your fingers.
Blue dashes: valley fold (toward you). Pink dash-dot: mountain fold (away from you). Thick line with scissors: cut. Yellow: glue.
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Start. 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.
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1. Cut: Cut out the card along its outer edge.
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2. Mountain fold: Fold the card in half along the middle line with the picture outside: the bottom half goes behind the top half.
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3. Cut: Cut along the four solid lines through both layers, starting at the fold. Stop exactly at the end of each line.
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4. Fold and unfold: Fold the wide middle strip up along the end of its cuts. Crease it hard, then fold it back down.
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5. Fold and unfold: Fold each short side strip up the same way, crease hard, and fold it back down.
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6. Unfold: Unfold the card and lay it flat, picture side up. The strips now have creases at both ends and in the middle.
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7. 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.
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8. 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.
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9. Draw: Open the card to a right angle and write your message on the lawn in front of the building.
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.