Looking for a fun activity that you can enjoy at home with the kids? Try making your own paper snowflake ornaments and decorations for the house! Any type of paper will work: construction paper, cooking foil, typing paper, gift wrap, comics, phone book pages…you are only limited to your imagination and paper thickness. Paper that is too thick will be difficult to fold and cut, paper that is too thin will not hang properly.
- Take a sheet of 8-1/2×11-inch copy paper as your practice piece. Fold one corner to the right edge so that it matches perfectly and forms a triangle. The fold will match about 2-1/4-inches from the top. Crease the fold and cut off the top 2-1/4-inches. You now have a folded triangle.
- Grasping the folded side of the paper, take the bottom left side and fold it up toward the top and crease the fold. You now have a smaller triangle that has a fold at the bottom and a fold on the side. Repeat the step to make an even smaller triangle. There will be four point that have creased edges, four open edges, and one thick fold.
- Holding the thick fold (this is your “middle” of the snowflake), you can draw or just get creative with the scissors. Take scissors and trim a jagged or pointy shape along the open edges. Next, holding the thick crease, draw notches of different shapes onto the smaller crease of the top sheet. Cut out these shapes as well, making sure you cut all four of the thinner creases all the way through. Don’t be afraid to experiment with rounded tips, longer pointed edges, etc.
- Finally, it is time to cut the thicker edge. Draw shapes on the top crease and cut them out. Be sure not to cut the entire crease or it will fall apart.
- Unfold your paper and there is your snowflake! Hold the snowflake by one of its tips and thread a piece of fishing line or string through the top tip. Your snowflake is now ready to hang with tape or a pin from the ceiling or in a window. If you plan to hang them from the ceiling, remember to use different sizes
You can use colored paper, or even spray glue to attach glitter. The kids can add crayon designs to the snowflakes if they are not fancy enough for your taste. It takes a few tries to get a pleasing pattern, but you can be assured that no two snowflakes will be alike — unless you copy a pattern of the cutting designs along the way.
Using smaller sheets of paper make very nice gift tags for Christmas presents. Using 20 pound card stock can help create wonderful tree ornaments. When using cardstock, remember to use scissors to make your creases more permanent.
These ornaments may be stored for next year by simply folding them back up and putting them into an envelope.
Paper snowflakes can lead to loads to fun with your kids (or even co-workers!) and result in creative, original designs that everyone can be proud of. Finish this activity with hot chocolate and/or Christmas cookies, and you have created a wonderful family memory.
