DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Origami Star

These stars are great projects for a number of themes -- Japan, Christmas, Fourth of July, etc.  They are quite easy (for origami) and are suitable for age 7 and up.

TERMINOLOGY -- MOUNTAIN FOLD: 

fold the paper under -- see how it looks like a mountain?

TERMINOLOGY -- VALLEY FOLD:

fold the paper to the front

• to make a square piece of paper, valley fold diagonally and cut off the excess

• valley fold the paper in half diagonally  (so you have a triangle) and then unfold the paper

• valley fold the paper in half diagonally the other way  (so you have a triangle) and then unfold the paper

• valley fold the paper in half  (so you have a rectangle) and then unfold the paper

• valley fold the paper in half  the other way (so you have a rectangle) and then unfold the paper
    
• Wow!  that's a lot of creases.
    

• OK... now let's make the star.
    
• Refold the paper in half diagonally (valley fold) to make a triangle but this time leave it folded
    

• Valley fold the left side of the triangle so the edge falls on the closest crease
    
• Mountain fold the right side of the triangle so the edge falls on the closest crease
    

• Grab the tip of the FRONT of the triangle and mountain fold it towards the right side (let the creases you've made guide the fold)
    
• Grab the tip of the BACK of the triangle and valley fold it towards the left side (let the creases you've made guide the fold)
    
• Notice how A and B switch places
    

• If you struggle with the above step, instead try grabbing A and B and switching their spots... A should go over the top and B should go underneath to arrive at their final positions
    

• Valley fold the left side down (there's a crease there, so it should be easy)

• Valley fold the piece you just folded, back up again -- but not on the original crease.  Instead make a new crease and create a side of the star -- it's sort of up to you where you want the star point to be created.
    

• Now we do the right side.  Valley fold the right side down (there's a crease there, so it should be easy)

• Valley fold the piece you just folded, back up again -- but not on the original crease.  Instead make a new crease and create the last side of the star.
    

• If you made nice firm creases throughout the entire project, the star should hold itself together.
    
• Strictly speaking, glue and tape aren't used in origami, but you might want to put a few dots of glue here and there to hold the star in place (especially if you're going to display it for awhile)