DIY - Origami Ninja Stars

My Craft Diva has struck again!  She learned to make origami ninja stars all on her own (with the help of YouTube and a friend at school).  They are so cute to make and will challenge you and your kids.  They also make cool banners. There are many photographs in this tutorial so please be patient while the page loads.

Here are the directions according to Mackenzie:

1.  You need 8 pieces of 8 1/2 x 11 paper, assorted colors (printer paper works great) and scissors

2.  Fold one piece of paper across on the diagonal evenly, which will leave an extra amount of paper at the bottom

3.  Cut the bottom of the paper off to make a clean triangle (or a perfect square when the paper is unfolded).

4.  Open the paper and fold across the other way to make another triangle.  Unfold the paper.  You should now have a square with fold lines making an "X".  It is important to make all of these creases.

5.  Fold the corners on one side of the square to the middle.

6.  Fold in half so it looks like a paper airplane with a single point "nose" on one end and open back.

7.  This is the tricky step: hold the "paper airplane" as if you are going to throw it with the "nose" of the plane farthest from you. Turn the plane upside down so you are looking at the back of the plane and it looks like an "A".  Put your index finger on the top of the "A" and push it down.  The creases you put in the paper earlier with fold and the top of the "A" will push down to the middle of a triangle, like this:

8.  Keep pushing down on that crease so it folds to the inside

9.  Turn the paper to the left and you should see a parallelogram with the left side sloping downward to a point.

10.  Repeat with each piece of paper (7 more times).  Arrange them in the circle design you want.

11.  To assemble the ninja star, start with two of the parallelograms.  Hold then in the direction of the parallelogram shown in Step 9 above, one behind the other with the left side sloping down and the crease on top.  Insert the parallelogram on the right into the back of the one on the left, aligning the left slope of the right parallelogram with the top crease of the left parallelogram.  It should look like an angle:

12.  Fold the tips of the top of parallelogram on the left over the one on the right.  In this case, fold the blue edges over the yellow paper, tucking them into the open fold.

13.  Repeat for the remaining parallelograms, working around to the right in a clockwise direction.  When you get to the last section, fold the last corners over both layers of paper to the center.

14.  Ninja star!!  (Wait a minute, that doesn't look like a star . . .)

Watch what this ninja star can do!

15.  Push one side in gently, and then the other sides:

There it is!

You should be able to move the pieces back and forth, but be gentle!  Enjoy!

cindy