Folding an Origami Owl {Paper Craft}

At Skip to My Lou, we love paper crafts, with origami animals being one of our favorites.

A square piece of paper, a couple of folds and you can make various animals that are so much fun for kids to try.

Today, we are focusing on origami instructions that give a HOOT! Yes, if you’ve wanted to make an origami owl, you’ve come to the right place.

Origami is the perfect way to enhance creativity, plus it’s a lot of fun, too

A folded origami owl on a pink background made with instructions from Skip to My Lou. — Hoot! You can fold your own origami owl.

Origami is a great way for kids to expand their creativity, and we have so many other animals for them to try out afterward, including an origami frog, an origami parrot, an origami crane, as well as a paper rabbit.

For beginners to origami, we’ve provided a video too, so you can see exactly how the folds should be made.

So get your kids to pack away their toys, and start paper folding! They’ll produce owls that look similar to their real-life counterparts!

Supplies Needed for This Origami Parrot Tutorial

You will need the following supplies:

A square sheet of paper
Colored pencils or a marker

You won’t need glue or a pair of scissors for this origami owl.

Video Lesson: Origami Owl

Step-by-Step Instructions for Folding an Origami Owl

So let’s start folding our origami owl.

Step 1: Start with a square sheet of paper. You can use white paper, and then decorate the owl yourself, but it looks far better if you opt for a colored piece of paper. Take the paper and fold it in half.

Two hands holding a square piece of colored paper. — Start with a square piece of colored paper.

Two hands folding the square piece of paper in half. — Fold it in half, with creases made along the centerline.

Step 2: Now fold the bottom of the paper upwards to the center crease line. Flip the paper 180 degrees and do the same again, as shown in the images below.

Two hands folding the bottom of the paper up to the center crease line. — Fold the bottom of the paper up to the center crease line.

Two hands flipping the paper 180 degrees and folding the bottom up to the center crease line. — Flip the paper 180 degrees and do the same again.

Step 3: Flip the paper 90 degrees and fold in half.

Two hands flipping the paper 90 degrees and folding it in half. — Flip the paper 90 degrees and fold it in half again.

Step 4: Unfold the paper again, and make the same folds you made in step 2. Fold the bottom towards the center crease line, flip 180 degrees, and do it again. If you are unsure, the video shows these steps clearly.

Two hands folding the bottom up to the center crease line. — Fold the bottom of the paper up to the center crease line, flip 180 degrees, and make the same fold again.

Step 5: Unfold the paper and flip it over, with the color side now showing. Fold the right-hand corner over to form a triangle. Do the same for the left-hand corner.

Two hands folding a triangle in the right hand top corner. — Fold a triangle, like this on the right-hand corner.

Two hands folding a triangle in the left hand top corner. — Make the same fold for the left-hand corner.

Step 6: Flip the paper over and fold the top section down towards the first crease line, as shown in the image below.

Two hands flipping the paper over. — Flip the paper over.

Two hands folding the top of the paper downwards, in line with the first crease line. — Fold the top downwards, in line with the first crease line.

Step 7: Fold the two sides in just as you did with the top section of the paper.

Two hands folding the two sides in just as was done with the top section. — Fold the two sides in as well.

Step 8: Flip the paper over once again, and fold the bottom section upwards towards the top crease line.

Two hands folding the bottom upwards in line with the first crease line. — Fold the bottom upwards in line with the first crease line.

Step 9: Now fold both the left and right-hand sides of the bottom flap to form triangles, as shown in the images below.

Two hands folding the right-hand side to form a triangle. — Fold the right-hand side to form a triangle.

Two hands folding the left-hand side to form a triangle. — And the left-hand side, too.

Step 10: Unfold the two triangles slightly, bringing out the flaps downwards. If you are unsure, the video shows this clearly.

Two hands unfolding the bottom triangle and bringing as section of the paper downwards. — Unfold the flaps with the bottom sections now facing down.

Two hands showing how the flaps will look when folded downwards. — It should look like this when the flaps of the two triangles are folded downwards.

Step 11: Flip the paper 180 degrees again. Fold the right-hand side at a 45-degree angle. Do the same with the left-hand side.

Two hands folding the right-hand side of the paper at a 45-degree angle after flipping it 180 degrees. — Fold the right-hand side at a 45-degree angle.

Two hands folding the left-hand side of the paper at a 45-degree angle — Fold the left-hand side in the same way.

Step 12: Flip the paper 180 degrees again and now fold the two central flaps of paper outwards, as shown in the images below.

Two hands folding the central right flap of paper outwards. — Fold the center flap on the right outwards.

Two hands folding the central left flap of paper outwards. — Make the same fold with the left flap of paper.

Step 13: Fold the top triangle over to form the owl’s beak.

Two hands folding the small top triangle over to form the beak. — Fold the small top triangle over to form the beak.

Step 14: Fold the owl shape in half. Work the creases to form the shape of the head perfectly. The video shows this clearly.

Two hands folding the owl shape in half — Fold the owl in half.

Two hands working the creases to form the head perfectly. — Work the creases to form the head perfectly.

Step 15: Flip the paper over and now fold the bottom two wings inwards.

Two hands flipping the paper over and folding the bottom two wings inwards. — After flipping the paper over, fold the two bottom sections inward.

Step 16: That’s the folding done, so now it is time to decorate your owl in any way you see fit. Start by drawing some eyes and add a few feathers, too.

Two hands using a black marker to decorate the owl by adding eyes and feathers. — Decorate your friendly owl!

Hoot! Hoot! Well done, your origami owl is complete.

Two hands holding a finished origami owl. — Beautiful, right?

Other Origami Projects to Try

There are many other origami projects on Skip to My Lou, so be sure to try these out.

I would love to keep you fully stocked with creative ideas, yummy recipes, fun crafts, and loads of free printables. Subscribe to Skip to my Lou to get new ideas delivered to your inbox. Follow me on social media on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram for all my latest updates.

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