Try out some easy origami with your kids with this fun paper crab craft! There are lots of ways to decorate it and it’s especially nice to do as a painting activity. I’ve provided the folding instructions as a PDF file available to download for free at the end of the post. Younger children will probably need some help with steps 4 – 6.
This is a lovely craft to do as part of a marine life or beach theme. Check out some of our other sea animals resources at the end of the post!
Supplies
- White or coloured paper
- Watercolour paints, crayons, coloured pencils or pens
- Optional: Stickers and googly eyes
How to make the easy origami paper crab:
1. Cut a square of paper about 21cm x 21cm. An easy way to make a square from a piece of A4 or letter paper is to fold one corner down and line it up to the opposite side. Mark where the paper makes the line across and cut.
2. Paint or draw designs on the paper. Make sure the paper is dry before folding – watercolour paints will dry fastest.
3. Place the paper with the undecorated side face up. Take corner A to corner C and make a fold. Open up the paper, then take corner B to corner D and make another fold. Open up the paper again.
4. Take corner A to corner D, making sure the paper folds inside. Do the same with corners B and C. You should end up with a triangle shape, with folds inside like this:
5. Take corner C and fold down towards the inside of the triangle.
6. Do the same with corner D.
7. Your paper should look like this:
8. Turn the paper over. Take corner A and fold up as shown in the diagram below.
9. Do the same with corner B.
10. Fold up the point at the bottom of the crab.
11. Turn over, and draw or stick on some eyes. If you want, you can decorate the crab shell more with stickers or sticky gems!
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More SEA & BEACH related resources:
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This is a free printable, but please read our FAQ for full info about how you can use our materials.
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