Origami Crown

Very soon my young fiery red head will be turning the big 2! I have been trying to decide what theme, if any, I should go with. I want to do something very simple, age appropriate and inexpensive. We are going to hold her birthday party at an awesome kid friendly cafe that has a huge outdoor area with big chalkboard walls, sandpit and little gardens perfect for dreaming up fantasy fairy games. We are also  going to order a couple of platters of fruit and chocolate brownies which takes the stress out of cooking. The kids can run wild, the parents can drink good coffee, everyone is happy. Anyway, back to the theme. I'm actually going to skip the theme idea this year (sorry Mila!) and just make it a small, special fun morning filled with crafts, music and hopefully lots of laughter. Being the frugal mama I am, I've even talked my partner into singing and playing some nursery rhyme tunes on the guitar for the kiddies. Free entertainment!

I was keen to handmake something for my daughters party and while dabbling with a bit of origami today I  made this cute party hat that she can wear, though.. she most likely wont! Regardless, it is very easy to make and a funky looking piece of origami that can be tailored to each special little person and used for dolls and teddies after the party. Here is my finished product and instructions to make your own.

Materials:

• 7 pieces of 15cm x 15cm square paper. I had large pieces of coloured paper that I cut to size and then had my toddler draw all over it for her own personal touch to the crown.
• Cellotape
• Decorations of your choice (feathers, stickers or colored pencils all work well for little hands)

How:

Fold the square piece of paper in half an then in half again.

Fold both the top right and left corners to the centre.

Fold the bottom edge to the centre.

Fold the bottom edge upwards again.

Fold paper in half again along the vertical axis. Crease well and unfold again.

You now have one modular of the crown. Continue making your other modulars the same way and then join them all together. Instructions for joining are below.

Slightly open up the inside of modular as I am doing in picture below. The next modular will slip into here.

Push them nice and snug together then place a little bit of tape to hold it together in the area I am showing in the picture below. You can skip this step but I found it better to do this as the paper I use was quite thin and the pieces kept slipping out.

Keep doing this with the other modulars until you form your crown.

Now let your child go crazy with adding their decorations!

Voila! A crown fit for the queen/king of the world ;)

Love Astrid x