Learn how to make an origami boat by following our step-by-step instructions. Your kids will enjoy making and sailing their paper boats and watching them float in the sink or in the great outdoors!
An A4 piece of paper
Start off with a sheet of paper and fold it in half downwards.
Fold in half again as shown on the second image (you don’t need to make the crease from top to bottom – you just need to mark the center).
Fold the top right corner into the centre.
Fold the top left corner into the centre.
Fold the top layer of the bottom rectangle up
Flip your paper over and fold the bottom rectangle up.
Fold the 4 Side Corners Inward
Pick up the paper, holding the flat edge and with the pointed end facing down. Push the left and right side together to open the piece of paper into a diamond shape. Continue to push the opposite sides together until they are flat against each other and a diamond shape is made.
Fold the bottom point up to the top point on one side.
Flip the paper over. Fold the bottom point up to the top point.
Pick up the piece of paper by the flat edge, with the pointed end facing down. Push the left and right ends of the paper together as before, to make a diamond shape. Press flat.
Pinch the top two points of the diamond and gently pull them apart. Use your thumb to press along the bottom edge.
Push the opposite end of your boat to give it shape and use your fingers to form a pyramid shape in the middle.
Your origami boat is now ready to sail! Bring it to the nearest pond. A puddle left over from the next big rain shower will also work fine.
When I as a kid, I used to make paper boats during the rains and float them in a large puddle that collected outside my grandmother’s place. The basic origami boat is another model that many children come across and we forget as adults. Let’s float back down memory lane.
The basic paper boat requires a rectangular sheet of paper, so if you’re using square origami paper, cut off a strip to make it rectangular.
Like most basic models, this is very forgiving and you can get away with using almost any sort of paper. If you plan on actually floating it in water, however, paper that’s too thin will not last very long, so keep that in mind.
To begin, keep the rectangle in portrait format in front of you, i.e. laid tall rather than wide. Fold the paper down in half, making it half as tall.
Next you should fold it in half again along the width of the sheet. That’s 4 layers of paper, so be careful to make a neat crease.
Open up the last fold and now fold down one half of the top folded edge down towards the central crease. It will form a triangle like this.
Mirror the same fold on the other half and you’ll create this peak or point at the top of your paper.
The model now has two loose layers of paper towards the bottom. Lift the top layer and fold it upwards. Turn the model over and do the same with the bottom flap of the paper again.
The model is now almost a perfect triangle except for these extra corners at the bottom. Fold the extra bits over the sides of the thick triangle, and repeat from the other side. Now you have a perfect triangle with a hollow bit at the bottom.
Open up the hollow gap and bring the two side corners of the triangle flat together like this. Fold the rest of it flat to form this small square.
The square still has a hollow area inside and one end has two free corners. Fold one of them to the opposite corner like this to form a smaller triangular shape.
Turn the model over and repeat with the remaining free corner.
You now have a smaller triangle with a hollow area inside. Like before, open this up and fold it flat into a smaller square.
The top end now has two loose triangular corners like you can see here. Pull those apart, and fold the base of the boat flat.
Open up the boat model and it should look like this with a triangular shape sticking out from the middle.
That triangular shape is hollow and can be opened up from the bottom. Pull it apart a little to make the boat more stable, It will also help it float on water without tipping over.
Your boat is done. Try it out!
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919,237 views • Uploaded on October 11, 2017 by Evan Zodl
I LOVE paper craft, as you can do it whenever wherever with whatever piece of paper you have! Get the hang of it and you can entertain your kids on a bus, a plane or in the car. Making these easy origami paper boats is such a wonderful “childhood classic activity”. Let’s learn how to make a boat !
Make these paper boats out of any piece of paper any place at any time (I remember making these origami boats out of my bus ticket, whilst waiting to arrive at my destination)!
Make them HUGE or make them small. All you need is a sheet of paper of ANY size.
Not only only are the paper boats a fun craft, but they are also a great introduction to origami and following instructions! We love Easy Origami for Kids and this is a great one to get kids interested!
No kits needed. Just one sheet of paper! Construction paper works too, but if you want to float these, “printer” paper or a magazine paper better, as they slightly less water absorbant, so will last longer!
Yes that is right.. learn how to make the one boat.. and you can decorate and use it in so many different ways. Here we simply too colourful paper and created an army of RAINBOW Paper Boats. They make great little canoes for playmobil mean and small toys too (squish down the middle to make space for sitting).
Next. We took plain white paper, and turned it into a pirate ship, with the quick addition of a Skull and Crossbones Toothpick Flag. Harr. Harr. Gotta love a Pirate Craft!
The great thing is, that these Paper Boats, also float. Kids can colour it in and take it in the bath or play with it on a small river (it will dissolve, should it float away). I have also used it to make a cute Father’s Day card!
My neighbours boys (5yrs & 7yrs) saw my draft video and after that they couldn’t stop – we made about 20 paper boats over the weekend – including to two MASSIVE ones. The 7yrs REALLY impressed me with his Pirate Ship and Island. This is what “How to..” is all about – getting stuck in and having fun with crafts! So chuffed!
Aren’t they simply fun?! (My Paper Boat Craft Models are in disguise)
Then it got better, they then went to a party… and ended up TEACHING their friends how to make boats. Here they are teaching each other to make their paper boats. **Bless**.
This is a little trickier than the paper cup craft from a couple of weeks ago, but once you know how to make one, you can make it anywhere out of any scarp paper (even a bus ticket!!). Keep your kids entertained on the go! Make one!!!
Any size goes. It really doesn’t matter!
Though paper boats are super easy to learn how to make, it is great to watch this How to make a Paper Boat video. Seeing really is the quickest and easiest way to learn this wonderful Origami for Kids!
An A4 sheet of paper is ideal – you do need a rectangular sheet of paper… and most sheets of paper work. But we like the dimensions of an A4 or A5 sheet of paper. They are the perfect rectangle for a paper boat.
The first fold follows the basic pattern for an origami hat.
Fold your sheet of paper in half. Make a neat crease. (So if using an A4 sheet of paper, you now have an A5 sized paper infront of you – like a card that opens and shuts).
Turn the paper round, so the closed edge is along the top. And the open edges along the bottom.
Fold the paper in half again and make a middle crease. Open back up. You just wanted to create a perpendicular guide line.
Now you need to work on both top corners: Fold the top right corner down, to meet this middle crease and create a triangle flap.
Repeat with the top left corner. Now you have two triangle shape flaps that meet in the middle.
You should now have two triangles with a banner along the bottom made of two sheets of paper.
Take the bottom of the paper and fold up. Two small triangles will overlap. Fold these down to make another eat edge.
Flip the origami over and repeat for the other side.
You should now have what looks like a “classic paper hat”.
Take the two points one either side and bring to the centre and flatten.
You should have a diamond with equal sides in front of you (or a square shape on it’s side).
Take the bottom corner and fold up. Flip over.
Repeat for the other side. You should now have a traingle again.
Take the point on the left and right and again, bring them together to meet in the middle.
And flattern. You should have another diamond.
This time, you can pull it appart and make our final boat shape.
And finished! Now decorate it in any way you wish! And as we have shown you above you can have lots of fun with this basic paper boat.
The paper boat does float – it is perfect for the sink or puddles, but will eventually get soggy. If you want to play with it for longer, you may want to make it from waxed paper. Or maybe add some clear tape to the bottom of the boat to water proof it a little.
More Easy Origami for Kids here:
See all our fun DIY Boat Crafts here, incluing other fun boat crafts that float:
This video tutorial is also available on my YouTube channel
I think everyone has made a paper boat at least once in their lifetime. Making paper boat is easy as we don’t need many materials to make it.
This is an origami craft, so all you need is a sheet of paper.
And this is a craft that every parent passes onto their kids, right?
Here is the step-by-step way to make a boat out of paper.
A4 sheet / Letter size paper/Any rectangular paper
a. Take an A4 sheet paper. Hold it horizontally as shown in the picture.
b. Fold it from left to right.
c. Make a crease.
d. Now, fold the paper from bottom to top.
e. Fold it well and make a crease.
f. Unfold the fold we just made in step d.
g&h. Now, fold the right corner towards the centre and make a crease.
i. Similarly, fold the left corner towards the centre.
j. Flatten the folded pieces down and now you have the figure as shown in pic j.
k&l. Now, from the bottom, fold one layer upwards along the bottom of the folds we made in j.
m. Make a crease and flatten it well.
n. Turn the figure over.
o. Now, like we did in the previous step, fold the bottom layer upwards.
p. Flatten the fold and make a crease again.
q&r. Open the bottom of the figure.
s. After opening as shown in pic r, flatten the top corner to the bottom as you can see in pic s.
You can see that the edges of the paper boat are overlapping on each other.
t. Insert one edge into the other (see pic t).
u. You get the figure in u.
v. Now, fold the layer from bottom to the top as shown in pic v.
w. Flatten the fold.
x. Flip the paper over and fold the other layer too. You will get the triangle shape in x.
y. Open the bottom of the figure again by pulling the flaps apart.
z. Flatten it out and you will get a diamond shape now.
aa. Open the figure by pulling the sides apart from the top to get the shape of the boat.
ab. Flatten it out an open again and your paper boat is ready.
In case you have any doubt regarding any step, feel free to watch the step-by-step video tutorial below. Please make sure you also subscribe to our Youtube channel to get more craft ideas for kids every week.
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Do you want to learn how to make an origami boat that floats? It’s actually a lot easier than you might think! In this step-by-step guide, I will show you how to do it.
All you need is a piece of paper and some patience. Follow these simple instructions and you’ll be able to create your own floating origami boat in no time!
There you have it, that short video tutorial should be an easy and fun way for you to learn how to make an origami boat that floats! So what are you waiting for? Get out your paper and give it a try!
I’m not done yet though! If you prefer learning a different way and videos aren’t your thing, don’t worry! I have written out step-by-step instructions with images for you below.
If you enjoy this design, make sure to check out all my other Origami Vehicles !
1. creating horizontal and vertical creases.
Fold in half horizontally and vertically. Then fold back to make crease.
Fold in the dotted lines and fold back to make crease. Then turn over.
Fold in the dotted lines as directed by the arrow such that the flap is towards the top. Do that for the left and right diagonal.
Bring the flap downward towards the center.
Fold the right and left diagonal towards the center and unfold to make crease.
Fold the two flaps in the dotted lines and unfold to make crease.
Open the model.
Squash fold.
Pocket fold.
Fold in the dotted line and unfold to make crease.
Fold in the dotted line and bring the two flaps toward the center.
Pocket fold in the dotted lines.
Congratulations! You have successfully completed the origami project. Enjoy your final result!
There you go! If you enjoy instructions more than videos I hope that these were simple and easy to follow! Bellow you’ll find the same instructions but in one large printable graphic!
Now that I’ve shown how to make an origami boat, there are many other incredible origami creations you can make! Check out some of my other how-to origami guides to learn how to make a variety of different objects, animals, and more! I hope that you enjoyed this how-to guide and that you’ll continue exploring the wonderful world of origami!
Check out my other origami designs and sharpen your paper folding skills!
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Last Updated: April 25, 2024
This article was co-authored by Robert Homayoon . Robert Homayoon is an Origami Expert known for his engaging YouTube videos and accessible instructions. He has been teaching origami on YouTube since 2009. His channel has a following of over 676,000 subscribers, and his videos have garnered over 211 million views. Robert uses his channel to highlight his passion for teaching people origami, crafts, and how to solve puzzles. He graduated from SUNY Albany in 2007 and earned his D.M.D degree from Temple University Dental School in 2013. This article has been viewed 65,428 times.
Origami is fun, and can be a boredom buster. Learn how to make a sailboat with origami.
Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about origami, check out our in-depth interview with Robert Homayoon .
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We love doing simple origami and this time we’re going to learn how to make a paper boat – a summer favorite!
We’ve done quite a few awesome origami tutorials for kids and each of them is a must make!
I loved to make these as a kid (the exact same ones) and I loved to play with them even more – we would sail them in the bathtub, puddles and lakes and when possible even have boat races with other neighbourhood kids.
This time though we took it a step further too see who can make the smallest origami boat – each time working with a smaller piece of paper (cutting the size of the paper to half each time) and I was genuinely surprised with the size of paper we have come down to – and too be honest we could probably do one even smaller if I’d have some tweezers at hand.
All you need is a sheet of paper letter sized or A4. Regular print paper is perfect for this project. Use as many colors as possible.
Start off with a sheet of paper and fold it in half downwards.
Fold in half again as shown on the second image (you don’t need to make the crease from top to bottom – you just need to mark the center).
Bring corners to the center so that you get a triangle shape with a rectangle under it.
Fold the rectangle part under the triangle upwards (as shown with the purple spots) – flip your origami and do the same on the other side.
Grab the center of the triangle shape as indicated on the first image above with the red spot and pull both sides (holding the red spot) out. Flatten.
You’ll get the shape as shown on the second image above (ignore that red spot in the left bottom corner – I have no idea how that one came there haha).
Fold the front layer up (as shown with the green spot) flip the origami boat to be and do the same with the back layer. You’ll get a triangle shape.
Slowly pull the top parts outwards and you have your paper boat!
More cool origami for kids you can try:
We’ve had a lot of fun creating this shark fortune teller – it’s fun to make and even more fun to play with. You should also give these origami frogs a try!
With thousands of crafts, activities, worksheets, coloring pages, and drawing tutorials to print, you will always have just the resource you need at your disposal. Perfect for parents and teachers alike!
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Do you like making origami paper boats? Origami is fun, but it can be even more fun if you make the boat out of origami paper! This tutorial will teach you how to make an origami boat with just one piece of paper.
It’s also a great craft for kids , since it requires no cutting or gluing and is very simple to fold. Let’s get started!
This tutorial is a step-by-step guide on how to make a paper boat for your child to enjoy. It’s a fun activity for all ages, and a perfect rainy day activity.
Take a square sheet of paper, any kind of paper would work.
Fold in half.
Fold in half again.
Then take one of the triangle and fold it upwards.
Flip it and fold the remaining three triangles upwards.
Now you can see a pocket below.
Place your thumbs in it, stretch it and then press.
Take upper corners and stretch out.
Eazy Peezy, Lemon Squeezy!
Origami paper boats are a fun craft that can be made by anyone. We’ve provided you with instructions for making an origami boat, but there are plenty of other designs to explore as well.
This is just one example of the many crafts and projects out there that don’t require any special skills! If you enjoyed this article or want more like it, please comment below so we know what our readers enjoy reading about.
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1. Make the triangle into a square. Pick up the triangle, rotate it 45 degrees, then use your fingers to open up the bottom of the triangle. Pull the paper apart gently until it pops into a square shape. Make sure the bottom corners of the triangle fold over each other and become the bottom corner of a diamond.
Learn how to make a paper boat with easy steps and video tutorial. Have fun with this simple origami project for kids and adults.
Press along the edge to make a fold. Pick up the folded paper and place your thumbs into the opening at the bottom. Again, slowly pull your thumbs apart from one another, pulling apart the paper as you go.When you finish pulling, the paper should be flat again, as shown in the photo below. Once again, run your fingers along all of the folds ...
How To Make a Paper Boat That Floats - Origami Boatsheet: А4A classic boat made of paper that is easy to make. It is beautiful and long floats.Please like, c...
Origami Boat 🛥 How to Make a Paper Boat that Floats - Paper Speed BoatSubscribe to channel: http://bit.ly/2vxE4Wu#origami #easyorigami #papercraft #PaperCra...
Finalize the Folds. Pull apart the left and right flaps. Flatten your paper sculpture in the shape of a boat. Open it slightly. The triangle in the middle resembles a sail. Make the most well-known origami boat at home. This paper boat can float in water and is a perfect project for kids.
How to Make a Paper Boat. Begin with a 15 cm (6″) square piece of paper (or size of your choice), colored on both sides if desired. The size of the paper square will determine the size of the finished boat. The boat will be about 10 cm (about 4″ long). Cut Paper and Do Base Folds
Step 3: Fold the paper in half vertically, bringing the left side over to meet the right. Make sure you only crease the very top section of this fold! Step 4: Unfold the paper. Step 5: Fold the two top coners down to meet in the centre. Step 6: Fold the top layer of paper upwards. Step 7: Turn the boat around. Step 8: Repeat step 6, folding the ...
With the help of this simple step-by-step lesson, you can quickly and easily create the most well-known origami paper boat. Step 1: Start with an 8.5x11 sheet of rectangular paper. Step 2: Fold the paper in half left to right, then unfold. Step 3: Fold in half again, this time folding top to bottom. Step 4: Fold the upper left and right corners ...
Fold the bottom point up to the top point on one side. Flip the paper over. Fold the bottom point up to the top point. Pick up the piece of paper by the flat edge, with the pointed end facing down. Push the left and right ends of the paper together as before, to make a diamond shape. Press flat. Pinch the top two points of the diamond and ...
Step 12. Open up the boat model and it should look like this with a triangular shape sticking out from the middle. That triangular shape is hollow and can be opened up from the bottom. Pull it apart a little to make the boat more stable, It will also help it float on water without tipping over. Your boat is done.
Simple. 5 minutes. 1 rectangle. In this video, you will learn how to make a paper boat. This is an easy traditional design that is perfect for beginners! This video is dedicated to my friend Catherine Frey who is always folding paper boats. Today is her birthday, so I figured I'd surprise her with a quick tutorial!
Repeat with the top left corner. Now you have two triangle shape flaps that meet in the middle. You should now have two triangles with a banner along the bottom made of two sheets of paper. Take the bottom of the paper and fold up. Two small triangles will overlap. Fold these down to make another eat edge.
x. Flip the paper over and fold the other layer too. You will get the triangle shape in x. y. Open the bottom of the figure again by pulling the flaps apart. z. Flatten it out and you will get a diamond shape now. aa. Open the figure by pulling the sides apart from the top to get the shape of the boat.
Difficulty: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ (Simple)In this video, you will learn how to make a paper boat. This is an easy traditional design that is perfect for beginners!This v...
Bring the flap downward towards the center. 5. Creating Center Creases. Fold the right and left diagonal towards the center and unfold to make crease. 6. Folding and Unfolding Flaps. Fold the two flaps in the dotted lines and unfold to make crease. 7. Opening the Origami Model.
Step-by-step Origami Boat: 1 Place the piece of A4 paper in a horizontal position. Fold the bottom edge to the top edge and then unfold. 2 Fold the left edge of the paper to the right edge of the paper. 3 Position the paper horizontally, with the open end facing towards you. Fold the top right corner into the centre.
Obtain a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 inch computer paper. 2. Fold it in half. 3. Fold down the corners to make a triangle. 4. Fold the bottom flaps over the edge of the triangle on both sides to form an origami hat. 5. Flatten by opening the figure and folding the right and left corners together.
Fold the front layer up (as shown with the green spot) flip the origami boat to be and do the same with the back layer. You'll get a triangle shape. Pull the sides outwards and you'll again get the square shape as shown on the first image bellow. Slowly pull the top parts outwards and you have your paper boat! More cool origami for kids you ...
Origami is fun, but it can be even more fun if you make the boat out of origami paper! This tutorial will teach you how to make an origami boat with just one piece of paper. It's also a great craft for kids, since it requires no cutting or gluing and is very simple to fold. Let's get started!
How to fold Paper Sailing Ship. Origami for kids. Learn to make origami paper items. Click on the link below to more origami art crafts for children: https:...
Easy Origami Yacht - How To Make an Easy Paper Yacht - Paper Folding - Paper Craft || DIYSUBSCRIBE HERE : https://bit.ly/34TRzN2STAY WITH ME : https://twitte...
In this video I will show you step by step how to make a paper boat.