Paper bats are the easiest Halloween decoration you can fold. Kids can make one in five minutes, and a flock of them taped to a window or strung along a mantel looks like a proper spooky garland for almost no money.
This is an origami bat folded from one square of paper. No cutting, no glue. The wings get accordion-folded so they hold their shape, and the bottom point pinches into a head for the eyes. Each bat takes about two minutes once you have the sequence.
What you need
- One square of origami paper, 6 inches a side
- A fine-tip marker or two googly eye stickers
- A bone folder, a spoon back, or a thumbnail
- String for hanging, tape for windows
The easy origami bat
If simple origami bat diagrams have been putting you off, start here. Eight steps, one square, and the only move that takes judgement is the collapse in step 3. An adult can do that collapse for a younger child and hand the triangle back for the wing folds. A class of twenty gets through it in half an hour. New to folding? Start with the origami basics.
Origami bat instructions, start to finish
Crease both diagonals, flip the square over, then crease it in half each way. Those lines let the paper collapse into a waterbomb base, a flat triangle with two flaps front and back. Flatten that into a narrow band with a ridge down the middle and the body is already there. Lift the sides, pull them out left and right, and the silhouette appears. The pleats and the head pinch are the last two moves. That same waterbomb base starts the paper star and the jumping frog, so getting it clean pays off.
Does this one flap?
An origami flapping bat means one of two things: wings that move while the bat hangs, or a pull-tab fold where you tug the tail and the wings beat. This fold gives the first. The pleats work like a paper fan, so the wings bounce on a thread and a row over a doorway looks alive when someone walks past.
For more movement, keep the pleats shallow, stop an inch short of the wing tip, and hang the bat from one thread taped to the middle of the back. For a real pull-tab fold, learn the origami frog.
Halloween ideas for a flock of bats
One bat is a fidget. Six is decor.
- Garland. Thread taped to each back, six inches apart on fishing line.
- Window. Double-sided tape, bats climbing the glass in a curve. Lit from inside at night they read as silhouettes.
- Stair wall. Three sizes from 4, 6 and 8 inch squares, smaller going up.
- Table scatter. Loose bats between the bowls at a party.
Same logic as a ghost garland on the opposite wall.
What paper to use
Thin origami paper, the kind sold as kami, takes a pleat and holds it. Cardstock fights the collapse and cracks white on every fold. Printer paper works, but the pleats go soft in a day. Black reads as a bat from across the room; orange and purple suit a candy-corn palette. Skip heavy florals, the wing shape vanishes in them. A dollar bill origami bat exists, but that is a different fold on a rectangle.
Troubleshooting
- One wing sits higher. The opening diagonals missed the corners. Once the wings are pleated it is locked in, so start a fresh square.
- The paper will not collapse. Soft creases. Refold each over a table edge with a thumbnail.
- The pleats spring open. Pinch each down its whole length, not just the tip, then press under a book.
- The head will not stay pinched. A dot of glue stick inside the pinch holds it.
- The wings tear at the body. Too many layers of too heavy a sheet. Go lighter.
The same diagonal-crease start is behind the origami crane and the origami heart.
