How to Make a Paper Dinosaur - Easy Origami Triceratops

Difficulty: Medium
About 20 minutes
10 steps

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An origami dinosaur is a great rainy-day fold to make with a dinosaur-mad grandchild. This one is a triceratops, with a horned frill, four legs and a pointed tail, all from one square of paper and no cuts or glue. The folder at Easy Origami and Crafts rates it between easy and intermediate and talks you through every crease. Their version is adapted from an earlier origami triceratops design, with a few small changes.

How to make a paper dinosaur: the short version

Start with a square, about 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 inches), colored side down.
Crease both diagonals, fold the corners to the center, and crease the midlines.
Fold the edges to the center and reverse fold the corners to make the base.
Fold the new diagonals, fold in half and shape the long body.
Reverse fold the head, fold the horns, then pull out the legs.

Picking the paper

Standard origami paper (kami) is thin, crisp and colored on one side, which is exactly what this model wants. An 8 inch square gives a dinosaur about the size of a hand. Smaller 6 inch squares work but the horn folds get fiddly. Printer paper trimmed to a square works for practice, though it is thicker and the final folds get bulky.

Tips for clean folds

Crease firmly every time. Most of the early folds are guide lines, and the later steps only work if they are sharp.
Run a fingernail or a bone folder along each crease.
Line up corners first, then press the fold down from the middle out.
Keep the paper square to you as you work. Rotating it mid-step is where people get lost.

Folding with kids

Children around eight and up can usually manage this with a little help on the reverse folds. Younger kids can do the first few creases and then hand it over. Let them pick the color. Green is classic, but a purple or orange triceratops is more fun. Draw eyes on with a marker once it is done. If the reverse folds frustrate a young folder, pre-crease those steps for them and let them do the final shaping, which is the most satisfying part anyway.

Ideas for your dinosaurs

Fold a herd in different colors for a dinosaur birthday party table. Glue one to the front of a folded card for a dinosaur-lover's birthday. String a few on thread for a mobile over a bed, or tuck one into a lunch box as a surprise.

Common problems

Reverse folds will not sit flat. Go back and sharpen the diagonal creases from the start.
The body is lopsided. The first diagonal folds were probably off. Start over with a fresh square and line the corners up exactly.
The paper tears at the head. Thick paper cannot take that many layers. Switch to origami paper.

More origami to fold

Ready for another? Try an origami dragon or an origami frog. Brush up on the basics in how to make origami, or make a soft friend for it with a crochet dinosaur.

Quick answer

Fold an origami triceratops from one square of paper. A medium project: about 20 minutes. You need 2 things, including bone folder. The 10 steps start with fold the Origami Paper Square Along Both Diagonals, fold Each Corner of the Paper Square to the Center, fold the Top and Bottom Edges to the Center Crease, reverse Fold the Corners of the Origami Dinosaur Base and fold New Diagonals on the Origami Dinosaur Base.

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