Paper snowflakes are one of those crafts that look complicated but really come down to two skills - folding into the right starting shape and cutting clean lines. The folding builds the six-fold symmetry that makes the snowflake look real; the cuts you make decide whether you get a delicate filigree or a chunky cartoon.
This walkthrough is from Wonder Crafts on YouTube. The technique is the classic six-fold method - fold a square in half three times into a narrow wedge, sketch a design along the folded edges, cut, and unfold.
One sheet makes one snowflake. Cut a few at once for a window display - they look great taped to a window with daylight coming through.
How to Fold Paper for a Snowflake
The fold is the whole trick. Cut into a square of paper folded the wrong number of times and you get a four-pointed or eight-pointed star, which is pretty but is not what snow does. Real snowflakes are six-sided, and six points come from folding the paper into thirds.
Square sheet, folded in half diagonally into a triangle. Fold that triangle in half again. Now the tricky part: fold the resulting triangle into thirds, overlapping the two outer flaps like you are folding a letter. The wedge you end up with has six layers of paper in it, and every cut you make passes through all six.
Getting the thirds even takes a couple of tries. Fold one side over by eye, then bring the other side across and adjust both before you crease anything. A wedge that is off by a few degrees still makes a good snowflake, so do not chase perfection here.
How to Cut a Paper Snowflake
Cut the top edge straight across first. That flat cut is what turns the wedge into a snowflake instead of a floppy triangle, and cutting it at a slight angle instead of straight gives you longer, spikier arms.
After that, every cut is a notch taken out of one of the three edges. Notches on the two folded edges become the interior holes. Notches on the single open edge become the outline of the arms. That is the entire logic of it.
- Leave paper between your cuts. If two notches meet, the snowflake falls into pieces when you unfold it. Aim to leave at least a few millimetres of paper anywhere two cuts get close.
- Cut deep, not wide. Long thin notches make delicate filigree. Short wide ones make a chunky snowflake that reads as a blob from across the room.
- Vary the shapes. Triangles, curves and squared-off slots in the same snowflake look far more like real snow than six identical triangles.
- Small sharp scissors beat big ones. Six layers of paper is a lot to push through, and kitchen scissors will crush the folds.
If the paper is too thick to cut through cleanly, cut the outline first, unfold once so you are working through three layers instead of six, then cut the interior holes.
Snowflake Templates and Patterns
You do not need a printable template to make a good snowflake, and most people who go looking for one are really after ideas for what to cut rather than lines to trace.
Sketch your design on the folded wedge in pencil before you cut anything. That is your template, it costs nothing, and it means you can rub out a shape you do not like instead of throwing away a ruined snowflake. Draw the notches you want on each of the three edges, check that none of them meet, then cut along the pencil lines.
To repeat a design you liked, unfold the finished snowflake, flatten it under a book, and trace one sixth of it onto a fresh wedge. That gives you a reusable pattern in your own hand, sized to the paper you actually use.
Three patterns worth knowing, because they cover most of what people picture:
- Classic filigree: many thin notches along both folded edges, a pointed tip, nothing cut wider than about a third of the wedge.
- Star: one big deep notch on each folded edge near the tip, leaving six long arms with a solid centre.
- Lace: rows of small circles and slots punched through the middle of the wedge rather than cut in from the edges. Use a hole punch for the circles.
An Easy Paper Snowflake for Younger Kids
The six-fold wedge is hard for small hands to cut through. Drop to four folds instead: square, half diagonally, half again, and stop there. You get four layers and a four-pointed snowflake, which no child has ever complained about.
Thinner paper helps more than sharper scissors. Standard printer paper is easier than construction paper, and tissue paper is easier still, though it tears if you unfold it roughly.
Let them cut freely rather than following a sketched design. Random notches on a folded wedge come out symmetrical no matter what, which is the part that feels like magic when the paper opens up.
How to Make a 3D Paper Snowflake
The 3D version is a different craft that shares a name. It is built from six square sheets rather than cut from one.
Fold each square in half diagonally twice, then cut three slits parallel to the open edge, stopping short of the fold. Open the square flat. Roll the innermost pair of flaps together and tape them into a tube, flip the sheet, roll the next pair the other way, and keep alternating until all four pairs are joined. That gives you one arm.
Make six arms. Staple them together at the centre in two groups of three, join the groups, then tie the outer points of neighbouring arms together so the whole thing holds its shape. Hang it from the middle with fishing line.
It takes about half an hour and looks like it took longer, which is the best kind of Christmas decoration.
Paper Bag Snowflakes
Twelve brown paper lunch bags, a glue stick and one cut make a snowflake nearly two feet across.
Stack the bags flat. Run a stripe of glue up the middle of each bag, from the bottom edge to about two thirds of the way up, and press the next bag on top. Glue all twelve into one block. Cut the open end of the stack into a point or a set of notches, exactly as you would cut a folded wedge.
Now fan the stack open into a circle and glue the first bag to the last. The bags spread into a huge starburst. Hang it flat against a wall or a window - it is too big and too light to hang free.
Which Paper Works Best
Ordinary printer paper is the right default. It folds crisply, cuts cleanly through six layers, and is stiff enough to hang without curling.
Origami paper gives you colour on one side and white on the other, which looks good against a window. Tissue paper makes the most delicate snowflakes and the most frustrating cutting. Card stock is a mistake at six layers unless you cut in two passes.
Whatever you use, trim it to a true square first. A rectangle folded diagonally leaves a strip along one edge, and that strip throws off the symmetry of every cut after it.
Flattening and Hanging Them
Fresh snowflakes hold the memory of the folds and sit open like a fan. Press them flat under a stack of books overnight, or run a warm dry iron over them with a sheet of paper on top.
For windows, a small loop of tape at the centre holds better than tape on an arm, which tears. For a hanging display, thread fishing line through one of the interior holes near the centre. Sticky tack marks paint, so keep it off walls you care about.
Making a set for the holidays? Salt dough ornaments use the same cookie-cutter logic in a different material, and origami lucky stars fill a jar with the leftover paper strips.
