How to Make an Origami Fish (Easy for Kids)

Start with a rectangle sheet of paper. Fold one short edge across to meet the long side, lining up the corners so the fold makes a clean diagonal. Press the crease flat with your finger.

This first fold sets up the square you need for the fish. Keep the edges even as you go - a sloppy start here shows up in every fold after it. Bright colored paper works best if you want the finished fish to pop.

See the strip of paper poking out past the folded triangle? Snip it off with scissors along the edge of the folded part. Now you have a true square, folded once into a triangle.

Hang on to that leftover strip - it is handy for a bookmark or a smaller fold later. A clean square is what makes every fold from here line up right, so take a second to trim it straight.

Fold the triangle in half, bringing one point over to the other so it becomes a smaller triangle. Run your nail along the fold, then open it right back up.

Those two crease lines crossing the square are the guides for the folds that come next. Make them sharp and centered. A well-creased square almost folds itself into a fish, so this quiet step matters more than it looks.

Bring the top edge and the bottom edge in toward the middle crease so the square flattens into a wide band. Line the raw edges up along the center line and press them down.

This is where the flat square starts turning into something with a body. The layers stack on top of each other and the paper gets a bit thicker, which is normal. Keep it flat and even as you crease.

Now make it look like a fish. Pull the loose flaps out to one side so a pointed tail fin pops up, and let the wide part become the body. Nudge the paper into a fish silhouette with a rounded front and a forked tail.

Flatten everything down once it looks right. If the tail feels floppy, press the fold at its base again. This is the fun part where a folded shape suddenly turns into a fish you recognize.

Grab a marker and give your fish a face. Draw a small round eye near the front point and a little curved mouth just below it. That one dot of ink is what turns a folded shape into a fish.

If you would rather not draw, stick on a googly eye instead. Add stripes, scales, or fins with the marker for more character, then fold a whole school in different colors and tape them across a window.