Origami guide
How to fold an origami elephant face
Big floppy ears and a fan-folded trunk, from one square. The pleats are the fun part: fold back and forth like a paper fan.
- Growing folder
- About 10 minutes
- 7 steps
You will need
One square of origami paper, 15 cm (6 in) across. Grey or blue paper makes a classic elephant.
This friendly elephant face has big ears and a trunk folded like a fan. It is a lovely model for practising pleats, and it looks great on a card or a bookmark. It only uses valley folds, apart from the trunk, where valley and mountain folds take turns.
Step by step
How to read the diagrams
- Valley fold: fold towards you
- Mountain fold: fold away from you
- Crease you made earlier
- Fold, then unfold
- Pull out or open
- Turn the paper over
- Push in here
New to folding? Start with how to start origami, which shows each fold.
Step 1
Fold it into a triangle
Start with the white side up, turned so a corner points at you. Fold the top corner down to the bottom corner.
Step 2
Crease the middle
Fold the triangle in half side to side and unfold.
Step 3
Fold the sides to the centre
Fold each slanted edge in so it lies along the centre crease. The two corners stick up past the top edge.
Step 4
Fold the ears out
Fold each top point out to the side, folding from the outer corner of the top edge down to the centre line. These are the ears.
Step 5
Fold the ear tips in
Fold the tip of each ear in a little, so the ears look rounder.
Step 6
Pleat the trunk
Fold the bottom point up a little, then fold it back down a little further up, back and forth like a paper fan, until you reach the bottom of the ears.
Step 7
Open the trunk and draw the eyes
Pull the pleats open a little so the trunk hangs down in ridges. Draw two eyes above the trunk. Your elephant is finished.
Tips
- Line the edges up with the centre crease in step 3, and the ears will match.
- Small pleats, lots of them. On a 15 cm square, pleats about the width of a pencil look best.
- Big paper, big ears. A 20 or 25 cm square is easier for small hands.
From face to moon
Our Elephant asleep on the moon papercraft kit folds a faceted elephant curled up in a crescent moon. It is a longer project with card, glue and a ruler, for older children and grown-ups.
Fold another
Try the panda face or the fox face, which start the same way.