Make folded paper hats to keep your head covered in a dirty area, as an origami for kids birthday party craft, for use in a Halloween costume or as a play prop.
Paper Hat Fun
A paper hat is often one of the first figures a child learns to make using origami techniques. Making a paper hat is often taught as part of a child's arts and crafts time in school, at camp or on play dates with friends. The hats, often made of newspaper or large rectangular construction paper, provide kids with plenty of imaginative ideas.
Let kids draw or color plain paper hats to illustrate the hat's purpose, like making boats on a captain's hat. Often, instructions for other origami things, like boats, begins with some of the same steps as a paper hat.
Adults can use paper hats to designate a birthday when out to dinner, or make a special one as a creative but cheap workplace reward. Families can use the hats to designate the speaker at family meetings. Hats also protect your head from spills, dust, paint and other items when you are working on a project.
Simple Paper Hat Instructions
The newspaper hat is a simple origami project that takes little time or effort to create. Few people run into problems when making the hat. You will need a large rectangular piece of paper or sheet of newspaper for this project.
- Fold a double-page newspaper spread in half vertically.
- Fold the newspaper in half again, then open.
- Take the top corner and fold it into the center crease. Do this on both sides. When finished, it should look like a triangle on top.
- Fold the bottom flap up to the triangle line and crease firmly.
- Turn the figure over and fold the other bottom flap upward.
- Tuck the corners into the figure so the hat stays together.
Even though the instructions are simple, it can be difficult to follow without photographs. Check out DLTK's Newspaper Sailor Hats, Activity Village's Origami Newspaper Hats and Origami Instruction's Origami Hat if you need additional information on making the folded hat.
Unique Origami Hats
Origami hats are not limited to looking like the child's version of the simple newspaper hat. Intermediate to expert origami enthusiasts may be interested in creating unique folded paper hats that are more challenging than the original. Watch these videos for more information about how to fold paper hats:
- How to Fold Origami Wizards Hat (use a larger piece of paper for one that can be worn by a person)
- Wonder How To: How to Origami a Paper Halloween Witch Hat Japanese Style
- Wonder How To: How to Origami a Party Hat Japanese Style
- YouTube: Simple Origami Hat
- YouTube: Origami King's Crown
If you have a specific type of hat in mind, chances are, someone somewhere has made a video or created online origami diagrams on how to create the hat. Use your favorite search engine to do a hunt for the particular paper hat you need to make.
Origami paper hats are simple enough for beginners to create, while leaving room for advanced paper folders to create their own versions. Try your hand at making a paper hat after you finish reading the newspaper.
