Is your little one bored with their toys? Why not show them how to make a paper boat? Kids love watching the process and then spend hours playing with their creation, adding plasticine passengers, paper cannons, flagpoles, or makeshift sails. And launching paper boats is even more fun than folding them.
This design is very well-known, but not everyone knows how to follow the instructions to make a paper boat. But it’s really simple—all you need is a sheet of A4 paper or any other rectangular size (not square) and a little patience. You can use colored paper, like green, to make a military ship. Remember to fold the colored side inward for single-sided paper to maximize the color on the outside of the boat. These step-by-step instructions will help you understand the process. Let’s get started:
- Place the rectangular sheet vertically in front of you, then fold it in half from top to bottom.
- Now fold the workpiece vertically, aligning its left side with its right, and crease the fold.
- Return to the previous step – you have a horizontally folded sheet again (the fold is at the top, the free edges are at the bottom).
- Now fold the top corners towards you, bringing them together at a point and aligning the edges along the central crease of the workpiece.
- Fold up the “free” bottom edges on each side and shape the workpiece into a triangle, tucking the protruding corners into each other.
- Open your triangle from the bottom, bringing its sharp corners together – you will already have a square.
- The workpiece will have only 2 free corners, each of which must be folded towards the opposite vertex on each side.
- Open the resulting triangle again from the bottom, turning it into a regular square.
- Spread the “free” corners apart, releasing the mast, unfold the toy – the paper boat with a cone-shaped mast is ready.
Once you’ve completed these steps, you’ll have a paper boat with a cone-shaped mast. Now it’s time to decorate and style your boat! You can turn it into anything from a passenger liner to a warship. These boats float beautifully. To make it last longer, paint it with acrylic paints or use glossy paper.