Creative from Home: Paper Snowflakes

Winter is truly here in New England. Are you looking for activities for your children to do that don't require braving the cold and snow? Look no further! Cozy up in the comfort of your home while giving your kids the experience of being in their favorite snowy place. 

This Creative from Home winter wonderland activity is paper snowflakes!

Let’s get started!

You Will Need

• Paper

• Can be any color or size. You can even reuse old papers!

• Scissors

• Pencil or Marker

Step One

To make a snowflake, you need a square piece of paper. If you have a sheet of standard 8.5"x11" paper, fold one corner of the paper in a diagonal so that it creates a triangle. Cut off the extra rectangle at the bottom. You won’t need this small strip.

Step Two

Take your square and keep it folded as a triangle. Fold it one more time so you have an even smaller triangle (see dotted line in the picture below).

Step Three

This next part is a little tricky, so take your time. You want to take the two outer corners of your triangle and fold them towards the center.

Step Four

When you’re done, you will have one smaller triangle that looks like it has “bunny ears.” Flip the triangle around and you will see a straight line. Now it is time to cut off the “bunny ears.”

 

Now comes the fun part - designing your snowflake! To make this project work for children of all ages and levels, we have beginner, intermediate and advanced design options. Choose whichever option works best for you and your child. No two snowflakes are the same, so whatever paper snowflake you make is going to be beautiful and unique!

Beginner Design Option

Step One

Take your pencil or marker and draw whatever shapes you want along the sides of the triangle. Be careful to make sure the shapes on one side do not touch the other (doing so will cut your creation in half and you will lose your snowflake design). Here’s a tip: draw a line down the middle of the triangle to help create a boundary.

Step Two

Carefully cut out the shapes you drew. When you’re done, open up your triangle and you will see your snowflake!

Intermediate Design Option 

Step One

If you are a little more comfortable using scissors, this option is for you! On your triangle, we are going to create our designs around a ‘V’ shape. It can help to draw a ‘V’ like the one seen below on the triangle.

Step Two

Draw patterns within this ‘V’ area, that do not touch the sides. Be creative and draw whatever slopes and edges you want to outline your ‘V’ shape. Look at the pink line below if you need some inspiration.

Step Three

Cut out the shape you drew, being careful not to cut into the sides of the snowflake. The pink shape drawn above resulted in the snowflake below.

Advanced Design Option

Step One

Repeat the steps for the intermediate design Option. You will still draw your lines inside the triangle making the V shape (pink lines). But this time, you will also add shapes on the side of the triangle. On the edges, add more shapes as long as they do not touch the central V shape (green lines).

Step Two

Cut along the pink lines and the green lines to make a more detailed snowflake. You can see all the individual little pieces that you have to cut below. Make sure to recycle!

Step Three

Open up your V shape and reveal your snowflake!

Thank you for making paper snowflakes with us at ARCK!

Follow us at on Instagram at @arckboston for a video tutorial. Share your creations with us by tagging us @arckboston and using the hashtag #creativefromhome!