Easy Kirigami for Kids

This kirigami for kids page will teach you how to create simple but beautiful paper crafts with paper and scissors. Children have enjoyed cutting paper every since they are old enough to hold a pair of scissors. They do it at school, they do it at home: this in itself is nothing new. However, you can take cutting paper one step further and enrich your child's experience through kirigami. In Japanese, the word kirigami means:

       kiru = "to cut"

       gami = "paper"

so kirigami is "to cut paper". Kirigami involves not only cutting paper, but folding and cutting paper. The paper will then unfold to give various symmetrical patterns.

Paper Snowflakes and Decorations

Most people will remember kirigami as a way to make paper snowflakes. Unfolding the paper snowflake is a delightful surprise because it's almost impossible to make the exact pattern twice. In addition to snowflakes, you can also use kirigami to cut paper flowers (great as a spring and summer activity); paper spider webs (great for Halloween); and other decorations (great for everyday!).

Pop-Up Cards

Pop-up cards are sometimes categorized under kirigami since it involves folding paper and then cutting it. If your child has mastered the above crafts, then s/he is ready to try making some pop-up cards. These pop-up cards are easy to cut, but changing the flat sheet of paper into something that pops up takes a bit of fiddling. You might even say that it takes a certain amount of spacial reasoning.