Follow one fold at a time and pause whenever you like. Ask me about the kite, the 22.5° folds, the line of symmetry or why the tail points up.

Paper Whale

A kite from one square, a lifted tail, and a whale that is the same on both sides

Fold the square corner to corner and open it again. This crease is the diagonal, the whale's line of symmetry. Now fold the two edges that meet at the bottom corner onto this line. Each crease cuts the 45° angle between an edge and the diagonal in half, so it makes 22.5°: it is an angle bisector.

The paper is now a kite. It has two pairs of equal neighbouring sides, one long pair and one short pair, and its four angles are 45°, 112.5°, 90° and 112.5°. They add up to 360°, as they do in every four-sided shape. The left half of the kite is the mirror image of the right half.

Turn the kite so the pointed end faces right. Fold that point up along a crease that makes 45° with the middle line: the tip then points straight up and becomes the tail. Finally fold the wide corner back with a crease at 90° to the middle line to round the head.

Pause on any fold and ask the tutor why the creases make 22.5°, how the kite's angles add up, or where the line of symmetry is.

Related Topics

Dart Paper AirplanePaper Garrison CapPythagorean Theorem
How do you fold a paper whale?
Fold a square corner to corner and open it, fold the two bottom edges onto that middle line to make a kite, turn the kite so the point faces right, fold the point up for the tail, and fold the wide corner back for the head.
What is a kite shape in geometry?
A kite is a four-sided shape with two pairs of equal neighbouring sides. It has a line of symmetry along one diagonal, and its angles add up to 360°.
Why does folding an edge onto the middle line make 22.5°?
The edge and the diagonal make a 45° angle. Folding one onto the other cuts that angle into two equal parts, and half of 45° is 22.5°. That is what an angle bisector does.
What paper works best for a paper whale?
A square of ordinary origami paper or a square cut from printer paper works well. Colourful paper on one side and white on the other shows the folds clearly.
Is the paper whale easy for kids?
Yes. It uses only simple valley and mountain folds, with no reverse folds, so children around seven and up can follow it.