Fun with Snowflakes

One of my favorite things about winter is snow. But living in the South means that I don’t often get the opportunity to enjoy any snow. Thankfully, I can still enjoy some of the beauty of snow by making my own snowflakes.

Do you remember making paper snowflakes? Growing up, I used to make or find a square piece of paper that I would fold into a tiny triangle. Then I would cut a pattern into it, unfold it, and . . . instant snowflake! But instead of going with just the traditional square piece of paper this time, I thought it would be fun to make snowflakes out of a couple other shapes too—a circle and a hexagon.

You can see the shapes I used for my snowflakes by clicking on one of the links below. The first document has just the shapes (square, circle, and hexagon), while the second document has the shapes with the initial fold/crease line shown.

Documents

1. Snowflake shapes
2. Snowflake shapes with fold line

Materials needed

• Paper (construction paper, regular paper, scrap paper, or any other kind of paper you have around)
• Scissors

Instructions

1. Cut out one (or more) of the shapes.
2. Fold the shape in half.
   • Square—Fold the opposite corners together so you have a big triangle.
   • Circle—Fold in half so that you have a half-circle.
   • Hexagon—Fold in half so that two corners meet. You should have an odd-looking triangle with two distinct points and the third “point” looking like the side of a square.
3. Keep folding the corners together until you have a small triangle-shaped piece of paper
   • The square and circle should be easy after the initial fold. The square takes on a triangle shape after the first fold and the circle will resemble a slice of pizza.
   • The hexagon is a little harder. After the initial fold, fold again so that the two distinct points meet. You’ll still have a triangle with two distinct points and one odd-shaped “point.” Fold so that the odd-shaped point and the distinct point (opposite it) meet. By then your triangle should be small enough.
4. Cut a pattern into the edges of the triangle shape.
5. Unfold your triangle and see what you created.

Making snowflakes is fun and (relatively) easy. Try making snowflakes out of all three shapes to see how different each one looks. I hope you enjoy making snowflakes as much I did!