Ideas for Easy Winter Origami Crafts That Even 2-Year-Olds Will Love
Since it’s the cold season, how about enjoying some indoor origami play? Here, we’ll introduce simple winter origami ideas that you can do together with two-year-olds.
From Santa Claus and Christmas trees to snow bunnies, there are plenty of creations that capture the season! The activities also include elements that promote children’s fine motor development, such as aligning corners and using glue.
All of the projects feature simple steps, making them perfect for fun, hands-on creation in childcare settings—so give them a try.
Because the children’s work is regarded as “artworks,” we use the term “seisaku” (制作) in the text to refer to their creations.
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Ideas for Easy Winter Origami Crafts That Even 2-Year-Olds Will Love (21–30)
Triangular tree
This is an idea for an origami Christmas tree: fold origami paper into triangles, layer them step by step, and stick them onto colored construction paper.
Then decorate with round stickers, torn pieces of origami, and more.
It’s okay if the triangles are a bit misaligned.
Children who can use scissors or are practicing might also enjoy cutting out triangles first and then gluing them onto the colored paper.
As they decorate, each child’s individuality will shine through in their finished Christmas tree.
It’s also fun to compare decorations cut with scissors to those torn by hand—the shapes look completely different.
Oden with assorted ingredients
How about making delicious winter oden by having the children craft their favorite ingredients from origami and put them into a pot? Prepare a large pot made from colored construction paper, and then create oden ingredients out of origami—like daikon radish, konnyaku, chikuwa, thick fried tofu, and octopus.
Make the octopus legs with red origami and use white round stickers to represent the suckers; for the konnyaku, fold gray origami into a triangle and add little black speckles.
To show the pot’s cozy warmth, use cotton to create soft, fluffy steam for a gentle finishing touch.
Ideas for Simple Winter Origami Crafts That Even 2-Year-Olds Will Love (31–40)
Making ramen with paper-cutting play
Delicious ramen that kids and adults alike love—perfect for warming up on a cold day.
Use colored construction paper as a bowl, brown construction paper for the broth, and glue down yellow yarn for the noodles.
On top, make toppings like menma, green onions, seasoned eggs, and chashu out of origami paper, then glue them on.
Kids can have fun piling on their favorite toppings and expressing their individuality with choices like, “I’m going to add lots of nori!” or “I want extra chashu!”
origami
We’ll show you how to fold a stylish spinning top you can make with just three sheets of origami paper! It’s also great fun to make and play with together with friends.
You’ll create each part using one sheet of paper and then combine them at the end.
There aren’t many difficult steps, and you won’t need glue or scissors, so children can try it easily.
You can also freely customize it by changing the colors or adding patterned paper, so you can show off your originality! It would make a delightful handmade gift, too!
Origami Santa Claus
Origami is easy for children to try, so it’s perfect as a teaching tool in childcare settings too! Using origami, we’ll show you how to make a Santa Claus that kids can easily create.
This Santa stands on its own, so it might be fun to make many and decorate your room.
There are no difficult steps, and it takes about five minutes to fold, so children can master it quickly! Draw any face you like at the end to make it extra cute.
If you fold with origami in different colors, patterns, and sizes, you can create a lively family of Santas.
A Christmas tree you can make in one minute
Here’s an easy origami Christmas tree you can fold and make in just one minute.
First, fold the origami paper in half to form a neat triangle.
Open it once, then fold it in half again using the crease as the center.
When folding in half, shift it slightly on purpose so it doesn’t become a perfect equilateral triangle.
This slight offset is the key—it makes the tree look like it’s gently topped with snow.
Fold the tip of the triangle so the left and right sides cross over, then tidy up the tip that will become the tree trunk, and you’re done.
Decorating it with round stickers and the like is also very cute.
A Christmas garland with just four folds
A Christmas garland to brighten your walls—each piece is amazingly easy, requiring just four folds.
First, fold the origami paper in half into a triangle, then open it.
Fold one side in half toward the crease, then fold the other side toward the same center crease.
Fold in the remaining excess, and it’s done.
Thread the last folded part onto a string, and secure the end with cellophane tape so it won’t slip off.
Using Christmas-patterned origami paper makes it extra cute.
You can also draw on the paper or add stickers to decorate it—highly recommended.