Crafts

How to Make Paper Snowflakes

I don’t ever remember learning to cut snowflakes as a kid. I remember folding up a rectangular piece of paper and trying over and over to recreate the beautiful flakes my teacher could always cut out, only to wind up with a weird rectangular snowflake. Maybe you have rectangular snow where you live, but here in Michigan, the flakes are decidedly not rectangular.

To save my children from this fate, I turned to the all-knowing Internet. Not only can the Internet show you how to fold your paper so you don’t end up with rectangular snowflakes, it can also provide you with templates to guide your cuts, from really basic designs to extremely intricate ones. There’s a snowflake craft option for kids of every age. Including adults. Like me.

Craft a Blizzard of Snowflakes

1. Choose your paper. Plain printer paper works just fine, especially if you want basic white snowflakes and also do not want to have to go to the craft store ahead of time. Or you can invest in fancy colored paper if you want to go that route.

2. Fold it up right. Martha Stewart’s easy-to-follow paper snowflake slideshow includes instructions for folding the paper the right way. Step one: Trim rectangular sheets into squares before you cut out the design. Look, no more rectangular flakes! There’s also a video version of the instructions, if you or your kids do better with verbal directions.

3. Create a template. Beginners may need help knowing where to cut, and First Palette’s snowflake templates are a good place to start. A template can help kids figure out how to make certain shapes or designs. Templates can also be useful if you have kids who are easily frustrated. Cutting along the marked lines reduces the chance of your kid falling apart because his snowflake is a mess. Once you’ve got the hang of what cuts make what shapes, you can make your own templates by drawing on folded printer paper.

4. Keep it simple. Got little kids with not-so-great cutting skills? Print out completed snowflakes for them to decorate. First Palette has a nice variety of printable snowflake coloring pages that are perfect for preschoolers. You could maybe even let the kids use glitter glue, if you want to get fancy. And if you aren’t afraid of a having glitter all over your kids. And possibly your house.

5. Go all out. I love these 3D paper snowflakes — aren’t they lovely? They look like they would be complicated but they’re really pretty simple to make. Other than the basic scissors and paper, you will need glue and a stapler, and some string to hang them, if you want to do that. Handimania has both a video and a text tutorial and the results are spectacular.

If the thought of glitter and tiny shards of paper everywhere makes you want to lie down and cry, send your kids to this virtual snowflake maker. I’m warning you though, it’s addicting and I’ve spent more hours than I’m willing to admit making snowflakes and also staring at all the ones other people have made. But your kids can burn a lot of daylight on this site, with no supplies or cleanup required, which may be helpful during that second week of Christmas break.