Window stars are a really kid-friendly craft, but this one is a little more complicated than the basic version that I like to start kids off with. If you’re working with kids, this window star might be one that you make yourself while they fold their simpler stars, or it could be a chance to teach an older kid how to make the couple more advanced folds. Hands-on geometry is fun for all ages!
Materials
To make your own 16-point kite paper window star, you’ll need the following:
kite paper. You can substitute tissue paper, but if you can access waxed kite paper, I highly recommend it. Kite paper folds and holds its shape like origami paper, but the wax coating makes it more showy when light shines through it, and it’s a LOT easier to remove from your windows! glue stick. Glue sticks do contain a ton of plastic waste, but the paste-like consistency is perfect for this project. For a homemade substitute that has NO extra plastic packaging, make this DIY cornstarch paste. scissors (optional). This 16-point kite paper window star gets big FAST, so if you don’t want it to take up your whole window, first quarter your papers. It makes the difference between using four pieces of kite paper to make this project versus using SIXTEEN pieces!
Step 1: Fold the kite paper squares in half.
To make this 16-point window star, you will need 16 pieces of kite paper. I used eight pink squares and eight purple squares to make my bi-color window star, but you can use whatever color combo you prefer. Kite paper is square, so if you’re working with something different, square it first. Fold each kite paper square in half diagonally, then unfold. You should see a nicely defined crease running from point to point and bisecting the square.
Step 2: Fold both bottom sides in.
Keeping your square rotated to look like a diamond, fold both bottom sides in to meet the center crease. This is actually how you make each of the petals of the more basic window star! However, with this more advanced star, we’re not stopping here. Instead, unfold the two folds you’ve made so that you can see the nice, crisp creases you’ve made.
Step 3: Finish the bottom folds of each petal.
Starting with the square completely unfolded but rotated so that it looks like a diamond with the extra creases along the bottom, fold the two bottom sides in to meet that first crease. Then, fold again along that crease line towards the center. Glue these folds down.
Step 4: Create the top folds to finish each petal.
For this next step, I turn each diamond upside down to make it easier to fold, but it does tend to mess up the terminology I’ve been using, oops. Fortunately, these last two folds are super easy! In the image above, you can see how I turned the diamond upside down, so that the double folds I created in the previous step are now on top. To finish each petal, just fold the bottom sides (formerly the top sides, which I know is confusing–sorry!) to meet the center crease, then glue down. Now you have all your petals!
Step 5: Create the window star.
Take two petals and line them up so that the corners where you made the double folds meet and the corners where you just made that final single fold are pointed outwards. Overlap them on the bottom so that the bottom edge on one star meets the center crease on the other star, then glue in place. Continue to overlap the stars this way, trying to keep your alignment as exact as possible. You can organize your colors however you like, but if you overlap them like in the above image, the resulting window star will look like this: The darker color will always look like it’s in the foreground, which is how you can get the effect a flower with different colored petals behind it, even though what you actually did is simply follow an ABAB pattern. If you look closely, you can see the spots where I didn’t get my alignment perfectly–it really shows up in the geometry of the finished product! When you make your own window star, however, don’t get hung up on perfection. We’ve got enough crap manufactured by factories and machines–I want your beautiful star to look like it was manufactured by a person! This particular 16-point kite paper window star is made from pink and purple because I used it as a Valentine’s Day decoration, but I’m currently making some in greens, yellows, and oranges to put up for Spring. Since there’s three inches of snow on the ground today, though, I guess I’ll leave my pink and purple wintry window stars up for a while longer, sigh…
