Origami Lion Dance

The lion dance is one of the most joyful sights of Lunar New Year, and folding your own little version from paper is a project that kids and grown-ups alike can get excited about. This tutorial splits the model into two pieces — a face and a body, each from its own sheet — so you can fold them separately and then glue or tape them together into one cheerful figure. The face gets its character from a few simple folds and a squash, and the body builds up from center folds and four little triangular corners. Best of all, once the folding is done you get to decorate: grab a crayon or pen and draw on the eyebrows, eyes, and a big grinning mouth to give your lion its own personality. Pick two contrasting colors and let us make one together.

In this tutorial I will show you how to fold a lion dance with origami paper. The lion dance is a festive figure from Lunar New Year celebrations, and here I will explain how to fold both the face and the body with step-by-step photos, so please use them as a reference.

How to fold a lion dance with origami

This time I will introduce an easy way to fold a lion dance with origami.

For the lion dance shown here, use one sheet of origami paper for the face and another for the body.

Folding the face from red paper and the body from green paper gives it a classic lion-dance look.

Any colors are fine, though, so feel free to make your own original lion dance in whatever colors you like.

Once the face is done, draw on eyebrows, eyes, and a mouth with a crayon or pen, and it becomes a wonderful little lion. Do enjoy the making!

How to fold the lion dance face

Now, without further ado, let us begin with the face of the lion dance.

[Lion dance face] This is what it looks like when finished

When completed, you will have a lion dance face like the one in the photo above.

Draw eyes, eyebrows, a mouth, and so on onto the finished face, and you will have a wonderful lion dance.

Decorating it is up to you, so have fun trying different designs!

How to fold the lion dance [face]

STEP 1

First, fold up about 1 cm from the bottom edge.

STEP 2

Next, fold it to the other side at the line that divides the paper into three equal parts. Once you have the crease, unfold it.

STEP 3

Fold it in half back toward the crease you just made.

STEP 4

Next, fold it to this side along the dotted line.

STEP 5

Fold it diagonally so the left and right corners form triangles.

STEP 6

Fold along the dotted line. Once the crease is made, unfold it.

STEP 7

Insert your finger from the blue arrow and open it out in the direction of the green arrow, then squash it flat.

STEP 8

Fold it to the other side along the blue line.

STEP 9

Fold the left and right sides to the other side.

STEP 10

Fold the top down along the dotted line.

The face of the lion dance is complete.

How to fold the lion dance body

[Lion dance body] This is what it looks like when finished

When completed, you will have a lion dance body like the one in the photo above.

How to fold the lion dance [body]

STEP 1

Fold along the dotted line, then unfold it leaving a crease.

STEP 2

Fold the left and right edges toward the center.

STEP 3

Fold the top and bottom edges toward the center.

STEP 4

Pinch one of the marked stars (asterisks) with your fingers, pull it toward the arrow, and open it into a triangle, then squash it flat. Do the same to all four corners.