In honor of the upcoming holiday, I thought it would be fun to fold some origami turkeys! But first, some trivia for you all:
-There are approximately 5,500 feathers on an adult wild turkey
-Wild turkeys have very powerful legs, and can run up to 25 mph
-A wild turkey's gobble can be heard up to a mile away
-The wild turkey's bald head can change color within seconds when the turkey is excited. Their heads can be red, pink, white, or blue
Now aren't you exited to carry on the legacy of the wild turkey? That's what I thought ;-)
Step 1: Start with a square piece of paper (this one is 15 cm square)
Step 2: With the colored side down, fold your paper from corner to corner, then unfold
Step 3: Fold the two sides in, so your paper looks like the picture
Step 4: Fold the point of your paper down, then tuck it behind the two flaps, like this
Step 5: Fold the top right corner down, then unfold
This next part is a little trickier. We need to make a crease in the paper where this line is.
So the best way to do this is to keep your flap folded down, then fold the bottom half of the triangle up until it reaches the flap. Then crease it and unfold both flaps, so you have two lovely little creases on one side of your paper, like this.
Step 6: See where that little dot is in this picture?
Take the corner that the dot is sitting on, and pull it down along the top little crease. This makes a totally new shape appear. Watch...
See?
Now repeat steps 5 and 6 on the other side of the paper.
Great job hanging in there! You're almost done!
Step 7: Fold the two little triangles hanging off the paper up, and then halfway back down. This makes the turkey feet.
Step 8: Fold the paper in half
Step 9: To make the turkey's neck and tail, fold the long and the short ends like this picture. Make sure to crease well.
Now unfold them.
Here comes the hardest part..Do you see how the red turkey's neck looks in the picture?
So you can see that the turkey's neck isn't just folded off to one side. You make his neck with an "Inside Reverse Fold". Look at this crease
We are going to "reverse" this crease by folding it so that the crease is folded in the opposite direction. Do this by slightly unfolding the neck, then pulling the tip up to here.
The neck should just sort of fall into place. Do the same thing with the tail.
It's hard to explain it well. Just experiment for a little bit, and you'll get it!
Almost there!
Step 10: Fold the top of the tallest triangle to make your turkey's head. Do this just like you did the neck and tail; by making a crease, then doing the "Inside Reverse Fold"
Step 11: Last step! Fold your turkey's beak down, to make his waddle. All done!
Ideas for What to do With Your Turkeys:
To give them some more personality, you can draw some eyeballs on your turkeys. (this one looks a little bit grumpy)
Or, you could use them as placecards for thanksgiving dinner.
I like to cut a piece of origami paper into 1/4's, then make mini-sized turkeys.
So use your imagination! If you get stuck, or have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I'll help you as best I can!
