Instructions

01 Make the Initial Paper Airplane Folds

Start by folding your square piece of origami paper in half with the white side facing up. Crease well, and unfold it. Then, turn and fold the paper in half from the other direction. Crease well, and unfold it.

Next, fold the top of the paper ​to the middle crease. When you're finished, your paper should look like the photo below.

 

02 Fold Down the Corners

Fold down the top left corner to meet the edge of the colored side of your paper. Fold down the top right corner in the same manner.

 

03 Make the Nose of the Paper Airplane

Fold in the left and right corners of the paper to create a point in the top center (as seen in the photo below). The pointed tip will become the nose of your origami paper airplane. The extra folds you made in the previous step will help to give the nose the additional weight it needs to make the paper airplane fly properly.

 

04 Fold Your Paper Along the Middle Crease

Fold your paper in half along the middle crease. Next, fold the right corner up as shown in the photo below. The corner should be about 1/2 inch from the edge of the paper.

Then, unfold the paper, flip it over, and fold it from the other direction along the same crease.

 

05 Make Your Airplane's Tail

Open your paper, and collapse the fold you made in the previous step. If you're having trouble getting the fold to collapse, go over the creases once more to make sure they're as sharp as possible. This creates the tail of your paper airplane.

 

06 Make the Wings of Your Origami Paper Airplane

Fold down the top layer of the paper to make the first wing of your paper airplane. At the nose, the wing should be slightly above the middle layer of the paper. At the back, it should be slightly above the bottom of the tail you made in the previous step.

Repeat the process on the other side to make the second wing of your origami paper airplane.

 

07 Fly Your Simple Paper Airplane

Now it's time to test your paper airplane. Hold your plane at the widest part of the base, and gently send it flying. If you're having trouble getting your plane to fly, examine it carefully to make sure it is symmetrical. If one side is even slightly larger than the other, your plane won't fly straight.

Don't worry if you need to make a few practice airplanes before finding a method that works for you. Paper airplanes, just like other forms of origami, take a bit of patience to learn how to make them.