Algorithm for performing origami dragon. DIY origami dragon from paper for beginners. The final stage of work

One of the most mysterious and controversial animals, about which a huge number of tales and myths have been written, is the dragon. Some legends describe him as an evil, cunning, fierce and ruthless creature that devoured and destroyed everything around with fire, while in other cultures dragons were kind, acted as a symbol of wisdom, incredible strength and power.

If you want such an interesting and unusual talisman to live in your home, try to make it yourself out of paper. Even if you are just a beginner and have never done anything like this before, then numerous master classes and all kinds of assembly diagrams will help you, showing in detail how to make a dragon out of paper.


Dragons are different ...

In the eastern horoscope, the dragon is one of the patrons of the year, who came along with other animals to the Buddha. According to Chinese legends, these mythical creatures were born from all the basic elements, therefore they owned these different forces of nature, and this was expressed in the color and coloration of the dragon: for example, the blue dragon symbolized the element of water, red or yellow - fire, etc.

You can make an elegant origami dragon or a wise Chinese dragon, which will become your amulet and assistant for the corresponding year, or a funny and funny little dragon - a hero of cartoons and fairy tales, or a cunning and dangerous three-headed dragon - a fire-breathing Serpent Gorynych, or even a huge and terrible Ender - the famous Dragon of the Ender, a mob-boss from a computer game.

Any dragon made of paper will be a wonderful decoration for your home and is perfect as a gift for both children and adults.

Simple dragon - video

The initial stage of making a dragon resembles the assembly scheme of a regular one. Take a square sheet of colored paper (preferably double-sided at once) and fold it into a double square (horizontally, vertically and diagonally). Then follow the instructions in the lesson.


For a detailed master class on making a dragon using origami technique for beginners, see this video:

Dragon Basilisk - scheme

You can find schemes and more complicated: make a flying dragon, a three-headed serpent or a basilisk, a black Ender dragon with glowing purple eyes. If you learn how to assemble simple figures, then any others you will also get quickly and easily.

Origami three-headed dragon - diagram

Dragon templates for printing

The prints for folding dragon figurines look something like this:


Choosing the image and appearance of the future dragon, select the colored paper you need, so that you can then paint the figure as little as possible.

Dragon in applique technique

If you have never made paper figurines before, or if you want to make a craft with a small child or preschooler, then you can try to start with the easiest ways.

Print out the dragon template and cut out the details, stick them on the blank, collecting the flying handsome man into one piece. If you are using plain white paper, then the applique will need to be colored.

Dragon - paper pendant

Take a one-piece dragon template, print it and transfer it to cardboard. Cut two identical cardboard blanks and glue them together. Then you will need to make a small slot so that you can insert the wings there (they can be easily made from double-sided colored paper or foil - just assemble it "accordion"). Insert the wings, spread them beautifully and hang the dragon on a ribbon or serpentine.

Dragon - accordion

A voluminous accordion can connect a flat head and tail, cut from colored paper or painted. And if you glue two wooden sticks to the joints, then you can even control your dragon.

Dragon Ender - video

Craft dragon in kindergarten

This simple master class is also suitable for beginners.

  1. Cut the torso and legs of the dragon according to a pattern from green paper (you can fold the paper in half and cut out two or four elements at once).
  2. Then draw lines on the half of A4 sheet (yellow), like the sides of a trapezoid, departing from the edges by six centimeters. You will have triangles that need to be cut off.
  3. Fold the remaining yellow trapezoidal part into eight parts so that the accordion comes out. Bend this accordion in half and the wings will come out.
  4. From the second part of the yellow sheet, make the same blank, only fold not into eight, but into sixteen parts - this will be the breast of our dragon. Having folded the paper, apply it to the body of the reptile, bending it slightly along the tummy line.
  5. Take another half of a yellow A4 sheet. Attach the torso blank to it and trace along the back, drawing teeth or a wavy line. Cut them out, leaving some space for pasting.
  6. Glue this ridge between the two halves of the dragon's torso. Then glue in the breast as well.
  7. Make a tongue out of red paper for a dragon and glue it, plus - attach plastic eyes or draw them.
  8. Then glue the legs, cut the slits for the wings and insert them. That's all - the paper dragon is ready and you can give it a name.

The dragon is a mythical character who combines a snake, a frog, a deer, a hare and a tiger. In addition, the dragon is one of the most significant and famous symbols of China, which reflects the power of the emperor and the power of the natural elements.

How to make a dragon out of paper? Origami, a Japanese technique for folding figures from paper sheets, which has won thousands of fans among children and adults, will help answer this question.

How to fold the dragon using origami technique

What do you need?

To make a dragon from paper in origami style, you will need:

  • a sheet of colored paper in black or bright red (double-sided is better). You can also make a figurine from a regular white sheet, and then paint it in the desired color.
  • scissors,
  • a ruler and a 2T pencil (as hard as possible to leave a minimum of marks).

Step-by-step instruction

  1. From a prepared sheet of paper you need to make a square (bend it diagonally and cut off the excess).

  1. Find the middle on each side of the resulting square. We connect these points with lines to each other so that we get an equilateral rhombus.

  1. Bend the sheet along the outlined lines so that the corners of the triangles meet in the middle of the square.

  1. Turn the figure over. We mentally divide the upper right side of the rhombus into five parts and mark a point from the upper corner along the right side so that it is at a distance of 1/5 from the top of the rhombus.
  2. At about the same distance, mark a point from the same vertex to the center of the rhombus.
  3. Then, from the right and left corners, draw lines to the marked point.

  1. We bend the sides along the lines towards ourselves - we get the beak of the future dragon. It needs to be pressed from above.

  1. Next, fold the upper half along the central diagonal of the rhombus. In this case, we fill the two side corners of the triangle inward. As a result, all the vertices of the rhombus must connect at one point.

  1. We bend the two front elements inside the upper part, and the back ones - inside the back.

  1. You should get a figure that looks vaguely like a kite.
  2. We unfold the back and front parts in the directions indicated by the arrows, while simultaneously bending the front part, and we get a kind of square.

  1. Bend the “ears” back and forth along the lines that have already been bent. As a result, we again get an impromptu rhombus.

  1. Next, turn the right side of the front piece to the left. And match the left side of the back element with the right side.

  1. The result is a bird-like shape.
  2. Now we bend the right part along the line in the form of a "lightning" - this will be the tail, we also draw up the left one - this will be the neck of our dragon. We do the same with the wings.

  1. The protrusion on the back needs to be bent inward, the head is slightly bent forward, and the tail is folded in half along the line indicated by the dotted line.

  1. Next, in front and behind, we gently bend the dragon's wings up and bend the tongue in the mouth, according to the picture.

  1. We bend the protrusions below along the lines indicated by the dotted line - we get the paws.

  1. We bend the corners of the paws, protruding in front and behind, once again, finally shaping the feet. Remove the protruding corners in the neck and tail of the figure inward (as shown in the picture).

  1. Give the dragon's wings and tail a wavy shape.

The magic dragon is ready!

You can perform another beautiful version of an origami-style paper dragon by watching the following video:

Perhaps it will seem to many that the previous schemes are too difficult for beginners, especially those who are very far from origami. If you happen to be among them, try to make a paper dragon according to the following instructions, which are very, very easy to repeat.

The simplest dragon for the little ones

Materials (edit)

For work you will need:

  • paper plate
  • two sheets of colored paper (preferably double-sided),
  • self-adhesive eyes for crafts (in the absence of these, you can simply draw them on a ready-made dragon),
  • mounts for the movable connection of parts (you can buy them in the store for creativity).

Scheme of work

  1. Cut out the components of the future dragon from colored paper.
  2. Fold the paper plate in half and attach all the components to it, as shown in the picture above.
  3. We glue or draw eyes.

A funny dragon for the little ones with movable wings and a tail is ready!

Bulky paper dragon

What is required?

To make this funny dragon with your own hands you will need:

  • a computer with a color or black-and-white printer,
  • colored pencils or markers (if the printer is black and white),
  • scissors,
  • glue.

Step-by-step instruction

  1. Save and print the paper dragon template on paper, and then color it in (if you have a black and white printer).
  2. Fold the body blank along the dotted lines and glue along the back, as shown above.

  1. Now it remains to fold the dragon's head, and then glue it and the outer part of the wings to the body.
  2. We are waiting for the complete drying of the figure and hand the dragon to our child!

Chinese style moving dragon

We bet that the next dragon will be very popular with children, especially preschoolers, so be sure to involve them in the process of making it.

And then together you can come up with a funny story, an outdoor game, or even put on a whole puppet show on a Chinese theme. After all, this dragon comes from the country of the Heavens.

What do you need to make it?

You will need:

  • computer with printer,
  • colored markers, pencils or paints,
  • glue,
  • red or orange paper
  • two wooden sticks.

Manufacturing scheme

  1. It is very simple to make a dragon out of paper as in the picture above: print the drawing below on a printer (if you want the dragon to be two-sided, then in two copies), and give it to the child to paint it in bright colors at his discretion.
  2. Cut out the blanks with scissors.

  1. Take bright red or orange colored paper and fold it to form an accordion. The width of the paper must be taken equal to the width of the dragon's body.

  1. Both blanks must be carefully glued to opposite sides of the made accordion (if you are making a double-sided dragon, then each pair of blanks must be glued together by placing the edges of the accordion in the seam).
  2. We attach wooden sticks, and the work is done!

The flamboyant Chinese dragon is ready to take part in the production!

Fantasy green paper dragon

What is required?

To make the figurine you will need:

    thick sheet of paper

  • colored pencils or markers.

Scheme of work

  1. We bend the sheet in half in an upright position, after which we draw the body of the dragon on one side, placing it symmetrically from the fold line.
  2. Next, we outline in the figure the lines along which the paper figure will be bent (in the figure, these lines are shown in red and black).
  3. Carefully cut out and paint the blank of the future dragon.

A simpler option: Instead of the above steps, you can simply print the template below on a color printer, and then glue it to a cardboard or thick paper base.

  1. We fold the figure of the dragon along the outlined lines: the folds outward are marked in black, the folds inward are marked in red.

  1. We design the head and tail as shown in the picture.

  1. Bend the wings like a fan and our wonderful dragon is ready!

Outwardly, it resembles a flying lizard, so with it you can come up with a huge number of games for home, kindergarten or school breaks, both on the theme of dragons and dinosaurs!

A bright and beautiful paper dragon is a wonderful craft that children can make with their own hands. It consists of a voluminous body with several halves of circles, as well as two parts in the form of a head and a tail, which you can draw or use ready-made template images presented in this review.

In this work, we used:

  • Red cardboard;
  • Orange paper;
  • Eyes stickers;
  • A simple pencil, scissors, glue stick, compasses.

How to make a dragon out of paper with your own hands?

Making the torso

Draw and cut out 4 circles. If you wish, you can do more, the body of the dragon will be more voluminous and denser.

Cut the circles in half.

Now add all the halves in two.

Glue their sides together.

It should be noted here that as a result of this method, the torso may be too wide. Therefore, it may be better to cut not circles, but ovals. Or, at this stage, cut off the sides of the body a little, putting them together. Apply glue to one side, glue the other. Finally, complete the circle by gluing the first half of the circle and the last. The body of the paper dragon is now complete.

The final stage of work

Use a template or draw a dragon head and neck to your liking.

Cut these pieces out of cardboard.

Glue the head and tail, as well as any eyes on opposite sides of the body. The paper dragon is already ready, so it turned out to be bright and beautiful. But you can supplement it a little with scales and spikes on the neck.

The art of origami is not forgotten. For 15 centuries, people have been supporting the beautiful Chinese tradition of making crafts from a sheet of paper. Today we will tell you how to make a dragon out of paper in 5 minutes. The dragon is a symbol of the coming 2012 year. Delight the guests of your house with homemade dragons.

To make a dragon, you will need: A4 colored paper, a solid simple pencil, an eraser, scissors.


If the prepared paper sheet is rectangular, make a square out of it. Then, with a pencil, draw an inscribed rhombus from the middle of each side of the square.

Fold the corners of the square along the lines of the diamond with the wrong side up (if the paper is colored only on one side). Make sure the corners meet in the center of the square.

Turn the structure over to its back. Draw two lines from two opposite corners to a point 3 cm below the common top corner. Then, from the intersection of these lines, draw a line segment to the very corner. Peel back the paper along these lines.

Peel back the future beak from the corner.

Draw a diagonal with a pencil between the same opposite corners, and then two lines from the centers of the sides of the square to the centers of the opposite sides of the square. Bend all the same opposite corners so that they converge in the center of the shape. Then bend the structure diagonally.

Bend the resulting corners in the opposite direction.

Fold back the top and at the same time pull out the free section of the paper. Fold back the ears at the front and back of the figure.

Fold back the two resulting "wings" at the back and front.

You will get a rhombus with one cut side. Draw lines from the cut to the nearest obtuse corners and bend the bifurcated parts inward to form a "birdie" shape. Make a beak on one forked end, this will be the head of the dragon.

Bend the sharp ledge on the wings inward, bend the wings themselves up. Shape the bottom bifurcated corners into paws.

The paper dragon is an interesting craft that can decorate any apartment, as well as become a good toy for a kid. In addition, you can have a great time creating it with your children, especially if you time it for a holiday: for example, for the year of the dragon, and make several copies at once. There are many techniques used to create a dragon from paper, and among them everyone will find an option to their liking.

How to make a dragon out of paper: videos and diagrams

For the youngest lovers of paper dragons, 3D modeling is ideal, when a pre-prepared template is cut out, bent along certain lines and glued. There is little work, and the product comes out as colorful as possible, and often dragons, which are cartoon characters, take on this form. These figurines are most often stacked for collecting purposes, so the cost of creating them is usually minimized.

Various origami techniques require much more experience and time: a paper dragon can be folded in 3 minutes, but only a silhouette will remind of a primitive lizard. And you can spend up to 30 minutes and get a more real figure. In addition, if in a classic origami craft you often have to deal with decorating parts, drawing eyes, drawing scales, then modular origami is more self-sufficient. However, it is much more difficult for beginners to cope with it, therefore it is recommended to try their hand at classical schemes before moving on to more time-consuming tasks.

The easiest way to make a paper dragon is to hang it from the tree as a toy. For this purpose, it is necessary to make a stencil from thick cardboard and cut it out. To make the figurine even, you can use a ready-made drawing translated through tracing paper onto cardboard, or you can sketch a dragon by hand. There is no point in creating a complex image - you just need to portray a silhouette. After that, you need to arm yourself with corrugated paper, glue (the option in a stick is recommended, it deforms the paper less), as well as thin ribbons or pieces of foil, velvet paper and felt-tip pens.

The corrugated paper is laid out on the surface, a cardboard template is placed on it. On the outside, it is processed with glue, after which the paper is smoothed, and its excess parts are cut off. It is advisable to wrap the entire cardboard blank with a corrugation. The side on which "seams" appear from the edges of the paper will become the front side: further actions will be carried out on it. However, it is recommended to position the template so that all the "seams" are on the lower part of the silhouette, where the dragon's belly will be located. To create it, a part is cut out of foil or the same corrugated paper, which sits on the glue. Segments of skin are marked on it with a felt-tip pen, or they can be made by placing thin strands of foil on the abdomen.

In order for the dragon to have wings, a square is cut out of paper, pulled together at the bottom with a thread. Thus, it will fold into a semicircular open fan, which is glued to the body. If you have doubts about the reliability of such an attachment, you can even sew a part to the craft with a couple of stitches: the needle and thread will pass through the cardboard with ease. In addition, the holes obtained may be needed if the paper dragon later settles on the tree. It remains only to make a crest on the corrugation, which is a "fence" of triangles, which should not be strongly pulled out with tops, and also draw and cut a muzzle on velvet flesh-colored paper.

Origami: paper dragon


  • In the classic origami technique, there are also several paper dragon patterns. It is not easy to divide them according to the level of difficulty - each requires thoughtful study of the algorithm and hard training. It is recommended to start with the following: a square of paper is prepared in advance, whose size will be no less than 24 by 24 cm. It must be folded, turning it into an equilateral rhombus. To do this, all the corners are bent inward and their vertices meet at the central point.
  • Now the workpiece is turned over so that the seams are under the paper, and from the side corners with a pencil, using a ruler, outline the rays that have an intersection point 1.5-2 cm below the top. These lines will become auxiliary: it is required to draw folds along them, and the tip extending beyond the folded product should be taken to the right and left, creating the "beak" of the dragon.
  • Again, you need to start building auxiliary lines: from the lateral corners, draw the diagonal, which is at the same time the transverse axis for the rhombus, then divide each of the sides in half and from these points release rays ending on the opposite face of the rhombus. Along the lines obtained, the paper is folded in such a way that opposite corners meet, and the resulting rhombus with an elongated lower part becomes voluminous.
  • The point that has been central until now will look up. In the next step, that part of the rhombus, which ends with a "beak" and is in front of you, bends up, and the whole figure stretches out in the manner of an accordion, opening outward. The same steps must be repeated for the opposite (back) side.
  • After sketching new auxiliary lines and turning the half-open rhombus sideways, a silhouette of a dragon is formed, whose wings are lowered down. The part of the product, which already has a "beak", must be bent obliquely to indicate the bowed head. The opposite zone - the “tail” - is reduced in thickness by 2 times by means of bending.
  • Then the triangle rising above the "wings" and "back" should be pressed inward, for which it is first necessary to draw a reverse fold line along it with the back of the scissors blade. The elongated rhombs of the wings rise upward, the thin triangles visible from under them are bent, forming "paws". The final step will be the notches with the same back side of the blade, drawn along the wings and allowing them to deform, putting the zones overlapping each other. The same goes for the tail.

How to make a dragon from modules?


The most difficult is the assembly of a paper dragon from modules. The difficulty lies in the need to make many of the same modules from small pieces of paper. Since often more than 1000 pieces of modules are required, it is best to work on the dragon with the whole family or in any other large company in order to minimize the time it takes to make the figurine. The modules themselves are prepared simply: a rectangular paper sheet is folded along the transverse line, then along the vertical axis, and then combined with the sides, bending along the diagonals emerging from one point. The resulting triangle turns over, changing the front side to the wrong side, the protruding stripes are folded up, and then the outer ends are wound back along the diagonals. At the end, you only need to bend the lower part, forming pockets, and also fold the figure in half along the vertical axis.

If we consider in detail the various dragon figures from the modules, we can come to the conclusion that there is no specific scheme for their assembly. Each author is guided by his own vision, however, a few points can be mentioned. Firstly, it is easiest to be inspired by someone else's work and take it as a basis, if there is still no understanding of how to correctly combine all the details into such a product. This will not help to calculate the number of modules, but it will greatly simplify the task.

Both the hind and front legs of the dragon are most often attached to the body with a glue gun, since other methods are not suitable here. If it is not there, you can put the elements on the usual glue-moment and press down carefully, fixing for several hours. The rest of the parts are quite simply fastened by simply inserting the modules into each other, as well as processing their joints with glue. This will improve the grip of the elements, especially if they are stressed: for example, in places of bends, or in areas such as a thin neck holding a massive head.

Dragon made of paper: photo

The paper dragon looks most attractive, assembled from modules of different colors, and supplemented with details from foil or other decorative paper: it is good to make small nuances from it like a long mustache, a comb, drawings on scales. Such design methods are typical for Chinese ribbon dragons: they are quite easy to assemble, since they are a large wriggling strip with legs, short weak wings and a large head with an open mouth. It is with such a dragon that it is recommended to start working in modular origami.