I’ve made a lot of things out of origami in my lifetime, but I have never made something as fun as this! I was inspired by Kozue of Kozue’s Show and Tell) to make a slinky out of origami paper (折り紙スリンキー). You guys, it is seriously so cool!
The instructions for this slinky are pretty simple (video at the end of this post). BUT you have to fold 50+ pieces of paper so it takes quite a bit of patience. It took me about 2 hours to complete my slinky (while watching a movie with the kids), and mine used 64 pieces of origami. My 5-year old daughter attempted to help me, but she did not have the patience to make more than one ;). This would be a great little project for a child in elementary school, or really, anyone for the matter. It would be the perfect activity for an airplane flight, or a great cure for summer boredom.
One piece of advice I have is to tape all the pieces together as you go (using just a little bit of tape). If you’re going to put a lot of effort into something, you don’t want it to fall apart right away! My kids have been playing a little rough with this slinky so I am very glad I reinforced it with tape.
Sorry I went a bit overboard with the number of photos in this post… I had too much fun taking the pictures!
Here is the how-to video by the creator of the origami slinky, Jo Nakashima!
I couldn’t find 8cmx8cm (or 3.1 inches) origami paper like Jo suggests. So I used paper from a memo cube, which was 3.4inches square. This size worked perfectly! If you use memo paper too, make sure they are NOT sticky on the back. This memo set is similar to the ones I used (I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post):
What is the coolest thing you have ever made with origami?
P.S. “Slinky” in Japanese is “Slinky/スリンキー” or “Rainbow Spring/レインボースプリング”.
Hiragana Mama 
Reblogged this on Jade's Escape and commented:
Wow! A throw-back with a creative spring!
such a cool idea!
🙂
Wow–what a fun project!
It was– you should try it!
Wow thanks for this amazing idea! I’m going to give this a try with my kids!!!
Wow this is fun! Me and my brother are having some friends over tommorow night. My brother loves oragami so I though I would make a little “oragami auction”. He and his friends will place bids (with pennies!) for different oragami things we have made. (: I would love to use this!!!!
Let me know how that went! What a fun party idea.
Simply cool and superb.
Wow! What a fascinating idea! I’ll give it a try! Although, it seems like I have to make a lot of pieces….