DIY 3-D Paper Snowflakes

One of my favorite things about winter is the fact that fresh, bright, white decor is “in” all season long! That, and there are some great holiday-related decorations that you can keep up throughout the whole winter! 

3-D paper snowflakes are one of these great, versatile decorations.

I’ve hung them in my various classrooms most years I’ve taught; the snowflakes add just an extra touch of wonder and fun winter decor to a classroom, without being way too flashy. I love these 3-D snowflakes because they sure are classy! 🙂 

I’m excited to share this beautiful wintery craft with you! These are a bit time-consuming but they aren’t all that complicated – so I recommend just working on these snowflakes while you watch a movie or chat with a friend.

And here in Minnesota, winter lasts quite a while so I know we can display these lovely snowflakes for a long time! 🙂

3-D Paper Snowflakes

You’ll need:

– scissors
– tape
– paper – 6 sheets of paper per snowflake (I used white but you can use any color.)
– pencil
– yarn or fishing line to hang the snowflakes with
– stapler

What to do:

1 // Start prepping the 6 sheets of paper you’ll need into squares by folding them and trimming off the edge.

2 // Fold those 6 large triangles in half an additional time. Now you’ll have 6 smaller triangles.

3 // Using a straight-edge and starting from the folded edge of the triangle, draw 4 parallel lines. You’ll leave 1/2 an inch to 1 inch of space at the end of each line. Cut along those lines for each of the 6 triangles.

4 // Carefully open up the sheet of paper.

5 // Curl the inner 2 pieces inward and secure them with a piece of tape. Flip the paper over and curl the next “ring” of pieces inward. Tape those as well. Continue with the pattern of flipping the paper over and taping pieces together…until all of the pieces are curled and taped! It will look like this:

Do this for every sheet of paper until you have 6 of these!

6 // Pinch 3 of the pieces together and staple them.

7 // Use little loops or pieces of tape to secure the sides of the separate “flakes” to each other (so they don’t flop around). Do this stapling and taping with the other 3 pieces.

8 // Now, overlap the stapled corners of the 2 big parts (the 2 groups of 3) you’ve created, and staple those together so all 6 parts are now connected. This is the tricky part – you’ll want to overlap them pretty deeply and staple a couple times so it’s secure.

9 // Tape (or even staple!) any remaining loose sides together so no parts are flopping around!

Now you have a beautiful finished 3-D snowflake! You can use yarn or fishing line to hang your snowflakes from the ceiling, though they’d be beautiful hung on a wall as well! 🙂

Have you ever made a 3-D snowflake like this? What holiday-related decorations do you like to use that you can keep up all winter long?