How to Make A Square-Based Pyramid Box

This is a great box for storing homemade materials or just for practice in opening and closing an unusual kind of box. Elementary children can make them as gift boxes or just experiment with different base sizes. I believe this qualifies as kirigami, because it is both paper folding and paper cutting (whereas origami is only paper folding, no cutting). I will try to upload a nice picture soon :)

(follow the directions or just use the template here.)

The Box:

1. Using a piece of square paper, fold it in half twice to make four squares.
2. Make a square the size you want your base to be out of a separate piece of paper. The smaller the base, the pointier the pyramid will be; a larger base will create a more squat pyramid. This will make the template for both the base and the square that holds the pyramid together.
3. Place the small square in the center so that the corners of the small square point at the sides of the larger square. If folded into 4 triangles it will line up with the folds on the larger sheet, and be perfectly centered. Centering is very important.
4. Trace around the small square. This will be the base of your box. This area should be reinforced before decorating the box if not using a thick material.
5. Using a straight edge, draw a line from a corner of the small box to the corner of the larger square. Repeat with all corners – this should result in a long isosceles triangle coming out of each side of the small square.

If using paper or cardstock as your box:

6. Trace a line parallel to the long sides of each triangle and only a short distance away. This section will be folded in to keep the edges crisp, so in a small box this will be only a few centimeters thick. At the corners of the small square, along the fold, draw a small line out that bisects the thin section.
7. Cut away the excess paper (the obtuse-angled isosceles triangles along the sides of the large square), and then cut along the small line that bisects the thin section as well. Fold all the other lines.
8. Trace the small square template again. Glue this piece onto the bottom of the pyramid (inside or outside according to your preference) to reinforce the bottom.
9. Punch out the circles with a hole punch.

If making the box out of a thick material such as wood, cardboard or plastic:

10. trace the paper onto the thick material leaving off the thin, folding piece. Cut out the triangles separately from the square and attach with flexible tape before covering with fabric or decorative paper.
11. Drill a 1/4 inch hole through each circle.

The Closing Square:

12. Trace the small square from the base of the box. This becomes the outside of the closing square.
13. Determine how far down from the tip of the box you want the closing square to fall. Measure the width of the triangle at that height.
14. In the center of the “large” square, draw a small square with sides the same length as the width of the triangle.
15. Cut out the small square from the center of the closing square.
16. If using paper or cardstock, fold in the corners so they meet the inner corners. Fold the sides so they meet the inner sides. Tape or glue the sides in place if desired. If using a thick material, leave the closing square as is, or trim it to the desired size.

The Stick:

17. Cut a 1/4 inch dowel (or tight roll paper roll) slightly longer than the side of the closing square.
18. Attach a ribbon or other decoration to the stick if desired.
    
    
    I am posting this without having tested the template that I posted (I made one by hand but haven't yet printed the computer one), so if you have any trouble please comment and I will fix any errors or talk you through it more thoroughly. Enjoy! 

Snowman "Anything Kit" Tutorial

Today I'm going to share with you a tutorial for a super easy, super adorable winter craft. It makes a good project to do with children, and the insides are an activity for another time. Alternately, it could be a party favor at a winter party - and since it's not associated with any particular holiday you can use it for any group at any time. The toddler class at Dynamite is making them (with some grown-up help) at our holiday party.

Before we start, here's a little disclaimer: according to Montessori principles, art should be open-ended, or a project that the child designs independently and then fulfills. This project, while fun and awesome, doesn't really follow Montessori curriculum guidelines.

Isn't he cute? He's a snowman "anything kit". For this tutorial I made him into a play dough kit using the easiest recipe I know: salt, flour, optional kool-aid for color/scent, and water.

Ready to get started? Here's what you need:

3 identical white or clear takeout sauce containers, with lids

black acrylic paint and paint brush

tacky glue

permanent marker (orange would be nice for a nose)

black construction paper

not pictured: scissors and tape

First, you'll want to paint the lid of ONE of the sauce containers black. I snapped it onto its cup to hold it off of my work surface, and painted carefully. Acrylic paint is water cleanup ONLY while it's still wet, so if you get any on your clothes take care of it right away.

Let the lid dry while you do the other steps. Depending on your climate, it might take longer to dry, so take that into account too.

Next, you'll need to fill the other two containers with items of your choice. I did flour and salt, but you could do glue and objects, beads and string, any kind of small trinkets or even candies. Eventually we'll have another container to fill up, too, so you'll need a third, complementary item later. Mine will be blue kool-aid, because the sauce cups aren't water tight and everyone has water at home

anyway. Kool-aid is slightly harder to come by :).

Once the items are loaded in the sauce cups, put their lids on and glue them together. The two bottom pieces will be glued lid to lid, so the bottom one will be right side up and the middle one will be upside down. Then glue the top one (the one with the black lid) in place, right side up, on top. DO NOT glue the lids onto their cups unless you never want to open it. Now is a good time to remove the top lid and add the third item, because you'll be working with the black lid next.

Cut your black construction paper into a long rectangle (mine was approximately 3" x 1"). The long side will be the circumference of the circle you will make to be the tall part of the top hat. The height of the top hat will be equal to the short side. I used the inner ring of the lid as my guide, and cut the paper so it made a nice loop inside the little crevice with a small overlap. Once you have it the way you like it, tape it shut and glue it in place with the

tacky glue. If your lids have a crevice like mine did, you can glue it there and it will be nice and sturdy.

The final step is to decorate him. I just used a black sharpie (remember, I'll be doing this with 2-year olds so even that is a big mess risk), but I think he would be even cuter with real sticks hot glued to his sides and real tiny buttons, plus maybe a little striped scarf and a tiny carrot nose. If you're doing it with older children or by yourself, get creative and do them however you like!