Fun
How to fold an origami heart
Fold a flat paper heart from a single square in a few minutes — perfect for Valentine's Day cards, notes and garlands.
Heart
Easyabout 5 minutes8 stepsPaper: Square, 15 cm (6 in); red or pink paper
Start with the white side up. Fold in half edge to edge both ways and unfold, so you have a cross of creases.
Swipe the diagram or use the ← → keys. Space plays and pauses.
Paper colour
Print all steps
2 pages, six steps to a page, in the paper colour you picked.
Reading the diagrams
- - - valley fold (towards you) · -·-· mountain fold (away) · thin grey lines are creases already made. Arrows show where the paper goes; a hollow arrow means push in.
All steps
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See every model with a difficulty filter on origami instructions.
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Frequently asked questions
Is this heart suitable for children?
Yes. It uses only straight valley and mountain folds with no collapses, so most children from about six or seven can fold it with a little help lining up the edges.
What size will the heart be?
About three-quarters of the paper's width across: a 15 cm (6 in) square makes a heart roughly 11 cm (4.5 in) wide. Use a 7.5 cm (3 in) square for a small heart to tuck into an envelope.
Can I write a message on it?
Yes — write a short message on the back of the finished heart, or glue the heart onto a card and write beside it. Pens with fine tips work best on the folded layers.
How do I make the heart rounder?
Fold the corners behind a little further, or add a second, smaller fold at each corner. The deeper the corner folds, the rounder the top of the heart becomes.
How can I use paper hearts?
Glue them onto cards, string them into a garland with thread and tape, use them as place cards or scatter them on a table. Folded from patterned paper they make quick gift toppers.
About this tool
This origami heart is one of the easiest models to fold and one of the most useful. A square of paper becomes a neat, flat heart with a colourful front and tidy folded edges — just right for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, weddings or a note in a lunch box.
The diagrams show every fold animated in standard origami notation, with dashed valley folds, dash-dot mountain folds and arrows showing where the paper moves. The heart takes about five minutes the first time and less once you know the folds.
Pick a paper colour in the viewer to match your sheet, and download the steps as a PDF on US Letter or A4 to fold with a class or a group. When the heart is done, the other models linked below — from a lucky star to a paper crane — are ready to fold next.