Easy Cow Origami Envelope
Whether you are looking for easy Farm Crafts for Kids or looking for some fun Year of the Ox activities, check out our super duper easy Cow Origami Envelope! Making Origami Envelopes is quick and easy.. then learn how to turn it into a cow envelope or ox envelope!
This easy Chinese New Year craft for kids, comes with a free printable “Happy New Year” note to add to your Ox Envelopes. Scroll down for the download!
To make your Cow Origami Envelope you will need:
- Paper in the desired colours
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- Pens
If making these for the Year of the Ox – do download your free “Happy New Year” printable! There are different sizes. I found the 8 per sheet size perfect for our envelopes!
How to make an origami envelope cow for Year of the Ox
You will need a square piece of paper to begin with. Take your A4 sheet of your “main” cow colour – if making this cow origami envelope for the Year of the Ox, why not use the auspicious RED colour as the main body of your ox craft?
Fold up a corner to make a triangle. Cut along the edge (keep the cut offs for the Ox’s ears).
You should now have a large triangle – which, if you unfold, makes a square. Keep folded.
With the long edge perpendicular to you, fold down the top of half of the triangle. If you are familiar with our Corner Bookmarks, this is the same step at the beginning!
You should now be able to “see” 4 triangles of equal side.
Take the right hand side and fold over.
Repeat with the left hand side – make sure the right and left match!
Now you will make the little “lip” that allows you to tuck in the envelope cover and will also be the place to add your paper cow “nose”.
Make a fold perpendicular to the bottom edge.
With your index finger, push the bottom of this fold in – it should start forming a square (you may want to watch the video for this bit!).
Fold down flat.
Bring down the top of the remaining triangle to make the flap of your envelope.
Your basic origami envelope is done.
Decorating the origami envelope for the Year of the Ox
It is now time to decorate. You will need:
- An oval for the nose
- Two eyes (I drew these on white paper and cut them out, if making a white cow, you can draw them straight on toe the envelope!)
- Two ears
- Two horns
Adapt the colours of your features accoring to whether you are “Just” making a Cow Origami Envelope or a Year of the Ox envelope. You can even adjust the colours some more and turn it into a Highland Cow Envelope!
Stick the “nose” of the cow onto the diamond at the front (not the whole envelope).
Then stick the ears and horns onto the back of the envelope and draw the eyes and any black spots!
What do you think? Aren’t they cute?! And so so easy!
More Chinese New Year Crafts:
And finally – our list of Zodiac Animal Crafts (plus information on what year they occur in!):
Find out more about Chinese New Year