I LOVE paper craft, as you can do it whenever wherever with whatever piece of paper you have! Get the hang of it and you can entertain your kids on a bus, a plane or in the car. Making these easy origamiย paper boats is such a wonderful “childhood classic activity”. Let’s learn how to make a boat!

Make these paper boats out of any piece of paper any place at any time (I remember making these origami boats out of my bus ticket, whilst waiting to arrive at my destination)!
Make them HUGE or make them small. All you need is a sheet of paper of ANY size.
Not only only are the paper boats a fun craft, but they are also a great introduction to origami and following instructions! We loveย Easy Origami for Kidsย and this is a great one to get kids interested!
One Easy Boat Origami.. so many options!
No kits needed. Just one sheet of paper! Construction paper works too, but if you want to float these, “printer” paper or a magazine paper better, as they slightly less water absorbant, so will last longer!
Yes that is right.. learn how to make the one boat.. and you can decorate and use it in so many different ways. Here we simply too colourful paper and created an army of RAINBOW Paper Boats. They make great little canoes for playmobil mean and small toys too (squish down the middle to make space for sitting).
Next. We took plain white paper, and turned it into a pirate ship, with the quick addition of a Skull and Crossbones Toothpick Flag. Harr. Harr. Gotta love a Pirate Craft!
The great thing is, that these Paper Boats, also float. Kids can colour it in and take it in the bath or play with it on a small river (it will dissolve, should it float away). I have also used it to make a cute Father’s Day card!
My neighbours boys (5yrs & 7yrs) saw my draft video and after that they couldn’t stop – we made about 20 paper boats over the weekend – including to two MASSIVE ones. The 7yrs REALLY impressed me with his Pirate Ship and Island. This is what “How to..” is all about – getting stuck in and having fun with crafts! So chuffed!
Just check out their Giant Paper Boats How to:
Aren’t they simply fun?! (My Paper Boat Craft Models are in disguise)
Teaching Friends How To Make Paper Boats
Then it got better, they then went to a party… and ended up TEACHING their friends how to make boats. Here they are teaching each other to make their paper boats. **Bless**.
This is a little trickier than the paper cup craft from a couple of weeks ago, but once you know how to make one, you can make it anywhere out of any scarp paper (even a bus ticket!!). Keep your kids entertained on the go! Make one!!!
Easy Origami Paper Boat How To Video:
Though paper boats are super easy to learn how to make, it is great to watch this How to make a Paper Boat video. Seeing really is the quickest and easiest way to learn this wonderful Origami for Kids!
An A4 sheet of paper is ideal – you do need a rectangular sheet of paper… and most sheets work. But we like the dimensions onf A4 or A5.
Fold your sheet of paper in half. Make a neat crease. (So if using an A4 sheet of paper, you now have an A5 sized paper infront of you – like a card that opens and shuts).
Turn the paper round, so the closed edge is along the top. And the open edges along the bottom.
Fold the paper in half again and make a middle crease. Open back up. You just wanted to create a perpendicular guide line.
Fold the top right corner down, to meet this middle crease and create a triangle.
Repeat with the top left corner.
You should now have two triangles with a banner along the bottom made of two sheets of paper.
Take one of these fold up. Two small triangles will overlap. Fold these down to make another eat edge.
Flip the origami over and repeat for the other side.
You should now have what looks like a “classic paper hat”.
Take the two points one either side and bring to the centre and flatten.
You should have a diamond with equal sides in front of you.
Take the bottom corner and fold up. Flip over.
Repeat for the other side. You should now have a traingle again.
Take the point on the left and right and again, bring them together to meet in the middle.
And flattern. You should have another diamond.
This time, you can pull it appart and make our final boat shape.
And finished! Now decorate it in any way you wish!
Other fun boat crafts that float:

Another great recycled boat is this aluminum foil boat fromย Gift of Curiosity. It floats so well too! Get some recycled elements onto your crafting table with the kids!

Love theseย Sponge Boats! So clever.
More Easy Origami for Kids here:
See all our fun DIY Boat Crafts here:
This video tutorial is also available on my YouTube channel
TheMadHouse says
Blast from the past this one for me , I used to make these as a child to float on the local boating lake, I will be making these with the minimads
Red Ted Art says
Same here – thought “everyone” knew how to make these… not the case, which is why it is so lovely to share.. ๐ hope your minimads have as much fun as you did when you were little!!!
jodyfrommommymoment says
What a cute boat!
Yes, you are welcome to post about my HUGE spring flower craft as long as you link it back to my blog at http://mommymoment.ca
I am glad you enjoy our blog!
Jody from Mommy Moment
Andrea says
Thank you for the video! Used to make lots of these many years ago but when I tried to make one for my little son the other day, I did not remember how!
Thanks again!
Red Ted Art says
Yay! ๐ Himmel und Hoelle next?!! xxx
Andrea says
Yesssss! Himmel und Hรถlle….I used to love playing that with my Mum!
Chris at Thinly Spread says
Oh my big boy loves making these for his little brother! We thought we might float them down the river and have a race!
spudballoo says
Oh I had TOTALLY forgotten about these, thanks for the reminder! xxx
mummiafelice says
Gosh, what memories! Thank you – not had a ‘sail in a puddle’ for a while! Must change that! Hee hee!
ella says
I haven’t made these since I was a child, I must teach the boys, thank you!
Liz Burton says
I must have had a deprived childhood – we never made these!!
LOVE the giant ones, they look amazing.
Think we’ll be giving this one a go, thanks x
Rachel says
I love making paperboats – thanks for the tutorial
Susan, the Book Chook says
Paper boats appeal to young and old – I can’t wait to try a massive one!
Jackie says
I loved watching your video tutorial. I would love to incorporate more video on my blog. You sound so professional ๐
I’ve seen the paper boats before but I didn’t know how to make them. Thank you for sharing. This is a great take along activity.
carly@learningparade says
This has inspired us to make the massive ones, bet they’d look great floating along in the river!
Narrowboat Wife says
Everyone is gonna love these! It is the perfect project for boat children.
Red Ted Art says
Hooray! So pleased you like them! ๐
Alice ~ Writer, Traveller, Boater, Dreamer says
Oh I love this idea … will definitely be making this with my daughter… if only it was so easy to fix up this real boat I live in ๐
Red Ted Art says
Yes, that would be amazing, wouldn’t it!!!
origami boat says
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