Make Paper Star Decorations

December 9, 2023

MAKE PAPER STARS

You might think Calculata and I don’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but you’d be dead wrong! Actually we collaborate all the time, sharing inspiration and ideas and making things together. One of our favourite ways to combine our skills is by making these beautiful paper star ornaments. Why not have a go yourself and don’t forget to notice how much maths there is in this ‘art’ project!

YOU WILL NEED:

– Strong cardboard – cereal box card is fine

– Pencil

– Compass

– Ruler

– Protractor

– Scissors

– Acrylic paint (gold works well)

– Strong PVA glue

– Pegs

– Needle

– Thread

Decide how big you want your star to be. The bigger the radius of your circle, the bigger your star will be. Our radius is 3 cm, and the points are 10 cm from the centre of the circle. If your radius is bigger, the points of your star should be further from its centre.

STEP 1

Using a compass, draw a circle on your card. Note down the radius for later.

STEP 2

Using the protractor, make a mark at 0. Then measure 72 degrees and make another mark. Do this at 72-degree-increments around the circle, then draw lines connecting these marks to the centre of your circle.

STEP 3

Connect the points at the edge of the circle to make a pentagon comprising of five triangles.

STEP 4

Using the ruler, find the centre point at the base of each triangle and mark with a pen.

STEP 5

Draw a line out from the centre of the circle, through the centre of each triangle, and out to a distance of 10 cm (or greater, if your radius is bigger). These will form the points of your star.

STEP 6

With the ruler, draw straight lines connecting the base of each triangle to the point you’ve just made.

STEP 7

Draw little upside-down V shapes at the tip of each point. They should be about 1 cm deep.

STEP 8

Use these to draw tabs around your star.

STEP 9

Cut the whole thing out. If you happen to have an adult with a craft knife handy, that would be really helpful. Otherwise, sharp scissors will do.

STEP 10

With a sharp point and a ruler, score along these lines (see pic).

STEP 11

Snip where the tabs meet the star (marked in green on this pic) and fold the tabs in.

STEP 12

Fold along all the scored lines (see pic below).

STEP 13

Repeat steps 1-13 to make two sides of your star.

STEP 14

Paint both shapes and leave to dry.

STEP 14

Paint both shapes and leave to dry.

STEP 15

Using the tabs, glue the two sides together. This step is a bit tricky – we carefully placed pegs on the tips of the points to keep everything in place while the glue dried.