This little pop-up penguin is going to blow your mind! Several times this week on Facebook I was tagged in an article about Kamikara, which is the Japanese word for trick papercrafts. Among these crazy papercrafts was a penguin that popped up when you dropped it on a surface. I was fascinated and set out to learn everything I could. It’s no secret I love to figure out extreme papercrafts, like the pop-up apple tree earlier this year. The talented designer of the penguin and other kamikara, Hakuri Nakamura sells a book in Japan, but his patterns aren’t available online. So after watching many videos and a whole lot of trial and error, I came up with my own design of this penguin paper bomb! It’s not his pattern, but certainly inspired by it.
Here is a quick video that shows the pop-up effect of the penguin:
You’re probably wondering how to make this fascinating little paper toy! If you’ve got three minutes, I can show you how to make one yourself it in little video that gives you a general overview — and you can watch the full-length, normal speed video later in this tutorial!
I want to point out that while this penguin was inspired by Haruki Nakamara’s penguin, it is not the same — so if you’re trying to make his, you may find this tutorial helpful in ways but it does not show you how how to make his penguin. This penguin paper bomb is of my own design (with help from my daughter, Alexa), based on a visual review of videos — I did not have access to his design. I believe it works similarly, but not exactly. Big kudos to Haruki Nakamura for his original design!
Do you think you can make a penguin paper bomb? I think you can! But be forewarned — this will be a challenge. Consider it more of a puzzle to solve than a simple papercraft. You can put it together, sure, but can you make it pop up when you drop it? And will the penguin land on his feet? That is your quest, if you choose to accept it!
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