How to make a paper firecracker cutout for Lunar New Year
Paper Firecracker Craft (Cutout): try all 5 steps in the 3D player. Turn and replay every move. Print the complete diagram sheet or save it as PDF.
An Origami Tutor Lunar New Year firecracker: fold a red square in half, cut two band windows and one outline through both layers, then open a fat red tube with a short fuse and a spark on top.
- You need
- Thin paper, a pencil, a ruler and scissors.
- Start
- Begin with a 12 cm square of red paper, colored side up. Keep an edge at the top.
Your model is ready
Smooth the centre fold flat. Color the spark and the two bands gold if you like, and hang several firecrackers on a string for a New Year garland. The finished firecracker, with a spark above its fuse and two bands on the tube.
Step-by-step diagrams
- 1
Fold the square in half
Bring the left edge to the right edge. Match the corners and press the vertical fold. Keep the folded edge on the left.
- 2
Cut the upper band
Cut a flat half oval out from the folded edge and back to it, about halfway down where the tube will be.
- 3
Cut the lower band
Cut a second flat half oval lower down the folded edge, leaving a wide bridge of paper between the two.
- 4
Cut the firecracker outline
Begin on the folded edge at the top of the spark. Cut round the points of the star, then down the fuse. Cut out along the top of the tube, down its side and along the bottom to the folded edge. Keep the firecracker beside the fold.
- 5
Open the firecracker
Open the centre fold carefully. The two halves meet down the middle of the tube.
- ✓
Finish
Smooth the centre fold flat. Color the spark and the two bands gold if you like, and hang several firecrackers on a string for a New Year garland. The finished firecracker, with a spark above its fuse and two bands on the tube.





