I’ve always been intrigued with origami, and have even dabbled a bit. I’ve never been able to make anything more intricate that a star or box, but I absolutely loved that I could make something three dimensional from a flat piece of paper. In the midst of Christmas decorating I found a box of my old origami paper and it sparked my interest again. I searched for a panda pattern and found several different ones that I loved. Of course, I wanted to share them with you!

For the more visual learners, you can follow along with these two videos (1, 2). Unfortunately embedding is disabled for these videos so you’ll have to visit YouTube to see them. However, it’s well worth it; the end result is amazingly cute!

I’m more of an instruction reader and find it easier to follow along to written instructions, so the rest are all written instructions in .pdf format. I’ve linked to all the original sites below, but uploaded all the instructions for these patterns to the Perfect Pandas website so they’ll always be available here. Please realize that these lovely patterns are someone else’s hard work, and I take absolutely no credit in their creation.

For those of you (which includes me, too!) who find it easier to cut and paste and glue, the next post will cover very cute printable panda designs that you can just cut out and glue or staple together.

Now let’s get to folding!

If you’d like to start out with something simpler, this cute little panda face project is perfect. Download the instructions here.

More instructions and ideas after the cut!

Of course, my favorite is the Tare Panda design. Download the instructions here.

Though a bit more complicated, this walking panda design is just as adorable. Download the instructions here.

You can use any color to make a panda as the following two photos show. Download the instructions for the purple panda here, and the blue panda here.

There are tons of books available with simple instructions for hundreds of animals and objects, not just pandas. However, here are three books I found that include instructions for at least one panda. Also, the last one is quite interesting and I think I’m going to order it; they’re a bit like a honeycomb pattern. Very cute.

Paper Pandas and Jumping Frogs

Origami Treasure Chest

More 3D Origami: Step-By-Step Illustrations

For all the projects here you’ll need to use origami paper that is printed only on one side. These can easily be found in most paper stores and even some bookstores. Or, as with everything these days, you can order them online. This pack of 24 sheets is only $4.95 at Amazon. If you’re looking for a more fancy paper, there are beautiful origami papers available at my favorite paper store ever, Paper Source. Though I’m positive they would make beautiful boxes and decorations, I think they’d make quite an odd panda!

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7