How to Make an Origami T-Rex (Easy Paper Dinosaur)

Here is a surprising fact: Stegosaurus was already a fossil by the time T-Rex was born. More time separates those two dinosaurs from each other than separates T-Rex from you, sitting here reading this. Dinosaurs weren't just one moment in Earth's history. They were almost the whole story.

And at the very end of that story stands the most famous animal that ever lived. Today we are going to fold one out of paper.

What were the dinosaurs, really?

Dinosaurs first appeared about 230 million years ago and ruled the land for roughly 165 million years. For comparison, our own species has been around for about 300,000 years. If you squeezed the age of the dinosaurs into a single day, humans would show up in the last two minutes.

Dinosaurs were a group of reptiles with a very particular hip and leg build. Their legs went straight down under the body instead of sprawling out to the sides like a crocodile's. That one change is what let them stand tall, walk efficiently, and eventually grow enormous. The name dinosaur itself was invented in 1842 by the British scientist Richard Owen, from the Greek for "fearfully great lizard".

Despite their name, they were not all giants, and they were not true lizards. They came in every size and shape you can imagine. Some were smaller than a chicken. Some, like Argentinosaurus, were as long as three school buses parked nose to tail. Some ate meat, most ate plants, and many had feathers.

Then, about 66 million years ago, an asteroid roughly 10 km wide hit what is now Mexico, and the world went dark and cold. Almost every branch of dinosaurs disappeared.

Except one. And this is exciting, but hard to believe: the birds are dinosaurs. Not "related to" dinosaurs, not "descended from" them in some distant way. Birds are a surviving branch of the same family that produced T-Rex. The sparrow on your windowsill is a living, breathing dinosaur.

Meet Tyrannosaurus rex

Tyrannosaurus rex means "tyrant lizard king", and it was named in 1905. It lived in western North America right at the end of the dinosaur age, roughly 68 to 66 million years ago. That means T-Rex was one of the very last non-bird dinosaurs alive when the asteroid arrived.

Here is what made it remarkable:

• It was enormous. Around 12 metres long from nose to tail and somewhere between 6 and 9 tonnes.
• It had the strongest bite of any land animal we know of. T-Rex did not slice its food, it crushed it. Fossil bones have been found with its tooth marks punched clean through them.
• Its teeth were the size of bananas. The biggest ones measure about 30 cm including the root, and it had around 50 to 60 of them.
• It could smell extremely well. The parts of its brain that handle smell were huge, so it probably tracked food across long distances the way a vulture or a bloodhound does.
• Those tiny arms were not weak. They look silly next to that head, but each arm was about a metre long and heavily muscled. Scientists still argue about what they were for.
• Most scientists think it wasn't capable of true running. Films show T-Rex chasing jeeps, but its body was too heavy for a true running gait. Best estimates put it at a fast walk, around 15 to 25 km/h, which is still quicker than most people can sprint.

The most complete T-Rex ever found is nicknamed Sue, dug up in South Dakota in 1990 and now on display in Chicago. About 90% of her skeleton was recovered, which is extraordinary for an animal that died 67 million years ago.

Making the origami T-Rex

Enough prehistory. A T-Rex is one of the most satisfying origami animals to fold, because the shape only really appears at the very end. You fold what looks like a random paper shape for several steps, and then one reverse fold turns it into a head with a jaw, and suddenly there is a dinosaur in your hands.

As we explained in Develop math reasoning skills with origami, folding paper is one of the best geometry lessons a child can have. Every fold is a line of symmetry, every crease divides an angle. It's math, but it doesn't feel like math.

This model is a step up from an origami pig but easier than an X-wing. If your child has folded a couple of simpler models already, they are ready for this one.

Materials needed for the origami T-Rex

• One square sheet of paper. Proper origami paper holds a crease best; a plain A4 sheet trimmed to a square is perfectly fine. Any colour works. We don't really know the real colors of T-rex!
• Your hands.
• Bonus: coloured pencils or markers for the eyes, teeth and claws. This is the step children enjoy most, so leave time for it.

Instructions on how to make the origami T-Rex

If you learn better by watching, the step-by-step video is at the top of the article. If you prefer static instructions you can pause over, follow the diagram below.

Two folds in this model can be tricky, so let's explore them in detail:

• Valley and mountain folds. A valley fold makes a V pointing towards you; a mountain fold makes a ridge pointing away. Diagrams use dashed lines for valleys and dotted lines for mountains.
• The reverse fold. This is the one that makes the head and the tail. You open a flap slightly and push the tip inside itself so it changes direction. It feels wrong the first time. Do it slowly, and pre-crease the fold in both directions first so the paper knows where to go.

When the T-Rex is finished, a small fold at the bottom of each foot gives it a flat base so it stands up on its own. Bend the tail slightly downwards to act as a third support if it keeps tipping forward.

What will your child develop and learn?

• Fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Precise, controlled folding is exactly the kind of finger work that helps with handwriting.
• Spatial reasoning. Reading a flat diagram and turning it into a three-dimensional object is a genuine mental workout, and one that shows up later in maths.
• Geometry in disguise. Symmetry, angles, halves and quarters, triangles inside squares. All of it, without a worksheet in sight.
• Attention and sequencing. The model only works if the steps happen in order, so it trains children to follow a procedure and check their own work.
• Patience and tolerance for frustration. Some folds fail. Unfolding and retrying a difficult step is a small, safe lesson in not giving up.
• Curiosity about the real animal. A dinosaur they made themselves is a much better doorway into palaeontology than a dinosaur someone handed them.

Frequently Asked Questions

We hope your T-Rex ends up guarding a shelf somewhere. If you enjoyed this one and want more origami, try the simple origami boat that actually floats, the origami house you can decorate however you like, or browse all our origami guides. Happy folding!