Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding to create models without cuts or glue. This document provides instructions to make an origami octagon star model using 8 squares of paper. The model is made by first creating identical star-building units with folds and then assembling the units by connecting the parallelograms to form an octagon ring and star shape. Questions are included throughout to explore geometric properties of the shapes.

1. ORIGAMI
Japanese art of paper-folding
To create a unit origami model, we
build 2 or more units that are
identical and put them together
without using glue.

2. Materials Needed for each learner
 8 squares of origami paper- 4 each
of 2 different colours or 2 each of 4
different colours.
 Origami journal
Activity : In pairs or individually

3. FOLDING INSTRUCTIONS AND
QUESTIONS
 1. Fold the paper in half and unfold

4.  2. Rotate the paper 900
. Fold in half
and unfold.

5.  3. Fold the top 2 corners down.
 How does the area of the pentagon
compare to the area of the original
square?

6.  4. Fold the green sides together on
the diagonals indicated on the
diagram. Crease only to the middle
the square

7.  5. Rotate the piece 900
and fold in
half.

8.  6. Push the fold to the inside so that
a parallelogram is formed. You have
completed one of the units for the
octagon star. Now make 7 more
identical
units

9.  7 What are the measures of each
angle of the parallelogram? Explain
how you know.

10. ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS
 1. Pick up 2 different coloured
units. Insert the short side of one
unit between the long folded edges
of the other unit.
 2. Hook the parallelograms
together by tucking in the tails.
 3. Connecting the parallelograms
together until you have formed and
octagon

12.  4. Slide the pieces of the octagon
together until an 8-pointed star is
formed. If your units do not slide
easily, then check to see that when
you tucked in the last two tails,
both were not locked over the
centre piece but folded over the
edges.

14. EXPLORING YOUR MODEL
 1. Without measuring , determine the measure
of each angle in the pentagon of your octagon
ring.
 2. Determine the measure of each of the angles
of the quadrilaterals in the inside octagon. What
kind of quad. do you see?
 3. Describe the rotational and reflective
symmetries of the octagon ring and the octagon
star. Are they the same or different?
 Describe the relationship between the parm. in
the completed octagon star and the star-building
unit.