This Baby Yoda Paper Snowflake Tutorial Is Cuteness Overload
If you've been diligently watching The Mandalorian on Disney+, you're probably still thinking about Baby Yoda and his Jedi roots. You may be texting your friends theories for the next season while simultaneously putting Star Wars ornaments on your tree, baking cookies shaped like Grogu, and buying your BFFs the cutest merch in the galaxy. That's all well and good, but learning how to make a Baby Yoda paper snowflake is, as the Mandalorians would say, "the way."
Nothing will combine your love for the franchise and your spirit for the holidays more than making this Baby Yoda paper snowflake. Created by Travis Clark — an art history professor and the brain behind Whitebread Studios — the paper snowflake combines the profiles of Mando and Baby Yoda and can likely be completed within 20 minutes. (Clark's tutorial on YouTube is around nine minutes long, but speeds up at more lengthy parts of the process.) To make it, you just need a piece of printer paper, a pair of scissors, and a pencil for sketching out the pattern.
Once you've gathered those items, you'll be ready to make a Baby Yoda paper snowflake and decorate your home with this cosmic duo that has absolutely stolen a piece of your heart. The steps are fairly easy, but you may want to stream the epic season finale and follow them while watching Mando, Boba Fett, and the entire team rescue The Child from Moff Gideon's ship.
According to Clark, the first step is to take your piece of printer paper and fold it to form a square. You'll be left with a little excess paper that you can cut off. Then, fold the remaining perfect square in half to create a triangle. From there, the triangle must be folded into thirds, which Clark notes is a bit tricky. One third will cross in front, and the other will cross in back.
Getting these thirds even is an important step, as you'll then need to cut off the excess corners to create a semi-perfect circle. This circle sort of serves as an empty snowflake canvas. It's the overall shape and base before the pattern has been applied. You can double check your folding skills by opening up your piece of paper to see the circle after making all necessary folds and cuts. However, be sure to fold it back up before you start sketching out the pattern.
In the tutorial, Clark explains how the folded wedge is 1/12th of the Baby Yoda snowflake, and where the inner parts connect so that the DIY craft doesn't ultimately fall apart. He notes that you can make adjustments to your pattern's design — say, if you want to add more detail to the helmet or Baby Yoda's ear — but to recognize those connections before making any major cuts.
Of course, you don't have to wing your design or venture away from the original pattern. In fact, Clark has a free template of the pattern created by Shay Moore that's available for download, so your snowflake can come out just right.
Last but not least, once your pattern is drawn, you'll want to use a sharp pair of scissors to cut out the holes. As you can see in the tutorial, when Clark creates his, he doesn't totally cut out the ears so that they can still connect and form the outer edge of the 'flake. From there, you can open up your Baby Yoda snowflake and reveal your final creation.
Who knows, maybe you'll be so impressed with your skills you'll want to create more of different sizes and colors. The pattern works with many different papers, or you can head to Whitebread Studios' Instagram feed and try out some of the other designs Clark has worked on. All patterns are free for non-commercial use, and feature your fave droids, starships, or even classic snowflake shapes.
