
There are many origami elephants, but this one, created by Mr. Fumiaki Kawahata, is one of my all-time favorite origami animals! It’s one whose folding steps I memorized years ago at an origami convention in New York City.
Origami books by Mr. Kawahata include*:
North American Animals in Origami (co-author together with John Montrol)
Wild Animals of the World (in Japanese, with excellent diagrams)
The folding sequence for this particular elephant is a delight and the resulting figure has a delicious, lively three-dimensional quality to it. I promise that you will find yourself folding many of them for your friends and family. And total strangers will quickly turn into friends when you hand them one of these origami elephants!
This elephant can be made with different types of paper
For the first practice, you can begin by using a square cut out of regular office paper.
Either Tant paper or onion skin paper are excellent choices to make this model. Here you will find instructions to color onion skin paper to use for this and many other origami models.
With permission from Mr. Fumiaki Kawahata, I’m pleased to share a video featuring a step-by-step demonstration of how to make his lovely elephant.
Origami Spirit has been teaching Origami and supporting Origami Creators since 2007
Tips and Suggestions to Make the Origami Elephant
- Making this origami elephant requires some prior folding experience.
- If you are a complete beginner in the art of folding paper try folding simpler models before attempting to make it.
- To make your first elephant use a relatively large square (7 x 7 inches) of thin paper.
- In the video, the elephant is folded with Kami paper, which is a thin and crisp paper specially design to make origami
- Onion skin paper or any other paper can be colored following suggestions on this post.
- To give volume to the origami elephant hold it by the tail at the end of the folding process and tuck the thick flap inside its body.
Symbolism of the Elephant: Strength, remembrance, power, perseverance, good luck, wisdom
I hope you enjoy this little elephant as much as I have. When you have practiced and folded a whole herd of elephants, try folding a miniature origami elephant like this one!
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*Affiliate links disclosure: Read more
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Great pace for instructions! I am making this for a friends birthday.
I’m happy you like this origami elephant. Welcome to Origami Spirit, Jenny.
Leyla
I Tried numerous different origami elephants, then I found yours on youtube. I was a determined beginner of origami. Success, after having to rewind a couple of times in certain areas. Very good tutorial.
Congratulations for having success with the elephant, Yvette, and welcome to OrigamiSpirit!
If you use facebook, I invite you to join our group where we share pictures of what we fold in a friendly and inspirational manner.
Here is the link
This elephant is adorable. Your directions were given at a wonderful pace and very clear. I was able to fold him first try.
Now if I could only commit him to memory. I know all the little ones in my life will LOVE him. Thank you.
Hi Mary,
I’m happy you enjoyed folding the elephant. Visit this link for tips on how to remember the origami you learn:
How to Remember the Steps to Make an Origami Model
Joy with origami!
can you make a diagram of the elephant and post it on this page?
I’d love to, but I do not have an available diagram to be distributed online.
Can you post a diagram or instruction of the elephant so we don’t need to watch the video?
My son and I are doing 30 days of Origami this lockdown. This elephant was a little hard to fold but oh so cute and adorable! Thank you for adding some joy to this uncertain time!
Hi Kanakapriya,
Nothing better than origami to create a stronger bond between children and their parents. I am happy you enjoyed this!
Thank you for writing!
This was a very good tutorial and made me very happy when i finished the elephant. Thank you so much for making this.
Hi Cass,
You are very welcomed. I’m happy you were able to follow the tutorial and finish the origami elephant. I appreciate your kind words!
Do you have to do one color?
Cute
Hello
I thank you very much for your quickly answer. I would like to make the elephant now with this kami paper. Witch weight of the paper would you recommend me?
Best regards
Monika
Kami paper comes only in one weight.
Hello
I like your video of the Elephant from Mr. Fumiaka Kawahata. Your description is very good to follow.
I would like to know witch kind of paper you use for the violett elephant.
Best regards
Monika
Hi Monika, the violet color elephant is made with a paper called “kami” which is a very thin and crisp commercial Japanese paper produced for origami.
I hope this helps. Thank you for your visit!
This doesn’t work
Good for you to try, Keiran. When we are beginning with origami, we need to try easier figures first. I suggest you build your skill by folding pieces like the ones you finde HERE, and then try this again. Don’t give up!
Thank you Leyla! Your directions were very clear and my elephant turned out great!
I’m very happy your elephant was great. Thank you for writing and welcome to Origami Spirit!
That was an excellent tutorial video, thank you Leyla! I was able to reproduce it exactly without a problem! And as you say, loved the result, it is really cute!!! <3
Great Ana. Happy you enjoyed it!
Wow! Excellent tutorial! Excellent pacing. I didn’t know if I could keep up or if my skills were good enough to do this, but I could! Had to back up a couple of times because I thought I knew what was coming and dashed ahead, but I have an elephant setting on my desk to decorate a baby gift for my elephant loving daughter-in-law. Again, Wow!
Hi Jane, I’m happy you were able to make the elephant. Congratulations!
The more you make the better looking they will be.
Hi! You mentioned getting the designer’s permission to post the tutorial. Could you explain that a little bit? Is there a trademark on the design? If I were to make the elephant and sell it, would I run into legal problems?
Hi Camille,
Good questions! Yes, the designer of a particular origami piece owns intellectual rights on their pieces. To use a piece for commercial purposes, you would need their permission.
You can read more on Origami Copyright issues at OrigamiUSA.org https://origamiusa.org/faq/copyright-0#t67n1870
Thank you so much for this extremely easy tutorial! It looks harder than it is! Perfect for absolute beginners who want to impress their friends 😉 THANK YOU!!!
I’m so happy you were able to make this lovely origami elephant. Actually not many people who are beginners at origami are able to complete it.
Thank you for sharing your accomplishment here. Have you folded any other pieces shown in this website?
How do I get to find the elephant
Thank you so much for the clear instruction! It came out so nicely!!
I’m very happy you were able to fold this elephant. Congratulations, Sara, and thank you for sharing your success here :-)
Hola Leyla Torres. Me ggusta mucho la manera en que intecractuas con tus lectores. Un gran abrazo. Estoy intentando nuevamente hacer el elefante. Mevesta costando. Pero se que vale la pena el resultado final. Saludos
Hola Tefi. Te doy la bienvenida. Muy bien por intentar el elefante, que es algo complicado si eres principiante. Pero vale la pena probar pues así no te quede perfecto, vas a aprender bastante con intentarlo.
THANK YOU!!! Incredibly-clear instructions! SO happy; will practice for a beautiful cousin celebrating his 90th in July. He is a huge elephant advocate. Thank you, again!!!
I’m very happy you were able to make the elephant for such a wonderful occasion. Have a happy celebration!
This was amazing, your instructions are so clear, thank you! This was the first time I’ve ever tried origami, and it came out pretty much perfectly, so pleased :D
I’m so happy you succeeded in folding the elephant. Thank you, Lucy for writing and welcome to Origami Spirit!
I have folded origami on and off for something like 13 years now, and I have to say – this elephant proved a tad difficult at points. I even had to pause and rewind the video a couple times to double check folds! But it is an amazing piece, with a lot of depth to it that you don’t see in a lot of origami. The 3D aspects really make it stand out as such a great, intricate piece. Crazy that it is just one square piece of paper! Thank you for sharing! :D
You are welcome to Origami Spirit. Thank you for your visit and your message. It is a great elephant indeed!
Thank you so much for the beautiful elephant demonstration. Made my night!
Merci beaucoup pour cette vidéo avec des explications vraiment très claires et faciles à réaliser. Je pratique l’origami depuis un certain temps. Et rares sont les vidéos aussi claires et généreuses dans les explications . Bonne continuation
Thanks a lot for the elaborate instructions! I could get it perfect the first time itself!
You are welcome. I’m glad you were successful in folding it!
Thank you. It worked with a 15x15cm paper just perfectly. I will try building an elephant mobile now. :-)
You are welcome Christof. I’m happy you like the elephant and had success with it. A mobile of elephants should look great!
Wow! So easy with the many pre-folds and your outlining the specific folds. The only thing I have to work on is the definition of the front legs. Thanks again for your clear and beautiful instructions!
You are welcome Weslie! I’m happy you were successful in making this elephant.
I dont get it its hard??
Congratulations for trying it! I totally understand your frustration. Sometimes we need to grow our skills before we are able to make certain origami figures. You might want to try your hand at folding some of the models featured on this page: https://www.origamispirit.com/videos/origami-for-beginners/
Impressed by the instruction which is very easy to understand! We can’t believe we’ve made these elephants by ourselves. Thanks!!
Thank you for your visit, Shota. I am very happy you succeeded at making the elephant. Congratulations!!
Mail me one!!!!
“Give a woman a fish, and you feed her for a day. Teach a woman to fish, and you feed her for a lifetime.”
Leyla, thanks for the nice tutorial.
Your video is well explained and perfect to follow, speed matches exactly, at least for me.
The design is very nice. I like especially the definition of the front legs.
Hi Stefan,
I’m happy you like the elephant and the video. This is one of my favorite little origami “beasts”. Great Kawahata model!
Best teacher ever!! I really admire you cause you need to have a veery good memory to remember all these steps…thank you for the cutest paper elephant!!
I’m glad you like the elephant, Alexandra. Welcome to Origami Spirit!
Thank you so much Leyla! My little boy asked me to make an origami elephant this evening. I have never made one before but remembered seeing this really sweet one on your website before so I gave it a go and now have a cute little elephant to show him in the morning!
Congratulations for making the elephant. I’m glad you can share it with your son.
thanks leyla the elephants came out perfect .. made so many for my babys room
Hello! Thank you so much for making these videos. I recently started making origami through your website. I made an elephant and he is so cute! Thanks again!
Hi Ailís, You are very welcome and congratulations for making the origami elephant! Thank you for writing.
I made 4 of these elephants for my babies nursery, I love how nice and original they look. I wrote a post about them on my blog if you have a chance to have a look
bonjours,
je trouve votre tuto vraiment cool !!!
Mercy!
Leyla – here is a link to my first herd of elephants
Pachydermatically,
Chuck
https://chucksorigami.shutterfly.com/pictures/9
Great Chuck…. they are coming along very well. Now you will have to be careful. Origami elephants tend to proliferate much faster than those in Africa and India!
Thank you for sharing your photo.
I tried to make a bonsai elephant – he just fits on the penny. There is now a herd of the elephants at work (someone made the sign); I give them away or leave them behind on tables after meetings.
Regards,
Chuck
Thank you so much for the video! I did an intranet search and thought that Mr. Kawahata’s elephant was the most life like. Your video was very clear and easy to follow – now my goal is to try and memorize the steps so that I can make a herd!
Hi Chuck, I’m glad you like the elephant. It’s one of my favorite origami elephants. I hope you post a link to a photograph of your herd!
Could you make a easier way by any chance
It was too hard.
Hi! This elephant is so beautiful!
Do you by any chance have written instructions for the folds?
Thanks!!
Hi Celia,
At the moment I don’t have printed instructions that I can distributed freely over the Internet :-)
thank you so much for this diy. You explain very well, even if I’m a novice with doing origimis and I did the elephant ! (and excuse my bad english)
Thank you Leyla for your cute origami elephants! I love them. I made my very first elephant and it came out perfect with your tutorial.
Hola Leyla,
muchas gracias por subir este vídeo del elefante de Fumiaki Kawahata. Es una figura muy hermosa y con un plegado que se disfruta muchísimo. Gracias también por tu web en general. Espero conocerte en directo alguna vez.
Saludos,
Coral
Thank you for showing us how to origami stuff.
It is fantastic. I am elephant lover. Now I have possibility to prepare many paper elephants for my family and my friends; so to bring them a little bit of happiness. Thank you. Sonja
I am also make elephant but another way but you done amazing ……………
awesome work
Dear Leyla
Thank you for your excellent video tutorial of this appealing little elephant. yYour instructions are so clear and easy to follow. you are obviously an experienced and talented teacher.
Thank you Cheryl. I am glad you had success in making the elephant. It is quite a lovely origami model, and I was very happy to have permission to teach it here!
Please help us promoting this site by sharing the videos and links with your family and friends.
Very cute, and surprisingly easy!
These are the cutest little elephants ever!!! I made several of them and thoroughly enjoyed it! I find your videos a pleasure to watch and very easy to learn from! Absolutely love your site!!! :)
I like it. It is nice. It is cute. This is cool. I will make one.
Gosto muito de origami e você mostra que seu trabalho além de interessante é criativo e animador!
Gracias Gabriel!
how big is the finshed elephant using a 7″ x 7″ paper (18 cm x 18 cm) ? Thank you.
About 2 5/8 inches tall (7.2 cm.)
Hi, this is a great design. Can you tell me if it requires double sided paper, or is single sided ok?
thanks!
Single color paper is quite ok. If you have paper of different color on each side, one of the sides will not be visible at all.
plz share the diagrams!
its too difficult to play the video.
thank you very mich
Sorry, no diagrams to share via internet.
Leyla, I love your videos. I hope someday you sell them because I’m about to go on a vacation and will not have internet access, but would love to spend the time watching | learning | creating with your videos! Think about it!
Estou encantada com o site, tenho uma menininha de oito anos, que ama demais origami, será de extrema valia, mostrarei para ela ainda hoje.
Hi Gislene, you are welcome here. I hope you and your little one enjoy it!
I came across this tutorial on pinterest and found the little elephants totally adorable. I tried my first this morning, the second one is about to be folded. Thank you very much for the great video!
Greetings,
Britta
Welcome to the lovely group of origami elephant lovers! Bravo!
Thank you for doing the video. You make it so easy to follow along. I have never been very good at animal origami, but folding along side your video made it so easy. I will now try it again with tant paper.
I’m glad you find this video easy to follow. Origami takes some patience and models like this, practice!
did u make it like an ordanry elephant?
Hello Leyla Torres:
You could teach how to make a dragon land of Dragon City?
Hola leyla! Sabes que desde los 4:44 minutos en adelante el video se ve borroso, lo podrías revisar por favor? Ya que lo estaba esperando tanto!! Muchas gracias! Besos Patricia
Lamento que veas borroso el video del elefante, pero no sé qué decirte, pues yo lo veo perfectamente en mi computador y otras personas han podido verlo completo y hacer el elefante. Algunas sugerencias:
• revisa tu conexión al internet
• prueba en otro computador
• asegurarte de que tienes banda ancha
• actualiza tu browser (si tienes internet explorer, lo más seguro es que no te funcione)
De todas maneras te agradezco que me informes. Le preguntaré a otras personas a ver si tienen el mismo problema.
Hola leyla! Sabes que no puedo abrir el video! Bueno, te mando un beso enorme y mis felicitaciones por las cosas hermosas que haces!
Aquí está el enlace directo para el elefante en Youtube http://youtu.be/InIpbaPdA54
It’s so adorable (>w<)…
I will give it to my friend as a gift. She loves elephant (^w^)
Ufa. consegui depois do terceiro dia,me ensinaram que quando nao conseguimos, para onde estava e continua noutro dia,e assim um passo de cada vez.Como voce dizia paciencia.Obrigado bjos
A lovely model! :) You can find a picture on my Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/danhallorigami/
Hellow Leyla!
Last year I was in Bilbao for the Origami Spanish Convention and I met Mr Fumiaki Kawahata. He’s a marvelous person and he teached us how to make this lovely elephant. Since then, I have made lots of little elephants to offer to lots of people. And it’s like you say! Everyone seems to be so happy when I offer this cute Origami!
Thank you very much to let us learn with your fantastic videos! I would like to make one elephant with the paper you suggest, but I don’t know where I can find the onion skin paper…I will try!
Thank you Leyla!
Oh what did I miss… meeting Mr. Kawahata!! I have been wishing to go to a Spanish convention for a long time… I’ll have to make it happen!
Thank you for posting the video to make this very appealing elephant. I can’t wait to try it out!
p.s., I just noticed your blog background. That’s neat! Did you draw it yourself?
Yes, Danielle I drew each little creature for the background, put them into a square and then tiled it!
Hi Leyla:
This wonderful little model was like a symmetrical dance. Incredibly clever design as well as the sweetest elephant I have ever folded.
Thank you to you, the best of teachers, as well as to the master creator: Fumiaki Kawahata. Brilliant!
Best always,
Rosemary
This is lovely and although I am a beginner I will practice and practice to learn how to make this sweet elephant. Thank you for your wonderful videos that make it all possible.
Maravilhoso! Não tenho como expressar a minha admiração por você e sua gentileza de nos ensinar coisas tão lindas! Te desejo tudo de bom! Obrigada!
Thank you for doing this. I folded this a couple of years ago but was too sleep deprived to remember how.
What size paper did you use for the miniature elephant? Adorable!
Hi Sherry,
I made the miniature elephant long time ago, so I don’t remember the exact paper size, but it must have been about 2 inches or a little smaller.
Very cute!