How to Make an Origami Cactus

When your home or office needs green plants, try folding this origami cactus. It has a round shape and a cute flower on top, looks adorable.

We have already published a tutorial for the flower pot at the bottom of the page. There are three different flower pot tutorials available in the post, so you can choose the one that best matches your cactus. You can fold the pot at the end. Before you begin folding, it’s important to understand the two basic folding techniques: mountain fold and valley fold. These techniques are essential for creating the main part of the cactus.

If you are new to origami, start here from our beginner guide to know the basics and how to read the step-by-step instructions.

Folding time: 20 minutes
Paper: 15cm x 15cm / 3
Total Steps: Intermediate
Difficulty: Easy

Material

Get three pieces of 15cm x 15cm origami square paper to create a 3.5cm x 3.5cm origami cactus.

Step by Step Instructions

Step 1

Take out the paper that has a green side. Place it with the green side face down, fold it in half vertically, leaving a crease, and unfold it. Cut the paper along this crease to get two pieces of rectangular paper.

Step 2

Take out one of the rectangular pieces of paper, fold it in half vertically, leaving a crease, and unfold it.

Step 3

Fold the bottom edge to align with the top edge, then repeat this three more times, and finally, unfold the paper completely.

Step 4

Mountain fold the creases indicated by the red dotted lines, valley fold the creases indicated by the black dotted lines. Then, bring these pleats together by pushing the top and bottom edges toward the center. Finally, rotate the paper 90 degrees from front to back.

Step 5

Fold down the right section vertically, crease it well, and unfold it. Turn the paper over from left to right, and fold down the left section vertically, and unfold it.

Step 6

Rotate the paper 90 degrees from back to front, then expand it completely and flip it to make the green side face up.

Step 7

First, mountain fold the crease indicated by the red dotted line on the left side [picture 1], then fold the bottom edge of the right side up along the crease indicated by the black dotted line and align it with the crease indicated by the red dotted line [picture 2].

Then continue folding in this pattern and order. The crease represented by the red dotted line needs to be mountain folded, and the crease represented by the red dotted line needs to be valley folded.

Step 8

Fold another rectangular piece of paper in the same way.

Step 9

Glue the two pieces together as shown in the first picture, and then turn it over from front to back.

Step 10

Bring up the left and right ends and glue them on.

Step 11

Take out the paper that has a red side. Place it with the red side facing down, fold and unfold it in half horizontally, then vertically.

Step 12

Fold the bottom edge to align with the horizontal crease, leaving a crease, and unfold it.

Fold the left edge to align with the vertical crease, and unfold it.

Cut the paper as the fifth picture shows to get four small squares.

Step 13

Take out one of the squares, fold the bottom point to meet the top point, then fold the left point to meet the right point, and finally, fold the bottom right point to meet the top point.

Cut it along the white curved dotted line as the fourth picture shows.

Step 14

Expand it and place it with the white side face up. Mountain fold the line from the center point to the top of each petal. Finally, flip over this flower.

Step 15

Make two more flowers in this way.

Step 16

Glue these three flowers together.

Step 17

Take out the last small square of paper and fold it in half diagonally from the bottom left to the top right, getting a small triangle. Fold the bottom point to meet the top left point.

Cut the bottom point along the white curved line, and then expand this point to get a small circle.

Step 18

Glue this circle to the center of the flower.

Step 19

Now make an origami flower pot.

Step 20

First, put the cactus in the pot.

Step 21

Glue the flower on the top of the cactus.

Check out our three different origami flower pots, they are all adorable, and choose the one you like to pair with this cactus. If you need more origami green plants to decorate your house and desk, then I would like to recommend our popular origami pot plant, it’s an elegant piece of origami art.

3 Origami Flower Pots

Origami Pot Plant

What’s Next

Congratulations on finishing your origami cactus! If you want more different origami, then explore our other easy and interesting origami flower ideas. Enjoy folding!