Jumping Frog
Stiff paper makes a better spring, so use an index card or a piece of thin card about 7.5 × 12.5 cm. Printer paper works but jumps lower.
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Scroll to fold ↓Stiff paper makes a better spring, so use an index card or a piece of thin card about 7.5 × 12.5 cm. Printer paper works but jumps lower.
Short edge at the top. Fold the top-right corner down to the left edge and unfold, then fold the top-left corner to the right edge and unfold. The creases make an X.
Fold the top edge behind so it lines up with the bottom of the X, crease through the centre of the X, and unfold.
Push the ends of the horizontal crease in towards each other. The top flattens down into a triangle on the front of the card.
Fold the bottom corners of the triangle’s top layer up to its point. These become the front legs.
Fold the left and right edges of the body in to the centre line, sliding them under the triangle.
Fold the bottom edge up to meet the base of the triangle.
Fold the same flap back down in half, so its top edge meets the bottom fold. This pleat is the spring.
Turn the frog over.
Press down on the back edge of the frog with a fingertip, then slide your finger off. The pleat flicks it forward. A sharper pleat gives a higher jump.
The jumping frog is a traditional action model: press its back and the pleated spring underneath flicks it forward. It is a favourite with children, and frog races are a staple of classrooms and rainy afternoons.
The front of the frog uses the same waterbomb collapse as the butterfly. The back is a simple pleat, a fold up followed by a fold back down, and that pleat is the spring. The stiffer the paper, the more energy the spring stores.
Index cards are ideal because they are stiff, cheap and already the right shape. Ordinary paper works, but the frog jumps lower.
The pleat is probably too soft, or the paper too thin. Re-crease the spring firmly, or fold a new frog from card.
A standard 3 × 5 inch (7.5 × 12.5 cm) index card. Larger cards make bigger frogs that jump less high.
Yes. Cut a rectangle with the same 3 by 5 proportions from it. Thin paper makes a gentler jumper.
Traditional. Instructions and diagrams written for this site.