Start here · Fold only
Basic Dart
A narrow body, two opening wings. Build it one fold at a time.
Preparation + 9 numbered steps
Materials
US Letter · 8.5 × 11 inches
One US Letter sheet, 8.5 × 11 inches, portrait. No cuts or glue. Letter is a modern adaptation; A4 compatibility is not claimed.
Follow along
PreparationThe interactive guide needs JavaScript. You can always read every illustrated step below.
Help · controls & diagram
Action steps start at 0%: play or scrub to see the action. At 100% it is complete. Drag the diagram to turn the view; this does not make a crease.
Fold only along the dashed orange hinge. Solid lines show paper edges and earlier fold boundaries; orange outlines identify the moving packet, not extra creases to make.
Blue and gold identify the two original halves, not two separate sheets. Darker shades indicate the reverse material face. On alternating steps the guide changes its camera to the other outside face; you should turn your paper over too. Use 3D view during a fold to see its hinge motion.
Every animated panel rotates rigidly around a crease. Faces are split at the instructed hinges, not triangulated into a visible mesh. Solid boundaries are not additional instructions: follow the dashed active hinge and the step text. No unsupported tuck, collapse, or paper deformation is claimed.
With the diagram focused: Space plays or pauses, ←/→ change steps, and Home resets. Other controls retain their native keyboard behavior. Sources & validation notes
Every step, at a glance
These are end-state diagrams: compare your paper after each action. Fold only along the dashed orange hinge. Solid lines show paper edges and earlier fold boundaries; orange outlines identify the moving packet, not extra creases to make. All steps remain readable without JavaScript.
- 0. Prepare one sheet
- 1. Close the long fold
- 2. Fold the first nose corner
- 3. Match the other corner
- 4. Narrow the blue side
- 5. Narrow the gold side
- 6. Make the blue wing crease
- 7. Make the gold wing crease
- 8. Open just the wings
- 9. Your folded dart
PREPARATION · Modern paper-size adaptation
Prepare one sheet
Place a Letter sheet upright, with a short edge at the top. Its top midpoint will become the nose. The colors identify the original left half (L, blue) and right half (R, gold); you do not need two sheets.
Layers: Both halves are joined along the center line.
Check: One uncut 8.5 × 11 inch sheet. No glue. Long edges run up and down.
Explore this step ↑STEP 1 · Before figure 1
Close the long fold
Bring the left long edge over to the right long edge. Crease down the middle and keep the sheet closed, like a narrow book. Keep the nose end at the top.
Layers: Move the entire blue L half; hold the gold R half still.
Check: The long free edges meet. The center fold is the spine on the left.
Explore this step ↑STEP 2 · First side of figure 1
Fold the first nose corner
On the blue outside face, fold the top free corner back to the spine. The top short edge should lie along the spine. Press the diagonal crease.
Layers: Move only the L corner triangle, not the gold half underneath.
Check: The corner lands halfway down the original sheet width: 4¼ inches from the nose along the spine.
Explore this step ↑STEP 3 · Figure 1
Match the other corner
Turn the closed paper over to reach the gold outside face. Repeat the same corner fold on this side. Turning the paper is only a viewing change, not another crease.
Layers: Move only the R corner triangle; keep the L half folded.
Check: Both nose corners meet the spine at the same height. The two sides match.
Explore this step ↑STEP 4 · First side of figure 2
Narrow the blue side
Turn back to the blue side. Bring its sloping leading edge to the spine. Fold the whole layered packet on this side together, including the corner you already folded.
Layers: All L layers beyond the dashed crease move together. R stays still.
Check: The old diagonal leading edge now lies along the spine. Do not peel a single layer out of the packet.
Explore this step ↑STEP 5 · Figure 2
Narrow the gold side
Turn the paper over. Bring the gold side’s sloping leading edge to the spine, folding its layered packet together.
Layers: All R layers beyond the crease move together. L stays still.
Check: The two sides have the same narrow nose profile.
Explore this step ↑STEP 6 · First side of figure 3
Make the blue wing crease
Turn back to blue. Bring the new sloping edge to the spine once more, folding the whole outer packet outward. Flatten this third narrowing fold to establish the wing crease.
Layers: Move every L layer outside the new crease, including both earlier folds.
Check: Keep the narrow central body closed. The folded tail may extend beyond the original bottom edge; do not trim it.
Explore this step ↑STEP 7 · Figure 3
Make the gold wing crease
Turn over and repeat the third narrowing fold on the gold side. Press both wing creases, keeping the spine closed.
Layers: Move the full R outer packet, not the blue wing or the central body.
Check: Both sides now match the fully folded side profile. Each side has had three narrowing folds.
Explore this step ↑STEP 8 · Figure 4; 90° is a modern display choice
Open just the wings
Hold the central body. Reopen only the last fold on each side by a quarter turn, so the two wing packets spread to opposite sides. Leave the earlier nose folds closed.
Layers: Only the exact packets used in the last two steps reopen. The center body stays fixed.
Check: Two wings open from the same body. Nothing is detached, and the first two narrowing folds remain in place.
Explore this step ↑STEP 9 · Figure 4
Your folded dart
Compare both wings and the narrow body. This is the end of the folding sequence. Use the side and wing views to revisit a crease, or read the complete steps below.
Layers: The finished model is the same folded sheet, with no replacement geometry.
Check: The wings are on opposite sides and the spine remains joined. Real-paper follow-along of this reconstruction is still pending.
Explore this step ↑
Sources & notes
Edward Verrall Lucas and Elizabeth Lucas, What Shall We Do Now? A Book of Suggestions for Children’s Games and Employments. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1904, pp. 233; Paper darts, figures 1–4.
Read the original page 233 ↗ · 1904 title page ↗
This specific 1904 US publication is the public-domain reconstruction source in the United States. The authors are credited for the book, not identified as the inventors. Modern tutorials and photographs are not production inputs.
Adaptation: Letter paper and a 90° reopening of each wing are modern reconstruction choices, not dimensions or angles specified by the book.
English instructions, diagrams and code were newly produced with AI assistance from the historical construction. No source scan, modern photograph or modern tutorial wording is bundled.
Validation notes
Real-paper follow-along, including paper weight: not performed. Screen preview approval is not a physical folding result. Diagrams are zero-thickness illustrations, not physical simulations or performance predictions.
Source sequence and zero-thickness geometry independently reviewed; real-paper teaching acceptance remains open. Zero-thickness hinge diagrams, not a paper-physics simulation. Finite thickness, contact and collision handling are not simulated.
The renderer uses simplified depth order. Thickness, layer contact, collisions and precise occlusion are not simulated.