How to make an origami Snake
Designed by Jo Nakashima (February/2010)
Difficulty level: simple

This origami snake was the first model I created, based on Yami Yamauchi’s doodlebug. It’s a modular origami and you can use as many sheets of paper as you want to make the body blocks. This is a very fun origami toy because the body is articulated between each block.

Diagrams

Diagrams available to download for the modular version [PDF], but single sheet version is not available.

Paper

This is a modular origami and you can choose how many units you wanna use: the more units you make, the longer will be the snake. In the video I’m using 8 units (7.5cm x 7.5cm origami paper), but I recommend 10-12.

Single sheet version

You can also make the snake from a single sheet of paper using a long rectangle. Unfortunately there is only an old video for this version, so the image quality and instructions aren’t very good. However, I think this shouldn’t be a problem if you understand how the normal version works.

Non-modular origami snake

In addition, another little variation is the earthworm: the body is the same, but both ends are just closed.

Origami earthworm