Origami Monkey

This Origami Monkey Face was designed by Robin Glynn. It's a challenging origami piece but well worth the effort.

Start with a square of origami paper, colored side up.

Make a valley fold along the east-west axis, and also one along north-south, as shown. Then fold point A up to the center:

Then flip the paper over, and fold the lower left and right edges to meet in the center as shown:

Now fold point B to the left, so that edges BC and CD meet, then unfold:

Now starting with point B, make an inside reverse fold , as shown in the next seven (7) photos:

Now fold corner E to the right as shown:

Then repeat the steps in the last ten (10) photos on the left side of the origami piece.

Now place a finger in one of the front pockets, and fold down as shown:

Repeat on the other side. Next fold down the top point of the piece to the center, and unfold:

Now open the top pockets as shown in the next four (4) photos. The top part of the model will not lie down flat after this step:

Now fold the top point down to the center. It won't stay folded on its own, so keep it in place with a finger while folding corners F and G over it as shown:

Now make a swivel fold on each of the front flaps. Start by rotating the line HI by a few degrees as shown, then re-crease the left flap:

Now repeat that swivel fold on the right side. Then fold the bottom part of the piece up, allowing the flap in the back to swing to the front.

Now fold corner J upwards as shown, then make a valley fold to move J back down:

Next fold the monkey nose down and back as shown, leaving a small (about 1mm) gap between the top and bottom lip.

Fold the corner of the top lip back to lock it in place:

Here's the view from the back. Repeat that fold on the left side.

Fold point J under as shown, then fold the tip of the monkey's nose over:

Next we create the monkey's eyes. Fold corners K and L down and back as shown:

Then another valley fold.

We'll show the next seven (7) steps on the left eye. Valley fold and unfold as shown, then do a squash fold. A paperclip or toothpick will help here.

After the squash fold, use the paper clip again to make a valley fold, exposing the eye's color:

Repeat the eye formation on the right side. Next we tackle the ears. For each ear, make a mountain fold and valley fold as shown:

After the mountain fold:

Valley fold on the right ear. Put a finger in the ear to flip the ear forward:

Repeat the ear formation on the left side. Now your origami monkey is complete!

From Jojo in Pittsburgh:

From Lewis in Newcastle "Origami Monkey"

From Angelique in Orlando "Origami Monkey"

From Rada in Gaylord " Love this site! It is so hard to find diagrams with detailed descriptions AND detailed photos. Excellent excellent! This is my second attempt at the origami monkey face. Lots of fun, and easier than I was expecting. Hope the quality is okay, had to take it on macbook webcam. Keep the awesome instructions coming! "

Thanks, Rada and great job!

From Mari-Tate in South Carolina " Origami Monkey - pitiful I know."

Not pitiful at all!

From reader in Philadelphia:

From Chiara in Melbourne " Wow! This was hard! the eyes and ears were definitely the hardest. Such an awesome design "

It is hard but congrats for succeeding! It IS an awesome design!

From Rachel in Hull " My first origami monkey!!!! "

From Lauren in Norwich " Origami Monkey. I found some parts of it quite hard so I put my own spin on it <3 "

Like your spin, Lauren!

From Eryk in Gdynia " Monkey is very hard to do, but is cool! "