The Traditional Toy
For years, I’ve taught the traditional helicopter at origami workshops. I have developed a bit of storytelling around the model, the teaching takes a few minutes, and beginners and children 5 to 6 years old can fold it.
I teach it as a mystery model, where participants are urged to keep silent when they guess the model. At the end, everybody gets up and stands in a great circle, and we let go at the same time. The swarm of helicopters swirling in multiple colors is a gorgeous sight, bringing smiles to both children and adults.
At drop-in drop-out workshops I want a certain turnover, and since we all stand up and leave the table to see the helicopters in action, participants are ready to make space for the next group.
Bottom line: The traditional helicopter is a great model to have in your repertoire.
But, you have to cut three small slits to make it. It is not pure origami, and I’ve long wanted to make a pure model.
A Symmetric, Pure Origami Helicopter
… or almost pure. Some people may insist that only white squares count as pure origami. This model uses the same format as the traditional helicopter, roughly 150 × 25 mm or 6 × 1 inches.
Last summer, I was on vacation by the sea with my family, including my grandchildren. On a rainy morning, I woke up knowing how to do this pure version. My 7-year-old grandson had no trouble folding it, and the younger ones had a lot of fun running to a high spot and dropping the helicopter.
Designwise, it was inspired by the maple seed. The key is to fold a corner to the opposite corner. This provides a helicopter base with the twirl already built in. All that remains is to separate the model into wings and weight.
The tip has a tendency to unfold. This can be alleviated by massaging the thick layers.
The Simple Asymmetric Version
Jane Rosemarin found the symmetric version at a Community for Creators challenge and asked to publish it in The Fold. While reviewing and testing the diagrams I found a simpler version that wraps the point around the edge instead of symmetrically around the center.
This asymmetric version is the one I prefer. It is simpler, only slightly asymmetric and flies the same as the symmetric version. The larger wrapped flap can be locked inside a small pocket thus avoiding the tendency to unfold. It is still a good idea to massage the thick layers of the point.
While I don’t have a folding story for this model, it is extremely tolerant of inaccuracies, simple and quick to fold, and fun to play with — all qualities that make it an excellent choice for entertaining beginners (and me).
Due to its robustness and simplicity, the model also lends itself to experiments. It works with different proportions, like the 4:1 strip in the picture above. TThis proportion produces a solid lock: as the paper proportion becomes smaller than 6:1, the overlap between the tab and pocket increases and the lock becomes stronger. How small can you make them? How large? Can you make one from a 4 x 20 mm strip? This proportion produces a solid lock: as the paper proportion becomes smaller than 6:1, the overlap between the tab and pocket increases and the lock becomes stronger.
A note on teaching and experimenting: Children — and adults — who play around with a design learn more. It was part of the philosophy of Friedrich Fröbel, in his teaching of the Folds of Beauty, that children could be motivated by playing and finding their own beautiful patterns. Thus, if you insist children follow textbook patterns, you kill their joy in discovering the world. Instead, you might suggest they try something like this, or change that, and suddenly they will come up with their own unique ideas.
A simple, versatile design like the asymmetric Maple Seed Helicopter is suitable for such exploration. You can ask children what parameters can be changed and to compare different versions and how they fly (can you throw the helicopters?). And since even badly folded versions, far from the original, will still function, the children will feel successful.