Things You'll Need
Construction paper
Compass
Protractor
Scissors
Hot glue
You can make paper spheres as a table decoration or as homemade Christmas ornaments to give as gifts. Varying sizes of paper spheres can also work well as part of a science project about the Platonic solids; this particular sphere is made up of twenty individual triangles and is sometimes called an icosahedron. You can make a paper sphere from any type of stiff paper or cardboard, but construction paper works best as it is easy to cut and fold.
Step 1
Draw an equilateral triangle with 2-inch sides on the construction paper with the compass. Use a protractor to ensure the angles are each 60 degrees.
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Step 2
Place the pointed tip of the compass in the exact center of the triangle. Place the pencil end of the compass at one of the triangle's corners. Draw a circle around the outside edge of the triangle, so that the triangle is circumscribed within the circle.
Step 3
Fold the circle's edges up around the triangle so that you have three flaps.
Step 4
Lay out 10 circles in a row. Each triangle should alternate direction (up, down, up, down).
Step 5
Hot glue the triangles together at the adjacent edges to make a ring.
Step 6
Lay five triangles together to make a circular shape. The tips should all be pointing together in the same place.
Step 7
Hot glue the adjacent edges together.
Step 8
Repeat Steps 6 and 7 to make one more circle of five triangles.
Step 9
Hot glue one circle on top of the ring of triangles to make the top of the sphere. The adjacent edges should be glued together.
Step 10
Repeat Step 9 for the bottom of the sphere.
Tip
Increase or decrease the size of your triangles to make larger or smaller spheres. If you want to use your sphere as a decoration, make the pencil lines on the inside of the folds.
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