The Chinese Zodiac is based on a 12 year cycle, with 2017 being the year of the rooster.  So to celebrate the New Year, we made a variety of origami roosters and chickens.  We chose three in increasing order of difficulty, which we think would be fun family activities for the New Year.  (The making of each is explained in a separate YouTube tutorial video!) 

In order to make these origami roosters and chickens, you will need square pieces of paper.  If you don’t already have any square origami paper, you can make squares from rectangular paper.

This chicken (tutorial video, 4.5 minutes) is quite easy to make, and is perfect for first-timers and young crafters.

In addition to a white sheet of square paper, you will also need a small piece of red paper (to make the chicken’s comb and wattles), a pair of scissors and a bit of glue.

This rooster (tutorial video, 7 minutes) is a bit more advanced than the first chicken, but is still fairly straight-forward.  The finished piece looks quite stylish.  You will need only a single sheet of square paper to make it.

This last rooster (tutorial video, 11 minutes) is significantly more challenging than the previous two.  It involves a few unconventional folds, so we had to study some parts of the video several times before we figured out what to do.  

However, I think that it is definitely worth the time and effort to make it.  Its tip-toeing foot, as well as its curved tail, are especially elegant.  When you make this rooster, be prepared to spend a lot more time on it than the video’s 11 minutes.

There are a lot more origami roosters and chickens which you can make.  For example, here is a great page with a wide variety of them. 

Also, here is a link to some curious facts about chickens.  For example, did you know that chickens are the closest living relative to those gigantic T-Rexes?

Happy Year of the Rooster!