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Free paper snowflake maker, and how to make your own
Draw on the folded paper to cut it, press Unfold, and watch a six-pointed snowflake open up. Print it, print a sheet for the classroom window, or print a fold-and-cut template so children can make it from real paper. Nothing is uploaded or saved. Then make your own snowflake maker with a free AI assistant.
Unfolded! Fold it back up to keep cutting.
Draw a shape over the folded paper to cut it out
The paper is folded six ways. Cut into the edges for the best shapes.
Paper colour
Start from a pattern
Save and print
Your snowflakes
Each snowflake you unfold appears here, and they all fall together in Let it snow.
Everything happens in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or saved, so your snowflakes disappear when you close the page. Download or print the ones you want to keep. On a touchscreen, draw with your finger.
Your own paper snowflake maker, ready for December
You'll describe the snowflake maker to a free AI assistant, paste what it writes into a file, and open it in your browser. Then add the unfold animation, printing and a snowstorm, one step at a time.
- A folded paper triangle you cut by drawing on it, with Undo and Clear
- Real paper-snowflake maths: every cut repeats 12 times, mirrored, just like folded paper
- An unfold animation that opens the paper into a six-pointed snowflake
- Paper colours, ready-made patterns and a Random button
- A PNG download, a print-out of one snowflake or a sheet of six, and a fold-and-cut template for real paper
- A "Let it snow" screen where your snowflakes drift down full screen
Good for: teachers planning a December craft lesson (try designs on the board, then hand out templates), parents with children who love cutting things out, and anyone decorating windows for the holidays.
What you need
Build it in six steps
Step 1 gives you a simple version that works, and each step after it adds more. The demo at the top of this page is roughly what you'll have once you've done every step. Yours will look a bit different, because the AI writes its own version each time.
Ask for a simple snowflake maker
Copy this prompt into your AI assistant. It explains how a folded paper snowflake works, so the AI gets the maths right first time.
Copy this promptI don't know how to code. Please make me a paper snowflake maker that runs in a web browser. Requirements: - ONE single HTML file (HTML, CSS and JavaScript together), no external libraries, no internet needed. I will save it and double-click it. - Show a piece of folded paper the way it looks when you fold paper for a snowflake: a thin triangle with a 30-degree point at the bottom (the centre of the snowflake), a long fold on one side, a shorter fold on the other, and a straight top edge at right angles to the shorter fold. Draw it big on a dark blue background using a canvas. - I cut the paper by drawing on it with the mouse or my finger: press, draw a shape, and when I let go the shape closes itself and that part of the paper is cut away. Keep the cuts in a list. - An "Undo" button that removes the last cut, and a "Clear" button that starts again. - An "Unfold" button that shows the whole snowflake: draw the cut triangle 12 times around the centre. Turn it by 0, 60, 120, 180, 240 and 300 degrees, and at each turn draw it twice, once as it is and once flipped over the long fold, like a mirror. That is exactly what happens with real folded paper, so every cut appears 12 times. - Each copy must only show the paper inside its own triangle, so cuts that go past an edge don't spill into the next copy. - A "Fold it back up" button to go back and keep cutting. - Make it work with touch as well as a mouse, and stop the page scrolling while I draw on the paper. Please give me the complete file in one code block, then tell me in simple steps how to save and open it.
Copy the code, paste it into your text editor, and save it as snowflake.html. Double-click it, draw a few shapes across the edges of the paper, then press Unfold.
Cut into the folds. Shapes that cross the long sides of the triangle join up with their mirror image when you unfold. Half a heart on a fold becomes a whole heart.Make the unfold feel like magic
Watching the paper open up is the best bit, so this step adds the animation and a few touches that make the paper look real.
Copy this promptThat works, thank you. Please make unfolding feel like real paper opening: - Animate Unfold over about two seconds. First the mirrored copy turns over the long fold like the page of a book (squash it to nothing and back out the other side, a little darker while it's edge-on). Then the six pairs fan out to their places, like a hand fan opening. Meanwhile the snowflake moves to the middle, grows, and settles with a small bounce. - End with a burst of sparkles from the centre, then let the snowflake turn very slowly, with the odd twinkle on its points. - Make the paper look like paper: a soft shadow under it, a faint grain, and each of the 12 sections very slightly lighter on one side so you can see where the folds were. - While the paper is folded, show two or three layers peeking out underneath, and label the two long sides "fold" and the bottom point "centre". - When I finish a cut, show the cut-out piece dropping off the paper and spinning away. - Draw the 12 copies with a tiny overlap so there are no thin lines between them. - If my computer is set to reduce motion, skip the animations. Send me the complete updated file.
Always ask for the complete file. Replace everything in snowflake.html, save, and refresh the tab (F5 or Cmd+R).Add colours, patterns and a random button
Not everyone wants to start from a blank sheet. Ready-made patterns show what works, and the random button is hard to stop pressing.
Copy this promptPlease add: - A row of paper colours to choose from: white, ice blue, pink, lilac, mint, gold, silver and red. - A "Straight lines" way of cutting as well as freehand: I click or tap to place corners, then click the first corner again (or press Enter, or a "Finish cut" button) to cut. Escape cancels. - A Redo button, and Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac) to undo. - Five ready-made patterns as buttons: Classic (pointed arms with V-shaped notches), Stars, Lace (rows of little circles), Hearts (half hearts on the folds that become whole hearts) and Fern (thin slanted slits). Build each one from simple cuts on the folded triangle. - A "Random snowflake" button that makes a new design every time: a pointed, notched or scalloped top edge, a few shapes on each fold at different distances from the centre, and sometimes a hole in the middle. Keep the shapes small enough that the snowflake stays in one piece. - When I choose a pattern or a random design, snip the cuts one after another with the pieces dropping off, then unfold it automatically. - A "Peek" button that shows a small preview of the unfolded snowflake in the corner while I'm cutting. Send me the complete updated file.
Download and print
A snowflake on the screen is lovely. One on the classroom window is better.
Copy this promptPlease add a "Save and print" section: - "Download PNG": save the snowflake as a big picture (1600 by 1600 pixels) on the night-sky background, with a tick box for a see-through background instead. - "Print this snowflake": one big snowflake on its own page. White doesn't show up on white paper, so print white snowflakes in a pale ice blue, and give every printed snowflake a thin dark outline to cut around. - "Print a sheet of six": six snowflakes on one page, two across and three down, using the snowflakes I've made this visit (repeat them if I've made fewer than six). - When printing, show only the snowflakes, with no buttons or page headers, and make sure it all fits on one page of A4 or US Letter. - Keep a row of small pictures of the snowflakes I've made this visit, so I can click one to bring it back. Don't save anything after the page is closed. Send me the complete updated file.
Colours missing when you print? In the print window, open "More settings" and tick "Background graphics".Print a fold-and-cut template for real paper
This turns a screen design into a real craft. Children fold a square of paper, lay the template on top and cut along the lines.
Copy this promptPlease add a "Print a fold-and-cut template" button that prints one page with: - A title, and one line: "You need a square of thin paper at least 21 cm across and some scissors." - Five small numbered pictures with instructions: 1. Fold a square in half, corner to corner. 2. Find the middle of the long fold and fold into three equal parts from there. 3. Fold it in half to make a thin point. 4. Lay the cut-out template on top, point to point, and draw round the grey shapes. 5. Cut away the grey parts through every layer, then unfold. - The folded triangle at real size: 100 mm from the centre point to the tip, drawn in SVG using millimetres. Shade the parts to cut away in grey with a dark line round them, label both long sides "fold", and mark the "centre point". - A picture of the finished snowflake, with "It will look like this" underneath. - It must fit on one page of A4 or US Letter, at actual size. Send me the complete updated file.
Print at 100%. If the print window says "Fit to page", change it to "Actual size", or the template won't match your folded paper. Thin paper is much easier to cut through twelve layers: printer paper is fine, and origami or tissue paper is easier still for small hands.Let it snow
The grand finale. Every snowflake you've made drifts down the screen, which is just the thing for the last day of term.
Copy this promptPlease finish it off: - A "Let it snow" button that fills the whole screen with a night sky and makes all the snowflakes I've made this visit fall slowly, in different sizes. Bigger ones fall faster and look closer, smaller ones are fainter. Each one sways from side to side and turns slowly. Add lots of tiny snow dots too, and a soft glow of snow along the bottom. - When a snowflake falls off the bottom, start it again at the top. - Close it with a Close button or the Escape key. Use full screen if the browser allows it. - Make it work on a phone: the paper first, then the buttons underneath, nothing scrolling sideways, and buttons big enough to tap. - Make every button work with the keyboard. Send me the complete updated file.
Quick fixes
The arms of the snowflake don't match
Tell the AI: "Please draw 12 copies of the cut triangle: turn it by 60 degrees six times, and at each turn draw one copy as it is and one flipped over the long fold." If only six copies are drawn, or none are flipped, the arms won't match. Ask for the complete file.
There are thin lines between the sections
Each copy is drawn separately, and the edges don't quite meet. Ask: "Please make each copy of the triangle overlap the next by about one pixel, so there are no thin lines between them."
Cuts past the edge of the paper do strange things
Each copy should only show the paper inside its own triangle. Tell the AI: "Clip each copy to its own triangle before drawing the cuts, so nothing spills into the next copy."
The page scrolls when I draw on a phone or tablet
Ask: "Please add touch-action: none to the drawing area and use pointer events, so drawing on the paper doesn't scroll the page."
The printed template doesn't match my folded paper
Print at 100% ("Actual size"), not "Fit to page". Start with a square at least 21 cm across, and fold it exactly as the pictures show: in half corner to corner, into thirds from the middle of the fold, then in half again.
The real snowflake falls apart when I unfold it
If two cuts meet from opposite sides of the triangle, that part comes loose. Leave a strip of paper joining each part, or press Undo and make the cut a little smaller. The Peek button helps you spot it before you cut.
It opens as text
Re-save as plain text with exactly .html at the end, not .txt.
Twist it into something else
The same folding, mirroring and printing work for lots of other paper crafts. Change the first prompt to make:
An 8-point snowflake or mandala maker
fold into eighths or sixteenths instead of twelfths, for stars, flowers and lacy mandalas
A paper chain people maker
cut one figure on a strip folded like a fan, and unfold a row of people, reindeer or gingerbread men holding hands
A Valentine's heart doily
a round paper doily with hearts and lace, printed in pink and red for February
A class snowstorm
each child cuts a snowflake on the board and adds their name, then they all fall together at the end of the lesson
A symmetry lesson
show the lines of symmetry and the order of rotation on the unfolded snowflake, for a maths lesson that feels like a craft
A kaleidoscope drawing pad
draw coloured lines instead of cuts and watch them mirrored 12 times as you draw
Try it on screen, then cut it for real
Paper snowflakes are a December favourite, but it's hard to know how a cut will turn out until you unfold it, and half the class can end up with a pile of confetti. Your maker lets children try ideas on the screen first, then print a template that shows exactly where to cut. It's one small file with no sign-ups, nothing is uploaded, and you can change it however you like: snowflakes in your school colours, or a snowstorm for the end-of-term assembly.