A traditional table from the windmill base: four petal folds make the legs, and once they are bent down it stands on its own.
Why this level: After the pull-out folds you make four squash folds and four petal folds.
You need: 1 sheet of origami paper
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The paper table is a very old kindergarten fold. A German kindergarten book from 1848 tells of children folding a “table”, and the oldest known picture is in a book printed in Amsterdam in 1863. Old books explain that the table can be made by changing the windmill (pinwheel) shape — and this one starts from the windmill base too.
Did you know? In 1894 a Japanese children’s magazine showed the same shape — not as a table, but as a Go board!
White side up. Fold in half side to side and unfold.
Fold the left and right edges to the center line.
Fold the top and bottom edges to the center line, crease, and unfold.
Fold the bottom edge up to the center while pulling the two hidden corners out to the sides, then press flat. It looks like a boat.
Do the same at the top: fold it down to the center and pull the corners out. Now there are four pointed flaps.
Swing one pointed flap toward the center, open its pocket and press it flat into a small square. Do the same with all four flaps: the paper becomes a square.
On one small square, lift the top layer at its inner corner (the center) and fold it out past the outer corner. Its sides fold in along slanted lines, making a long thin leg. Do all four squares.
Turn over: you see the smooth tabletop, with a leg sticking out from each corner.
Bend each leg down at the corner of the tabletop. The table stands on its four legs. Done!