How to Make a Tricorner Paper Hat
If your child wants to pretend she is a pirate or a sailor, a good way to feed her imagination is by making a tricorner paper hat. The great thing about making the hat out of paper is that it's very inexpensive and it doesn't take a lot of time to do. Plus, you can draw on it with markers or crayons to decorate it and recycle it when your child's done playing. These hats fit adults too, so don't feel left out.
Instructions
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1
Put your piece of paper, which can be either an 8 ½-by-11-inch sheet of printer paper or one page out of a newspaper, on the table so you are closest to one of the shorter edges. Fold the sheet lengthwise so the top edge and the bottom edge meet. Crease tightly.
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2
Measure up 1 inch from the bottom of the paper. Draw a horizontal line with your pencil and ruler. Find the center of the bottom edge and draw a vertical line up from this point.
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3
Fold the top-left corner down to make a triangle. Make the bottom edge of the triangle meet the first line you drew in Step 2 and the right edge meet the second line you drew. Fold the right-hand corner down to make a mirror shape of the left one. Now you have one large triangle.
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4
Look at your hat and you will see that there is a rectangle on the bottom that has a front flap and a back flap. Fold the front flap up where it meets the bottom of the two triangles you just made. Then flip the hat over and fold the identical flap up on the backside. Now you have your hatband.
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5
Hold the bottom-right corner of your hat in one hand and the bottom-left corner in the other. Move your hands toward each other. You will see a crease start to form in the middle of the large triangle that is the front and the large triangle that is the back. Since you only want one more crease line, to create the third corner of your hat, pick just one of these creases to fold tightly. Put the hat back on the table and let the second crease fall out naturally. Now tape the hatband in place.
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Tips & Warnings
Decorate your hat with a skull and crossbones or an anchor to complete its nautical theme. Or, if you'd rather, make it princess crown or Revolutionary War--era hat.
Make sure you don't unfold your hat during Step 5 by accident. You need to keep the first two corners intact.
