How to Make Waldorf Window Stars From Kite Paper

A simple Waldorf window star is made from 8 small squares of kite paper. You fold each square into a long point, then glue them round a shared center. Where the layers overlap, the colors deepen, and a pattern appears when light comes through the glass. The basic star is simple enough for a young child to fold with you, one point at a time.

What are Waldorf window stars?

Window stars are paper stars folded from thin, translucent kite paper and stuck to a window. In daylight, the overlapping layers show a pattern that isn't visible on the table. Each fold adds a layer, and each layer changes the color. A yellow star gets a deep gold center. A rainbow star makes new colors wherever two points cross.

They're a winter craft in many Waldorf-inspired homes. The Waldorf School of Mendocino County once sent its students kite paper and instructions so they could fold stars at home and hang them in their windows. It's a quiet, repetitive craft, and that's much of its charm. The Kavanaugh Report, a family blog, folds them in Advent as a way to slow down in a busy season.

What is kite paper?

Kite paper is a thin, glossy, see-through paper in bright colors. It has a waxy feel, which makes it sturdier than tissue paper.

You'll find it at Waldorf craft suppliers and some art and craft shops, usually in packs of mixed colors. If your sheets aren't square, cut them square before you start.

What you need

• Kite paper, at least 2 sheets per small star
• A glue stick
• Scissors or a paper trimmer, if you need to cut the paper down
• Clear tape, for hanging
• A clean, flat table

That's it. A bone folder or the back of a spoon can help sharpen creases, but a thumbnail works just as well.

How to fold a simple window star

This is the easiest star, and the one to start with. You fold every point the same way, so after the first one your hands learn it.

Make 8 squares. If your kite paper is large, cut each sheet into 4 equal squares. Two sheets gives you 8. Lay them out in the color order you want around the star.

Find the middle. Fold a square in half, edge to edge, and crease it. Open it and fold it in half the other way. When you open it again, the two creases cross at the center. These lines are your guides.

Fold all four corners in. Bring each corner to the center point and crease it. You now have a smaller square with its folded flaps facing up. Some people glue these down now. A light touch of glue helps younger children.

Make the point. Turn the small square so it sits like a diamond, one corner pointing at you. Now take the two edges of the top half and fold them in so they meet along the middle crease. The top of the diamond is now a long, slim point, and the whole piece looks like a kite. Glue these two flaps down.

Repeat. Fold the other 7 squares the same way. Try to line the folds up carefully, as small differences show up once the star is on the glass.

Glue the ring. Lay the first point on the table with the folded side facing up. Its blunt end is the center of the star. Put a little glue along one long edge. Lay the second point on top, with its blunt end at the same center, turned a little round, so its edge lines up with the middle line of the first point. Keep going, each point overlapping the one before, working round the circle. When you get to the eighth, tuck its edge under the first point so the ring closes neatly.

Let it dry. Press the center gently and leave the star flat for a while before you lift it.

Once you can fold this one, there are many variations: a fold here, a different corner there. Changing a single step changes the pattern in the window. Many people who fold stars for years end up making up their own.

What size kite paper do you need?

Any square works. The size of the square sets the size of the star, and the finished star is roughly twice as wide as one square.

The Waldorf School of Mendocino County used squares of about 16 cm (6.3 inches) and cut each into quarters, to make smaller stars that fit their windows. A whole sheet per point makes a big star for a large pane. Quarter sheets make a star about the size of a hand, which is a good size for a child's first one. Eighths make tiny stars that are fiddly to fold, so save those for older children.

How many sheets of kite paper do you need?

For the simple star above, 8 squares. With quarter sheets, that's 2 sheets per star. For a rainbow star, take one square from each of 8 colors. Stars in one color, or in two or four colors repeating, look just as lovely and let the layers show more clearly.

Why won't my window star stick together?

It's usually one of three things. Choose the fix that fits.

• The glue has dried. Glue sticks dry fast on kite paper. Glue one edge at a time and press the next point on straight away.
• The folds don't lie flat. If a crease springs back, run your thumbnail along it again before gluing.
• The points don't meet in the middle. Check each point's blunt end sits right at the center before you press it down.

Too much glue can also show as a cloudy patch when light shines through. A thin layer holds well and stays invisible.

How do you hang window stars?

Make a loop of clear tape, sticky side out, and press it on the back of the star near the center. Then press the star onto the glass. The Kavanaugh Report simply folds a strip of tape over. Bella Luna Toys suggests a star can also hang from a thread above a nature table, in seasonal colors.

When in the year do Waldorf families make window stars?

Advent is the favorite time for many families, and the stars stay up through the dark months. The Kavanaugh Report makes them each Advent and leaves them up all winter for color. On a grey January morning, a window full of colored light makes a difference. If your Advent brings a spiral or a candle each week, stars suit the same quiet evenings. The Advent spiral page has more on the season, and the festival guides walk through the whole year.

The same blog points out they can be made all year, for any season. Choose colors to match. Try greens and yellows in spring, reds and oranges in autumn, or a single lantern-yellow star for Martinmas. In the southern hemisphere, Advent falls in summer. Choose the dark months where you live if you want the same feeling of light in winter.

Folding stars with children

Young children love to help, and it goes best when they have a real part. Bella Luna Toys' tutorial suggests children crease the paper and glue the sides down on harder stars, and choose where each finished star hangs. At home, try this:

• The youngest can choose the colors, run a finger along a crease you've started, and press glued points into place.
• Young children often love to fold the simple star themselves, with you beside them doing each step at the same time.
• Older children can often fold on their own and start trying variations.

Keep scissors and cutting with you for the youngest. Folding stars also fits well on an afternoon when you have children of different ages, since each one can work at their own level at the same table.

For an older child, a star is also quiet practice in symmetry. Each point is folded the same, and each is turned the same distance round. If your child is working on mirror forms in grade 2 symmetry form drawing, a star makes the same idea into something they can hold up to the light. The grade 2 curriculum guide shows where symmetry fits in that year, and the best Waldorf homeschool curriculum for grade 2 compares the options.

A star for this week

Cut two sheets of kite paper into quarters. Sit with your child one afternoon and fold the 8 points together, with your child choosing the order of colors. Glue the ring, let it dry overnight, and in the morning, press it onto the window where the light comes in first.