The steamboat is one of those folds that feels like a magic trick even when you know how it ends. You spend the first half patiently folding the same four corners to the middle again and again, and nothing about the little square packet in your hands suggests a boat. Then you pull two hidden corners sideways and the whole thing inflates into a hull with a deck and a raised funnel — every time, it gets a small gasp. It also needs nothing but one square of paper, which is why this is one of the first models worth teaching to a child who has just learned to fold a corner neatly.

STEP 1. Take a square sheet of paper, fold it in half from left to right to make a crease, then unfold.

STEP 2. Fold it in half from top to bottom and unfold.

STEP 3. Fold all four corners into the center, then turn the paper over.

STEP 4. Fold the four corners into the center once more and turn it over.

STEP 5. Fold the corners to the center in the same way again, then turn it over.

STEP 6. Open out the top and bottom corners.

STEP 7. Pull the inner corners out sideways to open the boat into shape.

STEP 8. The steamboat is complete!