Directions for Making Snowy Owl Pop-up

Print the pop-up sheets onto both sides of "letter" size paper (8.5 by 11 inches). It is best to print at 100% (full-size, no scaling) so that the front and back images line up correctly with each other.

Colored version. (430 kb PDF file) (PDF information.)

Black and white version for you to color. (430 kb PDF file)

You will need glue, scissors, the printed pop-up sheet, and patience.

Cut out each piece by cutting along the outside lines.

Cut out all 11 pieces.

Cut up the gray line on the left side of the "river."

Cut up the gray line on the right side of the "river."

Fold along all the red dotted lines. "Fold up" by folding paper edge UP toward you.

"Fold back" by folding the pager edges BACK away from you.

Folding the "foothills-river" pop-up piece: First, fold the whole "river" BACK.

Then fold the end of the "river" BACK.

Fold UP on the nearby line.

Finally, fold UP the bottom edges of the "foothills" pop-up.

The "foothills-river" piece should look like this when you're finished folding.

Here's the top view.

When you're all done folding, you'll have a collection of pieces that look like this.

You're now ready to begin gluing. Put a thin line of glue on the area marked "1" on the bottom of the "mountain" pop-up sheet.

Position the glue area over rectangle "1" on the pop-up base. Make sure the color of the mountains faces the green tundra.

The mountains look like this when the piece is glued in place

It should look like this from the back.

Put a line of glue on the two rectangles marked "2" on the bottom of the "foothills-river" pop-up piece.

Glue the "foothills-river" piece to the rectangles marked "2" on the pop-up base.

Your pop-up should now look like this.

Put a thin line of glue on rectangle "3" on the bottom of the "owl" pop-up piece.

Put the "owl" pop-up piece on rectangle "3" on the pop-up base.

Put a thin line of glue on rectangle "4" on the bottom of the "lemming" pop-up piece.

Put the "lemming" pop-up piece on rectangle "4" on the pop-up base.

Your pop-up should now look like this.

Now you are ready to glue on the tabs that lock each pop-up piece into place.
Put a small dot of glue on tab "5."

Glue the tab onto the outline of "5" on the back of the "mountain" pop-up piece.

Put a small dot of glue on tab "6."

Glue the tab onto the ouline of "6" on the back of the "mountain" pop-up piece.
Fold each tab flat toward the center line of the pop-up base.

Put a small drop of glue on the blue areas of tabs "5" and "6."

Close the "sky" of the pop-up base over these tabs.

Press these tabs until the glue holds them in place.

When you open the pop-up, make sure extra glue isn't holding the pieces too close together.
This photo shows tabs you haven't glued on yet, but gives you an idea of what the glued tabs should look like.

Glue tabs "7" and "8" to the back of the "foothills" pop-up piece.

Glue the tab "9" to the outline of "9" on the back of the "owl" pop-up piece.

Glue the tab "10" to the outline of "10" on the back of the "lemming" pop-up piece.

Flatten these tabs toward the centerline of the pop-up.

Put a small dot of glue on the blue area of each tab attached to the "foothills," "owl," and "lemming" pop-up pieces (don't glue "11" on the "river" yet).

Close the pop-up carefully to keep all tabs flat toward the center fold, and press the pop-up until the glue dries.

Place a small dab of glue on the blue area "11" at the base of the "river."

Close the pop-up, with the river folded away from the center fold, and carefully hold the river folded shut.

Press the folded pop-up until the glue dries.

Open carefully to position all the tabs correctly.

The finished pop-up, seen from the front.

Admire your work.