2. Start by cutting out squares from the map or book pages that will be at the bottom of the tree. I started with about 3.5″ by 3.5″ squares and made about 5-7 of them.

• If you’re making a tree that is larger around at the base, you’ll want to start with larger squares
• If you’re making a tall skinny tree, you’ll want to make more like 8-12 squares of the same size instead of 5-6

3. Cut another set of slightly smaller squares (like 3.25″ by 3.25″ squares).

• This doesn’t have to be exact, so don’t worry too much about the exact size or how many of them you make

4. Continue cutting out sets of slightly smaller squares until you have a set of about 1″ by 1″ squares

5. Switching to the cardboard, cut very small squares (probably about 3/4″ by 3/4″ that will go between the map or book page squares. You can always cut more later, but start with 15-20 of them. I would also cut a few that are even smaller for toward the top of the tree, when your paper squares get pretty small.

6. Take your wooden cube (or cardboard cube) for the base of the tree. Glue one of your largest paper squares to it. (Again, mine was about 3.5″ by 3.5″)

7. Glue another paper square of the same size on top of the first one, but slightly twisted so the two squares don’t line up perfectly.

• When I did this, I rotated each paper square slightly in a counter-clockwise direction, like in the first image below. (This is the view if you’re looking at the “tree” from above).

8. Glue one of your small cardboard squares on top of the second paper square, like in the second image below

9. Continue with this pattern: slightly rotated paper square, slightly rotated paper square, cardboard square. See the third image below

10. Once you have used all of your largest paper squares, move on to the next size of paper squares. This is shown in the fourth image below – the larger squares are outlined in black; the next size squares (slightly smaller) are on top and outlined in purple

• Don’t forget to put a small piece of cardboard after each two paper squares

11. Continue until you get to your smallest squares.

12. At the end, you can top the tree with a small origami lucky star. I remember making these in middle school, maybe from a kit I had bought at the book fair. You just need a long strip of paper (I cut a green strip from the map I was using). It took a few tries to get one that looked okay.

• Here’s a guide on how to make the lucky star from The Spruce / The Spruce Crafts

13. For some “ornaments”, I cut out a few map symbols / words / towns from the leftover map I didn’t use to make my paper squares, glued them to tiny pieces of cardboard, and then glued those to my tree.