Illustration of the layers; side hinges are shown in the fold drawing.
01 / LOOK INTO IT
A tunnel book template.
A tiny world.
One window, a few leaves, a moon. Cut four flat sheets and let the space between them tell the story.
This free, original pattern makes a small paper theatre: a tunnel book with two accordion sides. The windows overlap to frame a scene, instead of turning like ordinary book pages.
Straight to the printable filesUse the coloured night garden, or the outline version for your own drawing. Both are in each PDF.
02 / MAKE SOME SPACE
Keep the edges.
Lose the middle.
Cut out the openings in A, B and C before cutting around each face. The outer rectangle gives your hand something to hold while the inside is still being cut.
- AThe window frames everything.
- BDark leaves sit nearest you.
- CThe pale hill is further away.
- DThe sky stays solid. Do not cut out the moon.
Keep the two small side tabs on every face. The pointed leaves remain joined to the lower border: cutting across that border would turn them into loose pieces.
Drawing your own scene?
Use pages 4–6. Keep the frame, tabs and cut lines; draw only on the paper that stays. Try a pond: leave the moon off D and paint a quiet blue background, turn the hills on C into a bank, and colour B as reeds. The same four layers now tell a different story.
Put small distant details on D and larger shapes nearer the opening. A shape painted inside a labelled cut-out will disappear when you cut it; move that detail onto retained paper first.
Inside cuts need a cutting mat and suitable craft tool. An adult should handle sharp tools for children.
03 / GIVE IT DEPTH
Two little accordions.
One long view.
Score each side strip at 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 mm. Alternate the folds to make a zigzag. Use the top-view drawing to make the two sides a mirror pair.
Gather a ruler, a blunt scoring tool, a cutting mat, a suitable cutting tool and a small amount of paper glue or narrow double-sided tape. Use a spare printed copy for the first trial.
Dry-fit the four layers before gluing. Match the letters on the tabs and side strips, keeping the printed strip labels facing outwards. Work from the back layer D towards A.
Open the fold drawingThe screen separates the layers for explanation. It does not model glue, paper thickness or how far your particular hinges will open.
04 / MAKE YOURS
Three sheets.
A whole little scene.
Each seven-page pack includes three colour sheets, three outline sheets and one instruction sheet. Print only the version you want, single-sided at 100% / Actual size.
Start with ordinary paper to check the folds and printer scale. Measure the 50 mm bar on page 7. Then choose a stock your printer can feed and your creases can fold without splitting.
See the sheet map and printing notes ↗Original pattern, shared under CC BY 4.0. You can adapt it; credit FoldScene and note your changes.