Throughout the holiday season, visitors to the American Museum of Natural History will delight in viewing a stunning 13-foot Origami Holiday Tree in the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall.

The theme of this year’s tree is Origami, A to Z, featuring 500 hand-folded ornaments, representing alphabet letters and corresponding objects: an A and an Apatosaurus, a B and a butterfly, a C and a chimpanzee… The colourful paper decorations were designed and produced by OrigamiUSA and a team of enthusiastic volunteers from around the world.

The Origami Holiday Tree has marked the start of the holiday season at the Museum for more than 30 years. Copyright AMNH. Photo:R.Mickens.

During the holiday season, volunteers will be on hand to teach visitors of all ages the art of origami folding.

Click here to see some of this year’s origami creations up close and be inspired to create some paper shapes for your own tree at home.