How to Make a Fortune Teller Device
Fortune teller devices, sometimes called "cootie catchers," are paper crafts that involve basic folding techniques. After you've made the basic shape out of paper, fill in different areas of the fortune teller with numbers and colors to choose from and different phrases to tell someone's future. After someone picks a color and then a number, the person operating the fortune teller will lift up the interior tabs of paper to reveal the other person's fortune.
Instructions
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1
Fold the square in half on the diagonal. Unfold. Fold across the other diagonal. Unfold. Turn paper over.
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2
Fold each corner to the center of the square. Turn the paper over. Fold each corner to the center. You will have four triangles that each have a vertical line down the middle from the previous fold.
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3
Write numbers on each side of the vertical line on each triangle, writing a total of eight numbers. They can be any numbers and do not have to be sequential. Keep in mind that these numbers will represent the number of times you will move the fortune teller while playing, so you might want to keep each number below 30.
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4
Lift up each triangle. Under each triangle, draw a vertical line to separate the triangle into halves. Write a separate fortune on each half of the triangle. You can simplify this by writing one fortune per triangle. You can write a cryptic phrase describing future events, such as "You will take a journey and meet a new friend," or a synonym for "Yes" or "No."
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5
Turn the paper over. You will have four squares. Draw a filled-in circle of a different color on each square. The number of letters in the name of each color will determine how many times you move the fortune teller while playing. For younger children, spell out the colors below the dots of color.
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Turn the paper over. Fold in half across an imagined horizontal line. Crease and unfold. Fold in half across a vertical line. Crease and unfold.
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Balance the square so your thumbs are holding the bottom corners and your pointer fingers hold the top corners. Pinch your left fingers together and your right fingers together. Push both pinched fingers together. Hold the corners together with one hand while using the other to lift up the four square tabs with the colored dots on them. Lift them up and out to expand to the sides.
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Operate the fortune teller by inserting your left thumb and pointer into the left-side pockets under the lifted square tabs. Repeat on the right with thumb and pointer. Pinch fingers closed and hold the right set of fingers against the left.
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Tips & Warnings
You do not have to use the traditional color and number combination; any category of image will do. Just spell the name of the pictured object and move the fortune teller that number of times. You can use letters of the alphabet and move the fortune teller by reciting the alphabet, moving once per letter until you reach that number.
