Making an Origami Fortune Teller

Turn that origami paper into a fortune teller.

Origami fortune tellers have been around for years. Children and teens like to make them and ask it questions to see how it will answer. Also called "cootie catchers," fortune tellers are easy to fold. You slip your fingers into it when complete and open and close it a prescribed number of times to find the answer to your question. These can be made from origami paper, but it is also possible with notebook or copy paper.

Things You'll Need

• Square piece of paper
• Pen or pencil

Instructions

1. Lay your paper on the table. Take one corner and fold it over to meet the corner opposite. Open the paper and take one of the other two corners and fold it down to meet the opposite corner. Open the paper completely.

2. Fold all four corners in to the center.

3. Turn the square over so that the flaps are down on the table and fold all the new corners in to the middle. Your square should now be pretty small.

4. Fold the paper in half along one crease and then unfold. Repeat with the other crease.

5. You should have eight little segments marked by fold lines. Label them each one through eight.

6. Lift up each flap one at a time and write a different fortune for each segment. Lay the flaps back down when you finish writing them.

7. Turn the square over. You should have four squares that are open on two sides each.

8. Write the name of a color on each square.

9. Open the fortune teller and put your fingers inside. You should use two thumbs and two pointer fingers to hold the fortune teller.

10. Open and close the fortune teller by moving your fingers and thumbs.

Tips & Warnings

• Common colors to use are red, green, blue and yellow.

• Fortunes range from "You will get married in seven years" to "Be careful next Tuesday." You can make themed fortune tellers, from future careers to future boyfriends or husbands.

References

• Enchanted Learning
• DLTK-Kids:
• Origami-Fun