Craft Your Own Fortune Teller

A fortune teller is an origami toy that is super easy to craft and lots of fun to use on your friends. Other names for the fortune teller include paku-paku, chatterbox, whirlybird, cootie-catcher, and salt cellar (apparently people used to keep seasonings in them).

Learn more about the history of the origami fortune teller here.

Activity: How to craft a fortune teller

What you will need:

1 piece of paper
Coloured pens or pencils for decorating and writing numbers

Once you have created the fortune teller, it’s time to add the fortunes. This is where you can get really creative and have lots of fun coming up with ideas.

How to use a fortune teller

Grab a friend whose fortune you want to tell.
Ask their favorite colour and then flap the fortune teller open one way, then the other way spelling out the colour.
Ask which number they want and then count out the number, again flapping the fortune teller back and forth.
Then ask again for a number, lift that flap and — presto! — read the person’s fortune!

You don’t have to use them just to predict the future — try making fortune tellers that can randomise all these things:

Direct a random walk around the block
Decide what activity you want to do today
Help choose an outfit for the day
Pick an ice cream flavour
Decide what you want for breakfast
Answer any question asked of it (try using yes, no, maybe, try again later, perhaps etc.) Kinda like a Magic 8 ball!