How to Make a Fortune Teller

Intro: How to Make a Fortune Teller

This is an easy way to entertain kids that are acting up or a way to stay entertained when you're bored and inside.

Step 1: What You Need:

  • A rectangular sheet of paper
  • A flat surface to work on
  • Scissors (optional)

Step 2:

Take your sheet of paper and fold corner D to side AC so that side CD is flush with side AC.

Step 3:

Tear or cut off the excess paper that is not part of the triangle segment of paper. When you unfold the remaining paper, you have a perfect square. (Discard the excess paper.)

Step 4:

Take the square sheet of paper and fold side FD to side EC.

Step 5:

Unfold the paper.

Step 6:

Now fold side CD to side EF.

Step 7:

Unfold the square. It should look like this.

Step 8:

Fold corner F to the center of the paper (where the creases intersect).

Step 9:

Now fold in corners E, C and D the same way as in step 8.

Step 10:

Flip the piece of paper over.

Step 11:

Fold the (new) corner G to the center of the paper and repeat with corners J, I and H

Step 12:

Take the paper and fold side KL to side MN.

Step 13:

There are 2 flaps formed by these new folds accessible through point P on the side that is up. Pick up the paper and gently slide your index finger into one flap and thumb into the other.

Note: (You can seen steps 13, 14 and 15 in the following video:

Step 14:

Now with your other hand, slide the same fingers in the same way to the flaps of the other side of the paper.

Step 15:

Now you will “open” the fortune teller. With your fingers in the flaps, gently pinch the index finger and thumb of each hand together. This should pop out the pockets of the fortune teller. Congratulations, you finished your fortune teller!

Step 16: Troubleshooting

Alternate First Fold Method: Useful if “popping the pockets” is notworking.

  • Instead of folding the original square horizontally and vertically, fold the square diagonally so the creases form an X. This will help make “popping out the pockets” easier.

  • The fortune teller can be made in various sizes. We suggest starting with an 8.5 inch by 11 inch paper. From there you can experiment with larger and smaller sizes.

Step 17: Variation

There are many ways to make your fortune teller unique.

  • There are four finger pockets in the fortune teller. You can decorate the visible side of each pocket a distinct color to make it more attractive.
  • You can label the inner flaps (opposite the side of where your fingers go) with numbers or letters.
  • After decorating, you can write “fortunes” under the inner flaps to surprise and amuse your friends. Fortunes can be determined by having your friends pick a color then correspondent number. (Many variations exist. Be creative.)
  • Remember, there is no wrong way to make your fortune teller unique. Happy fortunes!



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    freely dandelion

    4 years ago

    in China，it called 东南西北(east south west north)funny ，right?