Cootie Catcher / Fortune Teller

One square, all the fold lines marked

The cootie catcher goes by several names. Fortune teller. Chatterbox. Salt cellar, if you are old enough or Scottish enough.

What prints here is a single square with the diagonals and the midlines drawn in dots, so a child needs scissors, a flat surface and one demonstration. Four labels sit on the outer flaps, eight numbers on the flaps inside, and eight hidden messages under those. A default set of cheerful fortunes is already loaded, which means the impatient route is to press download and hand over a pair of scissors.

Folding it

1. Cut out the square along the solid border. Only that line.
2. Printed side down, fold each corner into the centre along the diagonal guides.
3. Turn the whole thing over and fold the four new corners into the centre as well.
4. Fold in half along a midline to crease it, then in half the other way, then open it out and slide a thumb and forefinger under each of the four outer flaps.
5. Pinch to open and close. That is the toy.

Step two is where it goes wrong. Printed side down, not up, and every adult who has done this before will get it wrong at least once.

Playing it

One player picks an outer label. The catcher opens and closes once for each letter of it, so a longer word means more moves, which is worth knowing when you choose the labels.

Then a number is chosen from the ones now visible, and the catcher opens and closes that many times. Finally the player picks one of the numbers showing at the end, that flap is lifted, and the message underneath is read aloud. The whole cycle takes about twenty seconds, which is why children will do it forty times in a row.

Better uses than fortunes

The fortunes are the default, not the point. What you have is a randomiser with eight slots, and children will operate it voluntarily, which is a rare property in a classroom resource.

• Spelling. A word on each numbered flap, its definition or a sentence using it underneath.
• Times tables. The question showing, the answer hidden. Self-marking, and it works in pairs without an adult.
• Ice-breakers. Replace the fortunes with questions. Genuinely effective on a first day, and nobody has to volunteer to speak first.
• Party favours. Silly predictions, small dares, and one guest to fold them all.

The fold guides can be turned off if the sheet is going to a group who have made these before and want a cleaner square. Name and date fields are off by default, since most of these end up in a pocket rather than in a folder.