Fun
Paper fortune teller maker
Write your own colours, numbers and fortunes or start from a ready-made set, play the fortune teller on screen, then print it, cut it out and fold it.
Press Play to try your fortune teller, or open it by hand. Drag the model to turn it.
Colours (outside)
Numbers and fortunes (inside)
Printable template
Print at 100% (Actual size). Folding steps are on the page.
Everything stays in your browser — nothing you type is uploaded.
Play and explore in your browser. No account needed.
Frequently asked questions
What is a cootie catcher?
It is another name for a paper fortune teller — the folded square worked with the thumbs and fingers of both hands. Children in different places call it a chatterbox, salt cellar, whirlybird or snapdragon too. The outside has four colours, the inside eight numbers, and a fortune hides under each number flap.
How do you play with a paper fortune teller?
The player picks one of the four colours, and you spell it out, opening the fortune teller one way and then the other for every letter. They then pick one of the four numbers they can see and you count that many moves. Finally they pick a number again, you lift that flap and read the fortune underneath. The Play button walks through exactly these steps on screen.
Which way do I fold the printed square?
Start printed side down and fold each corner to the centre, so the colours and numbers are on top. Turn the smaller square over and fold its corners to the centre again: now you see the eight numbers. Fold in half both ways to crease it, then slide your fingers under the four coloured squares on the back. Everything printed ends up in the right place, with each fortune on the underside of its number flap.
What size is the printed fortune teller?
The square is 18 cm on A4 and 7 inches on US Letter, which folds into a fortune teller about 9 cm (3.5 in) across — a good size for children's hands. Print at 100% or Actual size, not Fit to page. Ordinary printer paper works well; very thick card is hard to fold into the pockets.
Why did some characters disappear from my fortunes?
The template uses the standard PDF fonts, which print Latin letters, including accents such as é, ñ and ß, plus common punctuation. Emoji and letters from other alphabets cannot be printed with them, so they are left out, and the preview shows the text exactly as it will print. Long fortunes are printed smaller or broken into more lines so that they always stay inside their triangle.
Is anything I type saved or uploaded?
No. The fortune teller is drawn and the PDF is built in your browser, and nothing you type is sent anywhere or kept after you close the page. Download the PDF to keep your design.
About this tool
This paper fortune teller maker turns your own words into a printable cootie catcher. Every part is editable: the four colour names and their colours on the outside, the eight numbers on the flaps and the eight fortunes hidden underneath. Four original starting sets are included — gentle fortunes for kids, silly dares for a party, school-day predictions and birthday wishes — so you can print one straight away or change just a few lines.
The preview is a real 3D model of the folded toy, built with the true lengths of the paper, so it opens in two directions just as the paper version does and shows the right four numbers each time. Play mode runs the classic game: spell the colour, count the number and lift the flap to reveal the fortune. The flat template beside it shows exactly what will print.
The PDF template has the square at a fixed size, 18 cm on A4 or 7 inches on US Letter, with a solid cutting line, dashed fold lines and every word turned so that it faces the right way once the paper is folded; 6 and 9 are underlined so they cannot be mixed up. A row of small diagrams explains the folds, and you can add a blank template on a second page, or print a colour-in version with outlines only.