Cootie Catcher (Fortune Teller)

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Any square piece of paper can be made into a Cootie Catcher.

1. Fold two corners together and crease firmly.
2. unfold.  Then fold the other two corners together and crease again.
3. Fold each corner point into the center.
4. flip it over and fold all four of these corners into the center.
5. Under the inside flaps, you have to write a fortune or prediction.
6. On top of those flaps, you need to write a number.
7. On the outside flaps you need to write a word.
8. fold it in half.
9. Then unfold and fold it in half the other way.
10. Stick your thumbs and first two fingers into the four pockets on the bottom.

How to play:

1. Have your player choose one of the top four squares.
2. Spell out the word that was chosen, for example D-O-G opening and closing the fortune teller along with the letters.  Open up and down,  and side to side.
3. When you’ve stopped opening and closing, the player should be looking at the inside of your fortune teller.  He has to choose one of the flaps with a number.  You then open and close the fortune teller the right number of times.
4. When done with that, he has to pick one of the panels, flip up the chosen panel and read the fortune underneath.

I found that some of the kids had trouble writing in the spaces and others needed to practice writing in smaller spaces.  I made a template for a cootie catcher with squares to write in.

It is challenging for the clients to fold the paper, write in the spaces, and move the fortune teller in the proper manner with their fingers.

I have made a list of some of the fortunes that the kids like to use.

• At lunch, you will laugh so hard, your drink will come out of your nose.
• You will spill ketchup on yourself soon.
• Next time you yawn, a bug will fly in your mouth.
• Tonight you will dream you can fly.
• you will have pizza tonight.
• Your zipper will break.
• A monkey will steal your hat at the zoo.
• A seagull will grab your sandwich from you hand.
• Next time you swing, your shoe will fly off.
• A very large woman will soon give you a hug.
• In class, a bug will crawl up your leg.
• You will fall asleep in your next class.
• You will break a pencil doing your homework.
• You will soon bring me a bag of cookies.
• You will get the hiccups soon.
• You will find money in the street.
• You will find money under the couch cushions.
• You will dream you are falling, and wake up on the floor.
• Next time you sit down, a cat will crawl in your lap.

template with lines.  Here is a printable pdf of the template with lines.

template with small spaces/boxes for writing.  Here is a printable pdf of the boxes template.

template with no lines.  Here is a printable pdf template with no lines.

Cootie Catcher Book that I used.  I’ve had it in my therapy stash for 10 years or more.