Introduction: How to Make Paper Fortune Tellers

Paper fortune tellers are fun little origami projects for predicting someone's future.  They can be for silly things like questions  magic 8 ball would answer.  The outside has a color or number.  Someone picks the number/color and the fortune teller is open/closed the corresponding number of times.  Then the person picks a number/color/letter/etc. on one of the inside tabs and whatever is says underneath is that person's fortune!

Step 1:

Take a standard 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of paper.  This will be what you use to make your paper fortune teller.

Step 2:

The goal is to get a perfect 8.5 x 8.5 inch square.  First, lay the paper down vertically on a flat surface in front of you.

Step 3:

Fold one of the top corners until the top edge of the paper is exactly in line with the side opposite of the corner that you started at.  The result should look like a right trapezoid. 

Step 4:

The rectangle at the bottom of the piece of paper needs to be discarded.  There are two ways to get rid of this.

Option 1:  
Fold along where the folded down portion of paper and the rectangle meet.  Do this repeatedly and crease the fold each time.  After 3 or 4 folds, the paper should tear along the fold line.

Option 2:
Cut a straight line parallel with the bottom of the page along the line where the folded portion of paper and the small rectangle meet.  

The result should be a perfect square folded in half.

Step 5:

Now that you have the square, observe the fold line going from corner to opposite corner.  Create another fold line going from the corners that do not currently have the fold line; corner to opposite corner.  Fold in the same direction as the other fold is in.  (So if the paper folds towards you along the diagonal, then the new fold should also fold towards you.)  The result should be a square with two intersecting folds along the diagonals.  The folds should make four identical triangles within the square, with the tops all meeting in the middle.

Step 6:

Now turn the paper over so that the two diagonal folds will be folding the paper away from you.  Take the four corners and fold them inwards towards the center.  Use the intersection of the folds as a reference for where the four corners should meet.  The result should look like a smaller square.  

Step 7:

Repeat Step 6:  Turn the paper over and fold the new corners inwards towards the middle making an even smaller square.  The part you see now is the inside of the paper fortune teller.

Step 8:

Now fold and unfold the square in half both ways.  The outside part of the paper fortune teller should be on the outer part of the fold.  This will ensure that the fortune teller will work.

Step 9:

Open up the bottom of the paper fortune teller and push out the flaps as shown in the image.  This is where you will put your fingers.

Step 10:

Congratulations!  You've made your paper fortune teller.  You can decorate it however you wish.  Just pull the tabs back and forth.  Have fun!!!

WARNING!!!
Vigorous fortune telling may result in paper cuts which may result in blood loss and an unsightly cut.  If this happens, stop crying and get a band-aid.