The write start - Jennifer Hallissy 2010

Fortune-Tellers
Guidelines for the Activities

WHEN CURIOUS KIDS want to know what fate has in store for them, they let their fingers do the talking. Cheaper than a psychic, handier than a crystal ball, less cryptic than a horoscope, a classic paper fortune-teller tells all. The best part? It’s customizable at a whim. Are your kids itching to know if they’ll win a million dollars, if their teacher will give a pop quiz, or who will sit next to them on the bus? Tell them to ask the fortune-teller, and they can let their future unfold before their eyes.

(Oh, and by the way, I predict that kids’ fine-motor skills will get a workout as well with this one.)

MATERIALS

∗ paper

∗ scissors

∗ pencil

∗ crayons or colored pencils

HOW-TO MAKE

1. Start with a standard piece of paper. Take the top right corner and fold it down so that the top edge of the paper lines up exactly with the left-hand side of the paper.

2. Cut off the extra flap of paper on the bottom with scissors to make a square.

3. Unfold the paper and make a crease along the other diagonal. Unfold the paper again (your creases should make an X on the page).

4. Fold each corner of the square down so that they meet in the center of the X. You now have a smaller square.

5. Turn your smaller square over. Fold each corner of the square down, like you did before, so that they meet in the middle again.

6. Write any eight letters of the alphabet on the small triangles you have created around the square. Then lift the triangles up and write eight fortunes, one on each small triangle.

7. After writing the fortunes, fold the flaps back down and crease the square vertically and horizontally.

8. Turn the paper over and write the name of a color on each square (or color each square with a different color crayon).

9. When you’re done, slip the thumb and index finger of one hand under two colored squares, and the thumb and index finger of your other hand under the other two. Gently pinch and press all four corners inward, so they meet in the middle.

HOW-TO PLAY

1. Two players are required: a fortune seeker and a fortune-teller.

2. The fortune seeker chooses a color. The child holding the paper fortune-teller spells out the color while alternately opening and closing the paper fortune-teller in vertical and horizontal directions.

3. Next the fortune seeker chooses a letter. The fortune-teller opens and closes the paper fortune-teller as they both say all the alphabet letters up to the chosen letter (for, example, if you choose the letter G, the fortune-teller would open and close the paper fortune-teller while saying, “A, B, C, D, E, F, G”).

4. The fortune seeker chooses a final letter. The child holding the paper fortune-teller lifts the flap corresponding to the chosen letter, and then reads the fortune out loud.

5. Good luck!

Variations

For Scribblers: Instead of writing out color names on a square, have your Scribbler scribble each square with a different color crayon.

For Spellers: Spellers can write the letters on the squares, and they will have a blast with all the alpha counting involved.

For Storytellers: Storytellers will enjoy making up elaborate fortunes. Encourage them to be concise and to self-edit in order to fit their big ideas into such a tiny space.

For Scholars: Scholars can show off their sophisticated writing techniques by making the words on the paper fortune-teller ornate, and they can write the fortunes in cursive if they know how.