How to Make a Halloween Joke Fortune Teller for Kids

Faith and I were wandering around Michael's the other day in the kids' section, when she pointed out a box that held ... 

A fortune teller.  Or cootie catcher.  Or whatever you called those little pointy game things you folded and played in elementary school.

It was in a box, with an actual price tag.  For the same kind of folder paper I remember making in 2nd and 3rd grade.


So I told her that, besides the fact there was no way I was going to pay good money for this, I would teach her how to make one.  Obviously paper folding for amusement in school is a dying art.

And since Mr. Ben wanted in on the action too, I made a more generic Halloween themed joke one for him that was the hit of the second grade lunch table.  (His little buddy Lexa wants one now too.)

Do you remember how to make these?  If not, check it out below.

Gather your supplies.  You'll need a sheet of paper, scissors, a pen or pencil, and some markers.  You really don't *need* the markers, but I wanted color on mine.


Fold the paper into a triangle--bottom right corner up to the top so that you have a nice sharp point in one corner and a right-angled triangle.  There should be an extra strip about 2.5 inches wide.


Cut off that extra strip, so all you have left is the triangle.


Open up the triangle and you should have a fairly reasonable square!


Take the two upper corners and fold them down into the middle (so it looks sort of like a house).  Make them as even as you can.


Now fold the bottom two corner also up to the middle, so you have a smaller square (with 4 triangles pointing to the middle).


Flip that over so the flat side is facing you.


Do it again!  Top corners to the middle to make the roof of the house again.


Fold the bottom corners to the middle so you have another smaller square.


Flip it over again, this time you should have 4 squares that are attached on the outside edges and open flaps along the inside "t" shape.


On each flap (and on a diagonal), write a Halloween word or idea.  For playing purposes, choose words with different amounts of letters, including some odd and some even.

I chose Candy Corn (9), Pumpkin (7), Black Cat (8) and Spooky (6).


Flip over to the inside.  On each triangle, write a number.  Again, to play, you'll need to mix up the odds and the evens. The easiest way is starting with a triangle and choose odd-even, even-odd, odd-even, even-odd.


Open up the flaps and write a short joke on each!  Mine, of course, are all Halloween themed.



You'll need 8 different jokes.  There's not a lot of room to write and my handwriting is fairly small, so make them short.

I googled "Halloween Jokes for Kids" and came up with:
  • Why don't mummies take vacations? They're afraid to relax and unwind.
  • What is a ghost's favorite fruit? Boo-berries.
  • Where does a vampire keep his money? In a blood bank.
  • What do ghosts eat for dessert? I-Scream.
  • What is a monster's favorite treat? Ghoul Scout Cookies
  • Where do baby monsters go during the day? A day-scare center.
  • What does a jack-o-lantern pirate wear? A pumpkin patch.
  • What is a witch's favorite subject at school? Spelling!
Keep in mind my audience is 7, I'm hysterical.


When you're done, fold it all back up.


Then fold it in half.


Open it and fold it in half again.


Slip your fingers into the little pockets and push gently to open it up into the pinwheel shape!
You've got a fortune teller.


And if you don't remember how to play, here's the basics:
  • Pick a word, spell it out, with an open shut motion for each letter.
  • Pick a number you see on the inside, count it out again, same motion.
  • Pick a second number from the inside, count it out again.
  • Pick a third number, open the flap, read the joke.
Did you make these as a kid?  I remember making tons of these, plus writing notes to my friends and folding them into fun patterns and shapes.  Texting is just not the same.

Comments

  1. Thanks! I found a template online and put in your jokes. Then I printed out for a class party. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment