When I was a little girl, we made “Fortune Tellers” to play with our friends.  We used our homemade fortune tellers to write messages about things that might happen when we grew up.

Your students will love this game.  It’s easy for students to put into their pockets and play wherever they go.  You can practice any vocabulary or grammar by adapting the game in this way.

Here’s an example of a fortune teller from Magic Time 2, Unit 5, Teacher’s Book reproducible by Oxford University Press.  Once you understand how this fortune teller works, your students can create their own.  This unit focuses on toys with the phrase “I have a _________.”   They can expand it to “You have a ________.”

Download a free Fortune Teller template taken from Magic Time Teacher’s Book 2.

3.   Copy one sheet per student.  Students cut out on the dotted lines to create a square.

a.  To begin, have students fold the paper in half.

Open and fold in half the other way.  This makes folding easier. (See below.)

b.  Turn paper over.  Find the middle point.  Fold the corners to this middle point.  Crease well.

c.   Turn the paper over again.  Fold the new corners to the middle.

d.  Find the numbers.  Cut up from the point up to the fold between each of the numbers (1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8).

e.  Now fold it in half so that you can put your thumbs and pointer fingers into the four openings at the bottom.

f.  Bring the points together.  Then open and close the fortune teller.

To play the game:

A:  Asks, “Which letter?”

B:  Says (for example), “C.”

A:  Moves the fortune teller three times, and says, “A-B-C.”

A:  Shows the inside of the fortune teller, and asks, “Which number?”

B:  Says (for example), “4.”

A:  Moves the fortune teller four times, counting to 4.

A:  Shows the inside of the fortune teller again, and asks, “Which number?”

B:  Says (for example), “7.”

A:  Says, “You have a yo-yo!”

With a little creativity, you can add more language to these dialogues.  With this fortune teller, students can imagine that they’re celebrating a birthday.

A:  “Happy Birthday. This toy is for you!  It’s a yo-yo!”

B:  “Thanks a lot!”

Or they can pretend to be Santa, saying “Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas.  Here’s a yo-yo for you!”

To make your own fortune teller, do your folding first.  Then open it up and add numbers, pictures, words, etc.  Instead of counting or saying the ABC’s, more advanced students can spell out words.

Keep me posted . . . I’d love to see how your creativity builds upon this idea in your classroom.

Happy Teaching!

Kathy