Create a paper fortune-teller style game with four outside words, eight numbered choices and space for messages. Print the square with a separate illustrated folding guide.
Live preview210 × 297 mm
A4
Preview is scaled to fit. The PDF keeps the exact dimensions.
PDF and Print include all pages. PNG and SVG save the page shown.
For true-size printing: choose 100% / Actual size, match the paper size and turn off headers and footers. Printing guide ↗
Ready for your printer
Choose a square side of 140, 160 or 180 millimetres. Leave the outside words empty to use four localized color names, or enter exactly four short labels on separate lines. Messages can remain blank for handwriting after printing, or you can provide eight short entries. The template is a classroom or party paper game; it does not generate predictions or decide what the messages should say.
💡A few useful answers
Do I need glue to make the pockets?
No. The described model uses only cuts around the outer square and the folding sequence. The two corner-fold stages and later half folds create the pockets. Gluing the layers would prevent them from opening as intended.
Can the messages be filled in by hand?
Yes. Leave the message field completely empty and the printable provides writing spaces. You can add short prompts on the paper before assembly or carefully open the appropriate flap later, depending on how you plan the activity.
Why must entered lists have four or eight lines?
The design has four outside choices and eight inside messages. Exact list lengths keep each printed area paired with one supplied entry. Clear the entire field to use its default or blank behaviour rather than leaving an incomplete entered list.
Plan the outside choices and inside text
✏️The four outside words provide the first choice in the game. Each allows up to twelve combined characters, which keeps the labels within their corner areas. Short color words, categories or names work better than long questions. The eight inner messages allow thirty-two combined characters each. Write something that remains useful at a small printed size: a brief question, an action or a prompt. Review the preview before committing to a full set of copies.
Leaving the whole message field empty produces writing spaces instead of invented text. This is useful when a group wants to add its own ideas after the folds are understood. If you do enter messages, provide eight lines so each numbered choice has a matching entry. A partial list is rejected instead of silently repeating or filling missing items. For a different cut-and-assemble character activity, try the finger puppet templates alongside the paper game.
Fold the square in a clear sequence
Cut the outside square, place the printed side down and crease both diagonals by bringing opposite corners together. Unfold after making those guide creases. Fold all four corners into the centre, then turn the smaller square over. Fold its new corners into the centre again. These two successive corner-fold stages create the layers needed for the pockets. The separate instruction page shows the sequence, including the turn between the two stages.
Fold the small square in half in both directions and release those folds to loosen the mechanism. Slide thumbs and index fingers into the four outside pockets and ease them apart. Avoid forcing a tight fold: check that each corner reached the centre and that no layer was glued. This model is held together by folding, not tabs or adhesive. A paper airplane offers another folding activity when the group wants to compare how creases change a flat sheet.
Use the pockets as a small paper game
📝A simple round begins with a choice of outside word, followed by pocket movements, a visible number choice and lifting the corresponding flap to read its message. Agree your own counting or spelling convention before play, especially when the outside labels are in different languages. The generator does not enforce a rule or pick a winner. Its job is to place the choices and prompts on a reproducible printable square.
Colored artwork marks the four outside areas; plain mode leaves a quieter sheet for drawing or coloring. Print at actual size and check the fifty-millimetre bar so the selected square remains the intended size. PDF and Print include the folding guide when enabled, while SVG and PNG export the current page. A Share link makes entered words and messages public. Use a paper crown as another optional party craft rather than placing private information in shared prompts.
Cootie catcher template generator
A colored blank-message game
Choose a 160 mm square, leave both text fields empty, enable colored artwork and include instructions. A4 portrait produces a template with four localized color words and blank message spaces, followed by the eight-step folding sheet.
Set the square to 140 mm, keep the messages and outside words empty, turn colored artwork off and retain instructions. Print both A4 portrait pages at actual size. The smaller square provides a compact game that can be decorated by hand.
