Dragon Fortune Teller

The classic school paper fortune teller, turned into a little dragon: a square from a Letter sheet, twelve folds, marker eyes, glued-on horns and ears. It slips onto four fingers and opens its mouth.

• Easy
• 1 Letter sheet
• 5 pieces
• 12 folds

Make it with your phone cameraLesson code: 2003

On VanGami the template appears over your sheet through your phone camera — no printer needed. Trace it, cut, fold and glue. Below are all the steps in text.

What you’ll need

• Letter sheet — office paper, 80 gsm (20 lb)
• Markers
• Pencil — and eraser
• Scissors — small
• Glue stick — or PVA glue
• Yellow paper — a sheet of note paper or a 3⅛ × 3⅛ in piece
• Glass — phone stand

Steps

Square

1. Green. The sheet is white, but the fortune teller is green: color the sheet all over, on both sides — both show on the fortune teller. You can leave it white: you get a white dragon.
2. Fold the corner. Place the sheet with the short side toward you. Fold the top right corner to the left edge, edge to edge, and crease the fold.
3. Cut off the strip. Cut off the extra along the bottom edge of the triangle — you’ll get a square. Don’t throw the strip away: fold it in half and you’ll make the ears from it.

Pieces

4. Strip under the camera. Place the folded strip under the camera. Fold the yellow paper in half too and keep it nearby.
5. Ear. Move the strip under the ear shown on the screen and trace the ear with a solid line. Trace the tab line as a dash-dot line: you fold along it, not cut.
6. Horn. Now put the folded yellow paper under the camera. Trace the horn the same way: the outline with a solid line, the tab line with a dash-dot line.

Cut

7. Ear — two at once. Cut out the ear through both layers along the solid line. Flip the bottom ear over: now you have a mirror-image pair.
8. Horn — two at once. Cut out the horn the same way from the folded yellow paper and flip the bottom one over.
9. With a marker. On each ear, draw two stripes in dark green. Outline the horns along the edge in black; leave the tabs alone.

Fold

10. Second diagonal. Unfold the square and fold it along the second diagonal, corner to corner. Crease it and unfold again.
11. Corners to the center. Fold all four corners into the center, to where the creases cross: the edges meet evenly. Crease them.
12. Corners to the center again. Flip the blank so the folded corners face down, and fold all four corners into the center again.
13. In half, both ways. Fold in half with the triangles inside, crease it and unfold. Then do the same in the other direction.
14. Cheeks. On the two side triangles nearest you, draw a wave in dark green — from the side edge toward the middle. Then flip the fortune teller over like a page, squares up.

Face

15. Fortune teller under the camera. Place the fortune teller under the camera squares up — just as it lay after the flip.
16. Eyes, eyebrows, nostrils. Move the fortune teller so the two far squares are inside the frame. On each one, copy an eye with two highlights, an eyebrow and a nostril in pencil — they lie on their sides, and that’s how it should be.
17. With a marker. Color the eyes black and leave the highlights blank. Eyebrows and nostrils in dark green.

Glue

18. Horns. Fold the horn tab toward the side outlined in black, apply glue and slide it under the edge of the square between the eyes. The horns stand back to back, with the small prongs toward you.
19. Ears. Do the ears the same way: the tab goes under the near edge of the square with the eye, beside the horns. The ear stands with its points up and its stripes facing away from you.

Play

20. Put them on your fingers. Hold the fortune teller with the squares toward you: put your index fingers into the pockets under the squares with the eyes and your thumbs into the two lower ones. Bring your fingers together — the corners will meet at one point.
21. Mouth. Turn the fortune teller with its face away from you and spread your fingers: index fingers up, thumbs down. The mouth opens and closes.

Done. The little dragon is done. The fortune teller opens two ways: the face appears when both eyes are on top.

Make it with your phone camera

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