Chatterbox Templates for Teachers

Skip those how to make a paper chatterbox tutorials with ready-made printable templates created by teachers for teachers just like you! This collection of printable activity templates offers primary teachers an easy way to add the fun of 'fortune' telling to your lesson plans without all the design work!

Not familiar with paper chatterboxes? Maybe you just call them another name! Read on for a primer from our teaching team, including ideas on using this handy paper tool in the classroom.

What Is a Chatterbox?

Maybe you called them fortune tellers when you were a child? Paper chatterboxes go by many names, but they're all the same concept — a piece of folded paper with numbers, colours or letters on the outside flaps and hidden messages or choices on the inside.

Kids then use their fingers to manipulate the chatterbox, opening and closing it while making a series of choices. Eventually, the student with the fortune teller on their fingers can reveal a hidden message or answer by lifting the flap corresponding to their final choice.

How to Make a Chatterbox

These may be a simple form of origami, but there are some tricks to getting this paper toy just right! Here's how to make a chatterbox with some simple paper folds.

1. Start with a square piece of paper. All of our templates are designed as squares for you, including our free blank option, but if you don't have a square piece, you can fold a rectangular paper diagonally from one corner to the opposite edge, then trim off the excess to create a square.
2. Fold your paper in half diagonally to make a triangle. Make sure the edges align and create a sharp crease.
3. Unfold the triangle to return to the square shape.
4. Fold the paper in half again — this time fold it horizontally. Align the edges, and crease the fold.
5. Unfold the paper so that you have the square shape again. Now, fold each corner of the square towards the centre so that the points meet at the middle of the square, making a smaller square.
6. Flip the paper over to the other side. Take each corner of the square, and fold them towards the centre, aligning the points in the middle.
7. Flip the paper back to the original side. You should see four smaller squares formed by the folded corners.
8. You can now label each square with your instructional content.

How to Use a Paper Chatterbox

Now that you've folded your chatterbox, it's ready for your students to use.

Students can slip their fingers into the open flaps of the chatterbox, one finger per flap. Next, they should gently pinch and bring the thumb and index finger together on each hand, allowing the fortune teller to open and close.