Make your own fortune cookie!
Celebrate the fortune cookie’s Japanese and Chinese American history by making one out of paper with the Japanese paper folding technique, origami. It’s super easy and lots of fun for people of all ages. You can make one and give it to someone else in place of a greeting card, or make a whole bunch and use them for decoration. When you are finished, take a picture and post it to our Facebook or Instagram page - we’d love to see your creations!
To make your origami fortune cookie you will need:
Paper - Any type of paper will do, but we suggest the following: scrapbooking paper, origami paper, printer paper, construction paper, heavy wrapping paper
Plain paper will look great with your own original designs drawn on!
A round object such as the top of a jar lid used as a stencil to trace circles - experiment with different sizes to create different sized fortune cookies
A pencil with an eraser to trace a circle around your round object
Scissors to cut out your circle
Glue - Any kind of glue that works on paper is just fine.
Paper Clips - (optional)
Instructions
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Before folding:
Choose your paper
Draw a circle using your round stencil and your pencil. Draw on the side of the paper that won’t show when the fortune cookie is finished.
Use your scissors to cut out your paper circle (if you are using plain paper, now’s the time to draw your original design.)
Use your scissors again to cut out a strip of paper, about 4” x ½” to write your fortune message on.
Now write your message and put it aside. Make it nice! Make it funny! Make it inspiring!
If you'd like some ideas for what to write, visit our Fortune Inspirations page.
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Now you are ready to fold. For video instructions, see below:
1. Place your paper fortune message across the center of the inside (the plain side) of your cookie. It will stay inside the paper the whole time you are folding it.
2. Bring two sides of the circle together to form a shape like a taco - don’t crease the paper! Keep holding the taco edges together with one hand all through the next step.
3. With your other hand poke your pointer finger into the very center of the curved taco.
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4. Now use another finger (probably your middle or ring finger) and your thumb to fold the top and bottom edges of the taco together towards the center. You will have to remove your pointer finger to bring the edges fully together. There’s your fortune cookie!
5. Now use just a dot of glue to hold the two sides of the cookie together. You can hold the cookie until the glue dries or use a paper clip to keep it closed until the glue is dry.
For folks with smaller hands, two people can work together to do the folding part of this project.
What will you do with your fortune cookie?
We hope you will give your cookie to someone you care about or keep it as a special message to yourself. We’d love to see your origami fortune cookie too! Take a picture and share it with us on Facebook or Instagram. Email us at info@mofad.org with your original fortune messages and we will post them on our Fortune Inspirations page so other people doing this project can be inspired by your ideas!
Discussion Topics
Are there any foods that you eat at home that came from another country or state? How long have people in your family been eating them? Why do you eat these foods? When do you eat them? Have they changed over time? You may have to ask an older family member to find out.
Can you think of other foods besides the fortune cookie that may have more than one cultural connection? See if you can trace that food’s history to its original home and discover the changes made to it over time. Why did those changes happen? Here are a few examples of foods you can research that are popular in the United States: gumbo, spaghetti and meatballs, California roll. You may be surprised by their cultural connections!