Free Printable Thanksgiving Cootie Catcher / Joke Teller

You can make your own Thanksgiving Cootie Catcher / Joke Teller in minutes with this free printable!

Two hands holding a pink, orange, and burgundy colored cootie catcher/joke teller with drawings of a pumpkin, turkey, acorn, and piece of pie on it.

I was kind of obsessed with cootie catchers as a kid (although I always called them “fortune tellers”). Anyone else??

Lately, my kids have been making them all the time too, and I thought a Thanksgiving themed cootie catcher would be a lot of fun, so I collected some holiday inspired dad jokes, drew some little Thanksgiving characters, and created this printable to share with you all!

I’m calling this cootie catcher a joke teller because instead of giving you a fortune, you get a cheesy, punny Thanksgiving themed joke!

(P.S. There are even more cute FREE Thanksgiving printables linked at the end of this post you won’t want to miss!)

How to Make a Thanksgiving Joke Teller:

This one is pretty dang easy, folks! You just need a few things for this project.

Thanksgiving Cootie Catcher Supplies:

Letter Sized Copy Paper
Color Printer (This is the printer I used)
Paper Trimmer or Scissors
My Free Printable (Available at the link below)

Step One. Print Joke Teller.

After you get the free printable from the link at the end of this post, you will want to print it out on letter sized white copy paper.

Step Two. Cut Out.

Then, cut around the outside edges of the joke teller. I recommend using a paper trimmer for this step if you have one, but scissors will work just fine too.

Step Three. Fold.

Next, it’s time to fold!

Start by folding the cootie catcher in half along both diagonal lines by lining up opposite corners of the square. Press to score and then unfold.
Then, with the printed side face down, line up each corner with the creased center point of the square and press to fold.
After all four corners have been folded into the center, flip the cootie catcher over and repeat this process of folding each corner into the center point.
Flip over again, and fold in half so you have two squares on each side. Slip your index finder and thumb into two of the flaps on either side.

Step Four. Tell Some Jokes!

When your Thanksgiving Cootie Catcher is all folded, you are ready for some jokes! If you haven’t used a fortune/joke teller like this before, it’s super easy!

Here’s how to use your joke teller:

Have a friend choose one of the four Thanksgiving characters on the square panels – pumpkin, turkey, pie, or acorn.
Open and close the cootie catcher once for each letter in the word they chose, alternating which side you open with each letter.
Then, have your friend choose one of the numbers visible.
Repeat step two for the number chosen, opening and closing alternating sides of the cootie catcher for each number they chose.
Again, have your friend choose one of the visible numbers.
Open the flap and read the joke under the chose number.

That’s it! Ready to grab your free printable?