Make Your Own Paper Story Idea Generator!

Today’s papercraft activity is based on the classic paper fortune teller – but with a very educational twist! You may have used a paper fortune teller in the past to tell the fortunes of your friends or even as a way of tricking them into doing silly things! The purpose of my fortune-teller is not to tell fortunes but to help you write stories. This ‘paper story idea generator’ is the perfect tool to use if you are ever stuck on ideas or inspiration for your stories!

Also, this is the perfect time to apologise for the dark pictures in today’s post – It was miserable, rainy day outside when I made my paper story idea generator. Now let’s begin with the tutorial:

What you will need:

  • A4 piece of paper
  • Scissors
  • Pencil/Pen/writing material

1. First get a piece of A4 paper and fold a triangle into it – Cut the remaining rectangle off using scissors, so it becomes a square.

Paper Story Idea Generator - step 1

2. Next, fold the square as shown in image – So there are two folded diagonal lines on the paper.

Paper Story Idea Generator - step 2

3. Then start folding smaller triangles inwards to create a smaller square, as shown:

Paper Story Idea Generator - step 3 -1

4. Then turn the paper over and fold some further smaller triangles inwards – to create an even smaller square:Paper Story Idea Generator - step 4

5. One final time turn the page over again and make further triangles – making an even smaller square.

Paper Story Idea Generator - step 5

6. Open up the bottom of the paper fortune teller by pushing out the flaps as shown in the image. This is where you will put your fingers.

Paper Story Idea Generator - step 6

7. Now your story idea generator (a.k.a paper fortune teller) is almost done! The final steps is to add the content or the text.Paper Story Idea Generator - step 7

8. On the side that you put your hand in write the setting of your story. In my example the settings include, desert, woods, city and seaside.

Paper Story Idea Generator for kids -settings - Imagine Forest

9. On the opposite side write down different types of characters, such as Zombie, Witch, little boy, wizard etc.Paper Story Idea Generator for kids -characters - Imagine Forest

10. On this same side open up to the triangles and write down a couple of simple storyline plots (see image). For example “who can’t dance” or “who is afraid of public speaking” etc. Now you’re ready to play the game.

Paper Story Idea Generator for kids - interests - Imagine Forest

If you enjoyed creating this, then you might be interested in our DIY story cube tutorial!

How to play the story idea generator game:

1. First, you choose the setting for your story and count the letters in that location name. For example, if I choose “city”, that means I count 4 times because there are 4 letters in the word ‘city’.

2. I then get the choice of 4 characters, which based on my previous example are “little girl”, “zombie”, “little boy” and “witch” (these may be different for you). These four characters should feature in my story.

3. Next, I select the main character of my story. From my example, I chose “zombie”. Now unravel the folds to reveal the main plot of my story, which in this case is a ‘zombie who can’t dance’.

4. Finally, I can begin writing my story based on the idea of a zombie who can’t dance and features a little girl, little boy and witch.

Online Story Idea Generator

We have a great free online story idea generator for those who don’t have the time to create a paper one. Our online generator has over 1,000 wacky story idea combinations to get your brain working:

online story cube generator

Just create a free account with us and you can start using our idea generator straight away to inspire you!

Hope this tool is as fun and as useful for you, as it was for me! What crazy stories were you able to generate using the paper story idea generator? Tell me what you think in the comments below… Happy story-telling and see you next time!

Paper Story Idea Generator for kids - Imagine Forest

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