This simple, folded origami ‘chatterbox’ was designed by the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre to engage with people of all ages and from all walks of life. The chatterbox provides basic information on how to reduce dementia risk, while encouraging people to find out more by enrolling in the free and fully online Preventing Dementia MOOC.
We encourage you to download, print and distribute this free template to your organisation, clinic, community or neighbourhood centre to spread the message about brain health in an engaging and interactive way.
Download Chatterbox Now (
86.0 KB)*Print to 100% or Actual Size for best results when distributing within your clinic or organisation.
What is a chatterbox?
A chatterbox is a centuries-old, delicately constructed origami performed usually by kids. It can be filled with secrets, mysteries, facts and fates that are hidden with every fold in the construction of the origami.
The chatterbox goes by many names – cootie catcher, fortune teller, whirlybird and salt cellar just to name a few! It is a pastime that has endured through generations, often played out in schoolyards and classrooms across the world.
Origins of the chatterbox
It is believed that the chatterbox first appeared in Europe as early as the 17th Century before starting to appear in the Western World by the 1950’s. Most sources believe that the chatterbox was brought back by British soldiers after World War I and propagated from there.
Today the chatterbox is used and played all over the world with each place having its own name for the folded origami.
Source: Caitlin Schnieder (2015), A Brief History of Cootie Catchers (Mental Floss).
