What are some things that always feel nice to you? Listening to music? Talking to a friend? Watching funny videos? Dancing?…
Come up with 6 ideas and you’re ready to make some Nice Dice!
Why? Because when you’re feeling worried, stressed or down, it’s easy to forget all the things that can help you feel OK again.
To make your Nice Dice, you will need:
1. A journal or piece of paper
2. Something to write with
3. Something to make your dice out of, like small blocks of wood or some self-hardening clay (if you want to keep your Nice Dice inside your OK Kit, be sure your blocks are small enough)
4. Materials for adding words or pictures to your dice, like markers, paints, paint pens, paper or stickers
Okay, let’s do this!
The first step to making Nice Dice is coming up with a list of things you like to do — things that feel nice to you when you’re worried, stressed or feeling low.
Write down as many ideas as you can think of. Try to think of things you could do anywhere. Like maybe you can’t walk in the sand every day because you don’t live by the beach, but you can definitely go for a walk every day.
Here are some questions to help you with your thinking:
1. What activites do you enjoy doing?
2. What things make you smile or laugh?
3. What do you like to listen to or watch?
4. What are some things that feel good to your body?Stretching? Dancing? Playing a game? Going for a run?
When you’re done with your list, look it over and circle your favorite 6 ideas. Or, if you want to make two dice, you can circle 12!
Two dice can be extra nice because:
You can make one with things that feel nice at home (play a video game, for example) and the other with things you like to do at school.
OR you can roll your two dice together to come up with double the niceness!… like listening to your favorite song while talking to a friend…or dancing while reading (Okay, some combinations will be a bit challenging!)
Next, decide how you want to represent your ideas on your dice. Here are a few ideas:
1. You can draw symbols that relate to each thing on your list, like earbuds to represent music, or feet to represent going for a walk.
2. You can make up your own symbols or colors that have nothing to do with the ideas on your list.
3. You can write words on your dice. (If you wrote down a lot of words for each idea, try shortening them into a single word like in the third picture on the right)
4. You can think up your own ideas for your Nice Dice and share a photo in our gallery to inspire others! : )
If you decided to come up with your own symbols or colors, you can now create a key. A key is a list of symbols or colors and what they represent, like in the photos on the right.
We like to use a small piece of paper that can fit inside an OK Kit, but you can come up with any size or shape you want.
You are now officially ready to create your dice!
You can use paint, paint pens, markers, stickers or paper squares (see photo 3) to add your symbols, colors or words to each side.
That’s it!
Oh wait, not quite…
It is now time to test your Nice Dice. If you’re doing this project in a group, it can be fun to take turns rolling and trying each other’s ideas. That’s a good way to discover new ways of feeling nice.
Here are some other ways to use Nice Dice:
1. You can make two Nice Dice with 6 different ideas on each for a total of 12. Then try rolling them together for new combinations, like singing while going for a walk… or stretching while listening to music…
2. If you’re in a group that’s meeting regularly, you can try starting or ending your sessions with Nice Dice.
3. Try using your Nice Dice every day! Why wait for a gloomy day to feel nice?
4. Try your Nice Dice out on family and friends, and teach them how to make their own
And one more thing…
We would LOVE to see your Nice Dice! Just click the button below to add it to our gallery.
