Help children become excited about pitching in, trying out new things, and cooperating with these easy to make & reuse dice. It’s as simple as I, 2, 3. Here is an example of using them for getting chores done around the house:
Materials:
? Large foam die or cube
? Paper & markers (or a photograph of each family member)
? Velcro
1 – Draw or put a picture of each family member on paper that is slightly smaller than one face of the foam die you are using. If you only have 3 people/children in your family, each person can have two sides of the die. You may want to have a roll again symbol (picture of a pet, favorite stuffed animal, TV character) if you don’t need to use all six sides. To make this game last forever, laminate it with thick laminate (10ml works very well). Adhere each picture to one side of the die with Velcro. This allows you to change the pictures as you desire.
2- Write down the different chores that need to be completed as a list numbered one through six. As a person’s name is rolled for a given chore, remove the name from the die and write it next to the chore. If a side without a name is rolled, that simply means roll again.
3 – When the given person’s chore is complete he/she can return his/her card to the die.
Other possible uses for these dice are endless; here are some we have tried in my household:
? I put pictures of my daughter with different hairstyles on each of the six sides. Each morning we would roll to see what would be the style of the day. This helped her to be much more flexible and excited about getting her hair brushed and styled.
? Who gets to pick what my oldest daughter will wear? We ensure that when the die lands on our daughter, we let her truly do the picking so it is fair. We are able to choose when our picture is rolled. As long as the clothing is appropriate, I go with whatever she picks. Even if we get a couple double takes as we walk into school, it is ok;J she is so proud of what she has picked out!
? Who gets to choose what we have for dinner…
My goal in creating this was to increase flexibility, but it has also helped to encourage cooperation, responsibility and promote fairness.
Amanda