A group of dice on a table.

Roll the Dice Storytelling Activity

Primary - Grade 3

Tanner Big Canoe

Tanner Big Canoe

About the author

Tanner helps out in the Makerspace here in Lindsay as a Digital Skills Teaching Assistant! He is a High School student attending his final year at I.E Weldon Secondary School, and plans on taking Computer Science at University in the fall of 2020. His interests lie in helping students learn technology and exploring new concepts of STEAM. We are proud to have Tanner on our Makerspace team. Tanner is also trying to reconnect with his culture by working for a company that relays great education into northern communities and the Kawarthas.

Digital Storytelling
Maker Activity

Overview

This activity should make it easier for kids to come up with ideas for their stories. Using a system of five dice each of them will cover a section of storytelling, by having six different prompts in each category. Once you have made the dice all you have to do is roll each of them and then write a story using whatever was rolled on each die.

Background Information

Coming up with ideas for what you are writing about can be very difficult, as there are so many different plots to choose from. With endless possibilities it can become a little overwhelming when narrowing it down to the specifics. This activity will just get the imagination moving, by giving you prompts in each category and then seeing what you can make with them. Even if you roll the dice on the exact same things if you were to do this activity again you can always find ways and really push your imagination seeing how you can transform a few little ideas into a full story!

Materials

  • Dice Template (Download PDF)
  • Paper
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Colouring Crayons

Step By Step Instructions

  1. First begin by printing out five of the templates for the dice activity, or if you do not have a printer simply draw out the template on a piece of paper, as it does not have to be exact! Another way to make this work is to simply use the list below, choose six for each category, label them each with a number from one to six then roll the dice and use the corresponding outcome with the number on your list. 
  2. Once you have five templates, cut them out going around the edges. This should leave with five upside down “t” looking shapes with the tabs on the sides. (Please ask a parent to either help or watch while completing this step.)
  3. Now begin to draw on each of them from one of the ideas from below or your own. Based on the lesson before each dice will have one of each of the sections. These include characters, setting, plot, conflict, and resolution. Also see the list of ideas for each section at the bottom of the page!
  4. The next step is to flip your piece of paper so that your drawings are face down. Then fold at each of the solid lines so that your boxes begin to form a cube.
  5. Apply the glue onto the flap and then onto the flaps and attach them to each of the squares. This step can be tricky so if you are struggling with it I will leave a link at the bottom which showcases a video on completing this all step by step!

Ideas for your Dice

Setting

  • Pirate Ship
  • The Ocean
  • Castle
  • A House
  • An Enchanted Forest
  • The Backyard
  • The Jungle
  • A Mountain
  • The Safari
  • A Cave
  • Grocery Store
  • A Witches Hut
  • A Park
  • At School
  • A Haunted House

Characters

  • Abbey the Ant
  • Adam the Aardvark
  • Brady the Baboon
  • Brittney the Buffalo
  • Charlie the Chicken
  • Caren the Chameleon
  • Dan the Dinosaur
  • Diana the Dog
  • Evan the Elephant
  • Erin the Eagle
  • Fred the Flamingo
  • Fran the Fox
  • Gary the Gecko
  • Gabby the Goat
  • Harry the Hippo
  • Hannah the Honey Bee
  • Etc.. get creative with the names!

Plot

  • Space
  • Nature 
  • Friends
  • Miracle
  • Facing their Fears
  • Technology
  • How a Scar was Obtained
  • Food
  • Travelling
  • Getting Lost
  • Finding Treasure

Conflict

  • Person vs Person
  • Person vs Self
  • Person vs Nature
  • Person vs Society
  • Person vs Monster
  • Person vs Technology

Resolution

  • Stopped the bad guy
  • Helped someone
  • Worked together in the end
  • Forgiveness
  • Acceptance
  • Learned a Valuable Lesson
  • Moved somewhere new
  • Faced the fear

Useful Resources

Step by Step Video, done by ImagineForest

You might also like

A blank piece of paper with writing utensils beside it.
Maker Activity

Flip and Match Activity Design

Grade audience: Grade 1 – Grade 3

Flip and match games are a great way to introduce vocabulary to a student or explore a new topic of study. The beauty of a game like Memory is that it is very simple to play and even simpler to make.

Topics Art & Design
A notebook laying open on a table.
Maker Activity

Story Storm Activity

Grade audience: Primary – Grade 6

This activity is the basis for storytelling, just a very simple way to get into the art of creating stories!

Topics Digital Storytelling