Whether you’re an aspiring author or just looking for a fun activity with the kids, storytelling dice can provide countless hours of fun. This guide will show you how to make your own—three different ways!
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I’ve always been a storyteller. Before I learned to write, I dictated stories to my mother who wrote them down for me so I could illustrate them. (I’m not saying they were good stories of course. Toddlers don’t generally have a good grasp on story structure.)
When I learned to write, that opened up a whole new world for me. I wrote my first novel-length piece of fiction when I was sixteen, after dabbling in short fiction for many years. In the years since I’ve written nearly a dozen novel manuscripts. (But no, I haven’t published any of them. Editing is the bane of my existence.)
But no matter how much a person loves to write, sooner or later they’ll encounter the crippling menace that is writer’s block.
Storytelling dice can help you start getting words on the page again when you get stuck. Or help you get those first few words down when you just don’t know where to start.
What are storytelling dice?
Storytelling dice are, well, dice. But instead of numbers on each side, they have symbols or icons that serve as idea prompts.
Who are storytelling dice for?
Storytelling dice are for everyone! These dice are awesome for kickstarting a stalled project. But they can also be used to trigger new ideas, make connections, and insert a bit of silliness when you’re taking yourself too seriously.
Even if you’re not trying to write a piece of fiction, storytelling dice provide a great opportunity for creativity. They’re awesome for group settings and collaborative storytelling. And kids love them too!
How do you use storytelling dice?
When you’re stuck on a story, need ideas, or are just looking to add a bit of unpredictability to the narrative you’re writing, roll the dice and work those prompts into your story.
What if you don’t want to use the prompt you get?
It’s up to you! You can roll again, or you can find a way to modify or utilize the prompt in a way that makes sense to you.
There are no rules except the rules that you set for yourself. Storytelling dice are meant to inspire you, not limit you. How storytelling dice are used really will vary from person to person.
How to Make Storytelling Dice
I’m making these storytelling dice in three different ways to show you some of the options that you have.
- Ink-transferred storytelling dice
- Craft cube storytelling dice with clear labels
- Paper storytelling dice
If you want to skip ahead to the tutorial, you can click on any of the tutorials listed above (ink-transferred storytelling dice, etc.) to be taken directly there. But if this is your first time here, I’d recommend reading the rest of the post first as it includes some important pre-making steps to complete.
Before You Make Your Physical Storytelling Dice
Regardless of the method you use, there’s some planning you need to do before you make your physical dice.
Decide how you’ll use them.
You’ll have a much easier time deciding what prompts to include on your dice if you know who they’re for and how they’ll be used. If the dice will be used primarily by kids, for example, you’ll want to keep the content age-appropriate. (In contrast, if you’re using the dice to help you write erotic short stories, your prompts might be a little more… spicy.)
There are so many ways you can use your storytelling dice. You may want to use them for impromptu storytelling (a fun and nerdy party game or work icebreaker) or to help you with your fiction writing. Knowing this will help you shape your prompts. Will they be serious, or silly? Cliché, or genre-bending? (A time-traveling robot in a romance novel, anyone?)
Pick a theme for your storytelling dice.
On top of knowing how you’ll use your dice, you’ll also want to settle on a theme or genre. Themes can be general, like fantasy or romance—or more specific, like epic fantasy or mafia romance. Or you can make dice to help with split genres like romantasy (unsurprisingly, this is romantic fantasy). Other themes, or genres, include adventure, travel, mystery, horror, etc.
If you’re making dice for young children, you might want to think less about genres and more along the lines of “under the sea”, “around town”, “at the zoo”, “fairy tales”, etc.
For the examples that follow, I’m going to be making some fantasy-themed storytelling dice.
Choose how many dice you want.
For the examples below, I’ll be making 6 dice. Keep in mind that because each die has 6 sides, 6 dice will require 36 prompts and symbols. Much more than 6 might be overwhelming for children, but if you’re looking to create a tool to spark stories or beat writer’s block, you might want 9 or even 12 dice. It’s completely up to you!
You can also start with 4 or 6 and add to your dice collection later.
Decide on your prompts and their symbols.
First, we need to decide what we want our dice prompts to be. I’ve decided that I’m going to use 6 dice, and I’m going to break them up as follows: people, places, creatures, magic, events, and nature.
Having given each of my six dice a category, it’s time to figure out what each side of each die will represent. This is what I decided to go with:
- People: a shapeshifter, a fortune teller, a runaway royal, an assassin, a bard, a merchant
- Places: a tavern, a ruined castle, a secret hideaway, an underground city, a circus, a library
- Creatures: a god or goddess, a dragon, a unicorn, a phoenix, a dog, a cat
- Magic: a spell, a prophecy, a curse, an artifact, poison, a magical weapon
- Events: a quest, a mistake, a sacrifice, a journey, a storm, a party
- Nature: a lagoon, a mountain, an ocean, a forest, caves, a cliff
Next, it’s time to create or find a symbol to represent each of these things. I would recommend you make these symbols fairly self-explanatory.
Once you have your symbols, you’re ready to make your story dice! Let’s go!
Ink-Transferred Storytelling Dice
These dice are great because essentially you’re “printing” onto the wood cubes – what you’re doing is transferring printed ink from paper to wood.
Fun fact – you can do this with all sorts of projects! If you want to transfer any type of image, photo, etc., to wood, this is a great method to do so. I’ll write another blog post about it later.
To make these dice you’ll need the following:
- Wooden Cubes: I’m using small wooden cubes (1” x 1”) from a dollar store local to me called Dollarama. You can also find similar cubes at Michaels and on Amazon. If you can’t find the 1” cubes, you can use the smaller ones that Dollar Tree carries!
- Printer (Laser): Use a laser printer to print your images. If you don’t have one, take the file to your local print shop, like Staples, and get them to print them out for you.
- Lightweight Paper: Go with the lightest printer paper you have. Printer paper from the dollar store is a good bet because it’s cheaper—and thinner—paper. Something like this lightweight paper would be perfect.
- Mod Podge: Mod Podge has a million uses. If you don’t already have some, why not? You can get it at any craft and hobby store, and even at Walmart and sometimes Dollar Tree. You can use any Mod Podge you want. Some people swear by waterproof, but it doesn’t matter. You might also want to use it as a sealant after your dice are done.
- Other supplies: A paintbrush to apply the Mod Podge, some sort of card (credit card, gift card, etc.) to smooth out the paper and make sure there are no bubbles, water, and a small sponge or cloth.
Directions
Step 1
Gather your materials. When you print your images, print them on thin computer paper.
Important note: Your images will be reversed when they are applied to the cube. In this instance, all of my images are fine reversed because I’m not using text. If, however, you are using images that have to face a certain way, make sure you invert them before printing.
Step 2
Cut out all your images. Cut close to the images themselves, leaving as little white space as you can.
Step 3
Apply a thin, even layer of the Mod Podge to one side of your cube. Lay an image over top of it and press down. I pressed the paper and cube against the glass board I was working on. Then use the credit card/gift card/whatever you picked to further press the paper down and make sure there are no air bubbles under the paper.
Step 4
Do this with all the sides of your dice. Leave them to dry anywhere from 8-72 hours. The dryer the better. I did them in the evening, left them overnight, and then resumed work on the next morning. Mine sat for about 12 hours.
Step 5
When you’ve waited for them to dry (again, at least 8 hours), get a sponge or cloth damp and use it to dampen the paper. You’ll know it’s damp enough when the paper becomes a little translucent. Work one side at a time. Gently rub away the damp paper with your fingers. If the paper dries before you’ve finished a side, just dampen it again and resume.
Step 6
You may have to re-dampen the paper as you work, but each side is a fairly small space so it shouldn’t take you too long. Make sure you’re doing this very gently or you may wipe some of the ink away.
If you do (like I did), take a fine-tipped Sharpie or other permanent marker and draw in the missing lines.
You may want to do this more than once. I did all my cubes, let them fully dry, and then took the damp sponge to them again. After they dry, whatever paper is left will be cloudy. This will help you identify what’s left so you can focus on those areas.
Step 7
This is optional but once all your paper is cleared away and your cubes are dry, you might want to coat them with another layer of Mod Podge to protect the images. You can also paint on some UV resin, which is what I did.
If you’re using UV resin, you want to make sure you’re only painting on a very, very thin layer. You want it to protect the ink without interfering with the cube’s ability to roll.
Step 9
And there you go! You’re done!
Craft Cube Storytelling Dice with Clear Labels
These dice are going to look very similar to the project above. However, this method is great if you don’t have Mod Podge, don’t want to use Mod Podge, or want to try something that can be peeled off the cubes if you want to change them out. (Provided you don’t seal them at the end.)
To make these dice you’ll need the following:
- Wooden Craft Cubes: You can get these at most craft stores and even a lot of dollar stores. I’m using craft cubes that are 1” x 1”. You can find similar cubes on Amazon, here.
- Clear Printable Labels: You’ll want a full-page clear label sheet for this. I’d recommend this one for inkjet printers, and something like this for laser printers. In my experience, this is going to work better with a laser printer than it is with an inkjet printer because of how much handling of the dice you’ll do. If you want to use an inkjet printer with inkjet clear labels, consider laminating them or maybe sealing them with UV resin when you’re done.
- Symbols: If you want to design your own symbols, great! If you want to use the same symbols I use in the tutorial, you can download a PDF with them here.
Alternative Materials: If you don’t want to use clear labels or wooden craft cubes, you can get a package of white dice at the dollar store and use white label paper or print your symbols onto white printer paper and glue them onto your dice!
Directions
Step 1
Gather your materials and prepare your symbols! If you’re making a set of fantasy dice like me and want to use the symbols that I’m using in this example, you can download a pre-formatted PDF for free here. This is for 1” x 1” wooden cubes. If you’re making your own, you can draw them or find symbols online!
Print them out on your (clear) label paper. Make sure the symbols are printed out small enough that they’ll fit on your dice. The dice I’m using are 1” across, so my images need to be a bit smaller than that.
Step 2
Cut out your symbols. If you have a small paper punch you can use that, but you can also freehand it with scissors, use a guillotine cutter, or a paper cutter like this. Make sure when you cut out the shape, the piece of label paper is roughly the same size as the side of the die. You can make it a bit smaller, but you don’t want it larger.
If you’ve decided to do what I’ve done and have each die represent something different (people, places, creatures, etc.), make sure you keep the symbols in order as you cut them so you don’t have to sort them later.
Step 3
Stick your symbols onto the dice!
Step 4
You’re done! Time to make use of those dice and get to storytelling!
Paper Storytelling Dice
To make these dice you’ll need the following:
- The Template: I have three options for you! You can download a free PDF with a blank die template here. This template includes no symbols and is not editable. You would print as many copies as you want dice, and draw your symbols on. Or, you can download a free PDF with the symbols that I used here. This template is 6 pages, includes the symbols I use in the tutorial, and is not editable. OR, if you have a Canva account, you can get a copy of my template here where you can upload your symbols and make as many as you need.
- Paper: I’d recommend a heavyweight cardstock for this. You want something that will hold up well to being tossed around, which standard printer paper isn’t always the best at.
- Drawing Supplies: If you’re printing out the plain PDF and drawing your designs on.
- Scissors: To cut out the printed pattern.
- Glue or Tape: For keeping your dice together.
Directions
Step 1
Prepare your symbols!
If you’re making a set of fantasy dice like me and want to use the symbols that I’m using in this example, you can download my printable fantasy storytelling dice PDF for free!
If you intend to draw your symbols onto your paper dice, you can download my free printable storytelling dice PDF. This is a non-editable PDF.
If you want to add your symbols to your dice before you print them, you can get my free storytelling dice Canva template here. I have frames where you’ll want the images—just upload your symbols, and drop them into the frames on each side of the dice!
Step 2
Make sure you’re printing your dice, whichever method you use (my symbols, drawing your symbols, or uploading your symbols) on cardstock. You’ll want it fairly heavy, to make the dice durable.
If you’re drawing your symbols, print the blank PDF as many times as you want dice. Draw your symbols on.
If you’re using my fantasy symbols, print the PDF file you’ve downloaded. There are six pages. And if you’ve made your own in Canva, download it as a PDF and then print it.
Step 3
Now you’ll want to cut out your dice. Do this very carefully so everything fits together properly.
Step 4
Fold your dice on the lines. Make sure you make crisp folds. You can use something to help with this—if you have a folding tool, great, but if not you can use anything hard and flat. A credit card works great for this.
Step 5
Use glue, double-sided tape, or regular tape (what I used in this example) to the tabs to assemble the dice.
Step 6
And you’re done! Look how great those look! Time to get storytelling!
Other Ways to Make Storytelling Dice
These are just three options—but there are so many more! If you have a wood-burning tool, why not burn your symbols onto little wooden blocks? Or if you have a Glow Forge or something similar, why not use that to engrave the wooden cubes? You can also paint them onto blocks, or use Sharpies. Or get blank dice online, print your designs on clear sticker paper, and just stick them onto your dice like that. Easy!
Not loving the wooden blocks? Make some cubes out of air dry or polymer clay and then draw or paint your symbols onto those.
How do I store my storytelling dice?
Depending on the size of your dice, you can store them in an empty Altoid tin. (Don’t eat Altoids? Just get the empty tins on Amazon here.) You can also store them in a small box, or make a little drawstring bag. Check out this free tutorial and pattern for a drawstring bag over at Mindy Makes!
Where can I buy storytelling dice?
If this seems like too much time/work and you simply want to get into the art of storytelling, you can buy ready-made storytelling dice online! Here are some of my favorites:
- Rory’s Story Cubes
- Wisdom Fun Story Dice
- Writing Dice
- Happy Story Dice
- Coghlan’s Fireside Story Dice
Will you make these storytelling dice?
If you do, I want to see them! Use hashtags #theserialcreative #storydiceDIY
For more fun craft ideas, check out my archive of free patterns and tutorials!
