Tonight I found an amazing resource that I think every parent and educator could use in a variety of ways. Bonus... It was a free resource when I signed up to their page.
Steps to creating the cube:
1. Head to Big Life Journal Website: https://biglifejournal.com/ and sign up to their page. The pop up should appear when you go to their website for you to put in your details.
2. Download the cube from the email sent to your inbox.
3. Print page 2 and 3 off to create two different cubes. (best to print in colour)
4. optional: I glued cardboard on to the back of the pages to make sure they are extra sturdy.
5. Cut out the template and fold on the lines instructed.
6. Glue or tape the edges down as instructed on template. I found taping worked better than glue.
Why we are using the cubes
My daughter is a very reluctant writer. Something that I continue to find a challenge is to get her engaged in her writing. So we are always finding new ways to do writing.
When I found this cube I thought it fitted perfectly into wanting to improve her writing but also to help with her mindset.
Usually at night time we struggle with the whole "this happened today and I have been thinking about it and cant sleep" Sound familiar?
I thought she could use the cube to reflect on the day.
How we are using the cubes
I am getting OJ to roll the cube and find a prompt for the day. We talked about the point and things she could talk about regarding it. Why "don't do silly things" isn't a good answer for what did learn today? and what she could write instead.
When we came up with some ideas she then wrote down the question and her response. A big motivator for her was that I said "it can be 1 sentence, or 2. However long you want to write."
You can see from her responses they are very short and to the point. As we use the cube more I am hoping to lengthen her responses.
I also included the deal that she can "personalise" and "decorate" her book and write anything in it. She liked the idea of writing about a dream she has, or something that happened throughout the day.
One big thing was that I had to explain why we were doing it. What was the point? The point I told her was to reflect on the day, but also get in the habit of writing every day, even if its a small amount of writing.
How you could use the cube in varied ways
It is noted in the instructions you can add LED lights into the cube before taping it all up to create a "night light" type of cube.
For younger kids, you could just talk about the point. Talk about in length different points you could answer the question with.
The child could video themselves answering the question each day. Almost similar to a video journal.
For teachers: have class roll the cube and discuss before leaving for the day. Or writing in their journal book each day.
Have the family roll the dice and answer their point. This is a good way to help kids communicate with the family any issues they have had during the day. It opens up their communication line to others in the family. (I plan to do this one too) It also allows them to hear other people answering the questions and models how to think and reflect on the day.
Have more ideas? I would love to hear how you would use the nighttime cube in your life. Comment below or take a picture and tag me @missmumof2 on Instagram or Mumof2 on facebook.
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