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A painted candy kingdom: lollipop trees, a sugar castle and a path of golden candy.

FREE STORY DICE · KS1 AND KS2

Story dice online: roll a story (free and printable)

Roll nine picture-and-word dice (a who, a where, a problem and more), then tell a story that uses every one. Tap any dice to re-roll just that one, switch to five dice for KS1, and print the dice nets on A4 to cut out, fold and roll at the table. Story dice are sometimes called story cubes.

Roll the story dice

Tap any dice to re-roll just that one.

Plan it: story mountain

  1. Opening (🐉 Dragon · 🌲 Forest · 🌙 Night) Who is the story about, where are they and when is it?
  2. Build-up (🦉 Owl · 🔑 Key) Who joins them, and what do they find?
  3. Problem (🔒 Locked · 😟 Worried) What goes wrong, and how does it make the main character feel?
  4. Resolution (🧗 Climb · 🚪 A hidden door) What do they do, and what surprise helps them sort it out?
  5. Ending How does it end, and how has the main character changed?

Write it up on the story mountain template

Make this into a Litsee story

In Litsee your child picks the hero and the world, then chooses what happens next in an illustrated story read aloud. 7-day free trial; a card is needed to start.

Start a story

Prints the KS2 set: every face of every dice, not only this roll. Nets come four to an A4 page with a blank one to draw on; picture cards fit on one page, for story stones or a bag of cards.

Every face on every dice

Nine dice, six faces each. The first five (who, where, what they find, what goes wrong and how they feel) are the KS1 set.

  • Who?

    • Dragon
    • Robot
    • Fox
    • Fairy
    • Penguin
    • Dinosaur

  • Where?

    • Castle
    • Forest
    • Beach
    • Space
    • Mountain
    • City

  • What do they find?

    • Key
    • Map
    • Egg
    • Letter
    • Torch
    • Balloon

  • What goes wrong?

    • Lost
    • Storm
    • Locked
    • Missing
    • Broken
    • Mix-up

  • How do they feel?

    • Excited
    • Worried
    • Surprised
    • Grumpy
    • Shy
    • Proud

  • Who helps?

    • Owl
    • Puppy
    • Cat
    • Alien
    • Mouse
    • Grandad

  • When?

    • Night
    • Morning
    • Snowy day
    • Rainy day
    • Birthday
    • Long ago

  • What do they do?

    • Run
    • Climb
    • Swim
    • Build
    • Sing
    • Dig

  • What’s the surprise?

    • A wish
    • A secret
    • Magic
    • A hidden door
    • Footprints
    • A rainbow

Worked example: one roll, two stories

The roll shown above when the page first loads, told twice by Litsee for this page: once with the five KS1 dice, the way a Year 1 or Year 2 child might tell it, and once with all nine at a KS2 level. They are examples, not real children’s stories. Every picture is used, but not in the order the dice sit.

KS1, five dice: Dragon, Forest, Key, Locked, Worried

A little dragon was flying over the forest when she saw something shiny. It was a key! She found a tiny door in a tree, but it was locked. The dragon felt worried because the key did not fit. Then she turned it the other way, and the door opened. Inside was a cosy room just for her.

KS2, nine dice: Dragon, Forest, Night, Owl, Key, Locked, Worried, Climb, A hidden door

One night, a young dragon called Ember found a silver key lying in the moss at the edge of the forest. She turned it over in her claws, worried: someone must be looking for it. An owl swooped down to a branch above her. “That key belongs to the old tower,” it hooted, “but the tower has been locked for a hundred years.” Together they climbed the twisting tree roots up to the tower, where the key would not turn. Then the owl tapped the ivy with one wing, and behind the leaves was a hidden door, exactly the right size for a dragon.

Story dice games for KS1 and KS2

  • Use every dice

    1 or more players

    Roll all the dice and tell one story that uses every picture, in any order. A picture can be used any way you like: the torch might be what a character finds, or what runs out of batteries.

    KS1:
    Start with three dice, then build up to five. A grown-up can write the story down as the child tells it.
    KS2:
    Use all nine in under two minutes, or use the pictures in the order they sit on the screen.

  • Pass the dice

    3 to 8 players in a circle

    The first player rolls and starts the story with one picture. Each player then takes the next picture along and adds the next part. Whoever has the last picture must end the story.

    KS1:
    One sentence each, starting with then, next or suddenly. Use the five-dice set.
    KS2:
    Thirty seconds each, keeping the same character, place and problem as the players before.

  • Change one dice

    1 or more players

    Tell a story from a roll, then tap one dice to re-roll it and tell the story again. What had to change, and what could stay the same?

    KS1:
    Change the who or the where. Does a penguin on a beach have the same adventure as a dragon in a castle?
    KS2:
    Change the problem or the feeling and see how much of the plot moves: a good way into editing.

  • Roll, plan, write

    1 player, or a class writing on its own

    Roll, tell the story to a partner, then copy the pictures onto a plan using the stages under the dice. Write a sentence or two for each stage before writing the story in full.

    KS1:
    Plan a beginning, middle and end with the five-dice set.
    KS2:
    Plan a five-part story mountain with all nine, adding a line of speech for the helper and a sentence that shows the main character’s feeling.

  • Story stones bag

    2 or more players

    Print the picture cards, cut them out and stick them on flat pebbles or card. Put them in a bag and take turns to pull one out without looking and use it in the story.

    KS1:
    Pull out one picture at a time and tell the next part together.
    KS2:
    Each player secretly pulls out three pictures and must fit them in without the others guessing which ones.

In the National Curriculum

  • “saying out loud what they are going to write about”

    Year 1, Writing – composition (statutory)

  • “planning or saying out loud what they are going to write about”

    Year 2, Writing – composition (statutory)

  • “composing and rehearsing sentences orally (including dialogue), progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures (English Appendix 2)”

    Years 3 and 4, Writing – composition (statutory)

  • “in narratives, creating settings, characters and plot”

    Years 3 and 4, Writing – composition (statutory)

  • “use spoken language to develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising, imagining and exploring ideas”

    Years 1 to 6, Spoken language (statutory)

How to use story dice at home or in class

Story dice are dice with pictures on instead of dots. You roll them, look at what comes up and tell a story that uses the pictures. Some families and schools call them story cubes, and when the pictures are painted or stuck on pebbles they are often called story stones. The idea is the same each time: the dice give a child the pieces, and the child decides how the pieces fit together. That makes the child the author, not someone filling in a worksheet.

Each of the nine dice on this page answers one question a story needs: who, where, when, who helps, what they find, what goes wrong, how they feel, what they do and what the surprise is. The pictures are deliberately ordinary, such as a fox, a torch or a rainy day, so that a child can picture them straight away and nothing is frightening for younger children.

Talk first, write later. A story told out loud is quick to change, and a child who has told a story once already knows how it starts, what goes wrong and how it ends before they pick up a pencil. In Years 1 and 2 the National Curriculum asks children to say out loud what they are going to write about, and story dice are one of the easiest ways to give them something to say.

Pick the set that suits the child, not the year group. The KS1 set has five dice (who, where, what they find, what goes wrong and how they feel) and fits a beginning, a middle and an end. The KS2 set adds who helps, when, an action and a surprise, which is enough for a five-part story mountain. A confident Year 2 child may enjoy all nine; a Year 4 child who finds writing hard may do better with five.

There is no wrong roll. If a picture really will not fit, tap that dice to re-roll it, but try a house rule of two re-rolls each, because the strange combinations, such as a penguin at a birthday party in space, often make the funniest stories. Ask questions rather than giving answers: why is the fox grumpy, and who left the letter?

Go first yourself. Roll, then tell a short story while thinking aloud: “I have a key and a locked door, so I think the key is going to matter at the end.” Children copy what they hear, so a grown-up who uses joining words such as then, after that and suddenly, and who gives the character a feeling, sets the pattern for everyone.

When a story is worth keeping, turn it into writing. The plan under the dice shows which pictures belong to each part of a story mountain, or to a beginning, middle and end for KS1. Copy them onto the story mountain template, write a sentence or two for each part, and the roll becomes a plan.

On a whiteboard, the whole class can see the dice at once. Roll, give everyone a minute to think, then take three different stories from three children and talk about how the same pictures led somewhere new each time. Nothing on this page is saved or sent anywhere, and the rolls are not recorded, so it is safe to use with a class.

To make dice for the table, press “Print the dice nets”. Each A4 page holds four nets, with a blank one at the end for a child to draw their own. Thin card works best if your printer takes it. Cut round each net, fold along the lines and tape the edges. For story stones or picture cards instead, press “Print picture cards”, cut out the pictures, and stick them on flat pebbles or card to pull from a bag.

Sources

The quotations in “In the National Curriculum” are copied word for word from this document, with the year and section each applies to. The dice, games, example stories and advice are Litsee’s guidance.

How this page was made

The dice, games, example stories and guidance were drafted with AI help and checked by Litsee against the National Curriculum statements quoted above. The pictures are standard emoji drawn by your own device, so they can look a little different from one phone or computer to the next. No teacher has reviewed this page yet, so we do not show a reviewer. Spotted something to improve? Email info@litsee.com.

The dice roll in your browser from the faces built into this page. Nothing is typed, saved, stored or sent, and no rolls are recorded.

Last reviewed: .

Questions parents and teachers ask

What are story dice?

Dice with a picture and a word on each face instead of dots. Children roll them and tell a story that uses what comes up. The nine dice on this page each answer one story question, such as who, where or what goes wrong, so every roll has the pieces of a whole story.

Are story dice the same as story cubes?

People use both names for picture dice used to tell stories. “Story cubes” is also part of the name of a commercial dice game; this page is Litsee’s own free set, with its own pictures, and is not connected with that game.

How do you play story dice with a group or class?

Roll all the dice and tell a story that uses every picture, or sit in a circle and take turns: each player uses one dice to add the next part of the story, and the last player has to end it. The games on this page have a KS1 and a KS2 version of each.

Can I print the story dice?

Yes. “Print the dice nets” prints each dice as a net to cut out, fold and tape into a cube, four to an A4 page, plus a blank net to design your own. “Print picture cards” prints the faces on their own, for story stones or a bag of cards.

Do the story dice use AI or save anything?

No. Every face was written in advance and is built into the page, and the dice are rolled in your browser. Nothing is saved, stored or sent, and no rolls are recorded.

From rolling a story to steering one: let your child be the author.

In Litsee, your child creates the hero, picks the world and chooses what happens next in an illustrated story that is read aloud.

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