Co-designed by 3 graders at r d Mary Todd Elementary School
AT MARY TODD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
COPYRIGHT © 2025 THE GIANT ROOM
THE INTRO COMIC
Missy the Friend and Protector
Missy is a dog that protects her owner, Kevin. Missy is a Siberian Husky. She loves to run around in the mountains of her home. She is a beautiful dog, with a thick coat of white and gray fur, and piercing blue eyes that sparkled with intelligence and loyalty.
Kevin, a kind and adventurous young man, adopted Missy when she was just a puppy. He loved taking her on hikes through the rugged mountain trails, where she could run to her heart's content. Missy, in turn, was devoted to Kevin, always staying close to his side and watching over him with a fierce protectiveness. One day, Kevin decided to go on vacation to Texas to visit family. In Kevin's absence, Missy was heartbroken and decided she would go on a journey to look for him. She pushed the screen door open, which was usually a sturdy barrier against the summer bugs of Lexington, but offered little resistance to Missy's determined nose. A gentle nudge, a satisfying click, and she was free. The scent of Kevin, usually a comforting anchor in her world, had shifted, thinned, and then vanished entirely a few days ago. Now, a faint, unfamiliar tang clung to his discarded t-shirt – Texas. The word, uttered often by Kevin's mom, had become a beacon in Missy's canine mind. Texas meant Kevin.
Her paws padded softly on the familiar sidewalk, but her focus was far beyond the manicured lawns and chirping birds. Kevin's scent, though fading, pulled her southward. Cars whizzed by, their smells a confusing jumble, but beneath it all, the ghost of Kevin urged her on.
The first few miles were fueled by adrenaline and unwavering purpose. She navigated familiar streets, her blue eyes sharp, her tail held high. Friendly neighbors called her name, but Missy couldn't be waylaid. Each passing hour, however, brought a gnawing uncertainty. The familiar landmarks disappeared, replaced by stretches of open road and unfamiliar woods. Hunger nipped at her belly, and the relentless Kentucky sun beat down on her thick fur.
One sweltering afternoon, near a dusty roadside diner, a kind waitress noticed the weary husky panting by the curb. Her name was Brenda, and her heart softened at the sight of the lost dog. She offered Missy a bowl of cool water and scraps of a hamburger. For a moment, the warmth of human kindness and the satisfying taste of food almost made Missy forget her mission. But then, a truck rumbled past, carrying a faint whiff of something undeniably Kevin – the same laundry detergent, the same hint of his woodsy cologne. Missy whined, nudged Brenda's hand in thanks, and with renewed determination, loped after the fading scent.
Days blurred into nights. Missy scavenged for food, lapped water from puddles, and slept fitfully under the vast, starry sky. She encountered other animals – a black cat named Kat, who was in search of a forever home. Cat and Missy became past friends and journeyed off together. When the landscape changed, the two friends knew they were leaving behind familiar terrain. One evening, exhausted and disheartened, Missy and Kat found themselves near a bustling truck stop.
The different sounds and smells were overwhelming. Just as despair began to creep in, a familiar laugh echoed across the parking lot. Missy's ears perked up. That sound… it was unmistakable. 4
With a surge of energy, she weaved through the maze of trucks and trailers, her nose twitching frantically. And then she saw him. Leaning against a pickup truck, talking and laughing, was Kevin.
"Kevin!" The bark tore from her throat, hoarse but filled with pure joy.
Kevin turned, his eyes widening in disbelief. "Missy? What… how?"
In an instant, the distance between them vanished. Missy launched herself at him, her body wriggling with unrestrained happiness. Kevin knelt, burying his face in her fur, his laughter now tinged with relief and amazement.
The older man, Kevin's uncle, watched the reunion with a smile. "Well, look at that. Seems like someone missed you quite a bit, son!"
As Kevin hugged Missy tightly, stroking her soft fur, the long and arduous journey faded into a distant memory. The unfamiliar scent of Texas no longer felt alien. It was where Kevin was. And for Missy, that was home. Kevin looked down to see a small black cat hiding behind a tree. “Come on, little fella,” said Kevin. Missy barked to let Kat know she was safe. “Aww.. aren't you cute said Kevin, I think I will call you Kat after my grandmother he said. Kat purred and Missy barked to indicate their approval. The two friends had made it to their forever home!
Through it all, the two unlikely friends faced many challenges. They braved thunderstorms and navigated busy highways. But with each challenge, their bond grew stronger, and their determination deepened. What is the meaning of Determination? To keep going even when times are hard. We keep going until our goals are met!
THE CARDS
CHARACTER CARDS
The character’s name
AI-generated avatar based on the submission
The character’s traits
The character’s skills
Original drawing or sketch
About the character
SCHOOL CONNECTION CARDS
The school connection’s name
AI-generated avatar based on the submission
How the school connection builds belonging
The connection rating for the school connection
Original drawing or sketch
About the school connection
HOME & COMMUNITY CONNECTION CARDS
The community connection’s name
AI-generated avatar based on the submission
The community connection’s funds of knowledge
The connection rating for the community connection
Original drawing or sketch
About the community connection
GROWTH MINDSET CHALLENGE CARDS
The challenge’s name
AI-generated avatar based on the submission
About the challenge
What this hchallenge elps build
The difficulty level of the challenge
Original drawing or sketch
AFFIRMATION BOOST CARDS
The affirmation’s name
AI-generated avatar based on the submission
How much boost the card gives
Type of affirmation**
Original drawing or sketch
About the affirmation
THE GAMES
OVERVIEW
The Stronger Connections Storytelling Card Game is more than a game—it’s a tool for building connections through the power of story. Each school deck tells the story of how connections are built at their school, and every time the game is played, it’s an opportunity to tell a new story!
Designed to spark meaningful conversations between students, families, and educators, this game celebrates the voices, values, and experiences that make each school community unique. As players share and listen, they deepen connections one story at a time.
This game can be used in classrooms, advisory periods, family nights, or community events— anywhere you want to foster meaningful dialogue and connection. There are no wrong answers—just opportunities to connect!
Your story should always be about how connections are created at your school.
Your imagination is the boss! Make your story as funny, weird, crazy, or serious as you want.
Use the Character Cards that have been played throughout your story and incorporate their traits and skills to help solve challenges.
Use Growth Mindset Challenge Cards to add a conflict to your story. Give an introduction and backstory on how your character arrived at this challenge. Your goal is to solve the challenge as quickly and thoroughly as possible while ensuring the story still makes sense.
School Connection and Home and Community Connection Cards are very important to building connections!
Don’t forget to use your Affirmation Boost Cards to give your character an added value or cultural boost while solving the story’s conflict.
The space in front of you is your “Connection Field” . This is where you will play your cards as you add to the story. Be sure to keep the types of cards separated so you can remember which characters and events have been played.
What if the card you want to play has already been played? That’s okay! You can play it again! Just keep adding to the story!
In competitive mode, points are given to the player who plays the card and are based on the card’s rating or boost. Character Cards are always one point.
SHORT STORIES #1:
HOW TO PLAY
Set Up:
Organize your deck into 5 piles:
(1) Character Cards
(2) School Connection Cards
(3) Community Connection Cards
(4) Challenge Cards
(5) Affirmation Boost Cards. Shuffle each pile.
Telling Your Story:
Choose one card from each pile.
Read each card and get to know your character. Use your five cards to invent a story.
How will your character use a growth mindset to overcome the challenge? How will their school, community and affirmation boosts help them?
Continue Playing:
Want to keep playing? Add more cards to your story from each category!
CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE
HOW TO PLAY
Set Up: Shuffle the full deck of Stronger Connections. Decide how many cards you want to use for your story. You can draw cards one at a time or choose a set number to start with (for example, 5 or 7 cards).
Telling The Story:
Look at the cards you ’ ve drawn and consider how they can fit together.
Skipped
Use as many cards as you like to build your story. You might use multiple cards of the same type, skip a type completely, or mix them up in any order.
Continue Playing:
If you want to extend your story, you can draw more cards at any time to add new twists, characters, or ideas.
TAKE
Time Challenge: Set a timer and see if you can finish your story in a certain amount of time.
Make It A Series: After telling your first story, choose another Challenge Card to bring your character on a new adventure. Bonus: Give your story a title and a cover page!
SHARED STORYTELLING #3:
HOW TO PLAY
Set Up: Shuffle the full deck of Stronger Connections. Each player draws 5 cards to form their starting hand.
The area in front of you is your “Connection Field”. This is where you play your cards, remembering to keep each card type separate so you can remember what has already been played in the story.
Sharing The Story:
Remember, you are telling a story about how connections are built at your school.
Only players with a Character Card or Growth Mindset Challenge Card may start.
If multiple players have either or both of these cards, choose a player to start by rolling a die, playing rock-paper-scissors, or agreeing as a group.
What if no one has one either of those cards? No worries. Just reshuffle and try again!
The player must describe aloud how this card starts the story. OR
Building the Story:
Players take turns playing one card at a time from their hand. Cards should be placed face up in your “Connection Field” and separated by card type to make it easy to remember what has been played.
When you play a card, you must explain how it changes the story—what happens next? Keep in mind the characters that have already been played and their traits/skills.
After playing a card, draw a new card from the deck to refill your hand to 5 cards.
Affirmation Booster Cards can be played with another card on the same turn for extra points! After playing a Booster, draw 2 cards to refill your hand.
There cannot be more than one unsolved Growth Mindset Challenge Card active in the game. Players must solve a Growth Mindset Challenge Card before another one is played.
Scoring:
Each card has a point value, shown by stars or boost ratings. Character Cards are 1 point each. +1
Passing:
If you can’t think of a way to use any of your cards, you may pass your turn. You do not draw a new card if you pass.
Ending the Game:
Continue playing until 5 full rounds are completed (each player has had 5 turns).
After the final round, the players work together to wrap up the story.
Each player counts their points—the player with the most points wins!
TAKE IT FURTHER
Longer Story: Add extra rounds to keep the story going and earn more points.
Bonus Points: Award extra points at the end for the funniest moment, best teamwork, or most creative use of a card.
#4:
STORY FISH (GO FISH MASHUP)
COMPETITIVE 2+ PLAYERS MATERIALS
HOW TO PLAY
Set Up: Separate Character Cards from the deck. Shuffle and place them face down.
Each player is dealt 5 cards. The remaining deck is placed in the center.
Choose a Character Card randomly and reveal it to the group. This will be the main character in your shared story.
Determine who goes first by rolling a die, playing rock-paper-scissors, or agreeing as a group.
Starting the Story:
The first player draws a card from the deck. Optional: they may instead “ask” another player for a card that fits a story
U their hand (or the one they drew), the player begins the story involving the chosen Character Card.
They then place that card in the Connections Pile (a shared stack of successfully played story cards).
On Your Turn – You may do ONE of the following:
Play a card from your hand that adds to the story.
Draw a card from the deck and attempt to use it in the story immediately.
CREATING
Ask another player for a card that could help you progress the story (e.g., “Do you have a card about friendship?”). If they do and give it to you, they draw a replacement card. If not, you must “ go fish”.
Playing A Card:
To play a card, you must connect it meaningfully to the ongoing story.
If your group agrees the connection works, add the card to the Connections Pile.
If the group doesn’t agree, keep the card in your hand.
If you cannot play or make a connection, your turn ends and you keep the card.
End of the Game:
The game ends when the deck runs out OR when a set time is up.
Players count how many cards they have left in their hand. The player with the fewest cards is the winner.
Optional: Do a group “ wrap-up ” sentence to end the story. OR
OPTIONAL CHALLENGES
Story Helper: If a player is stuck, another can offer a suggestion—but they both draw a card as a trade-off.
Double Trouble: If you can connect two cards in one turn, you can play both and skip your next draw.
Encourage “ yes, and…” to keep the story building collaboratively. YES! And...
COMIC STRIP STORYTELLING
Set Up: Shuffle the full deck of Stronge Connections. Each player dra cards to form th starting hand.
Each player also gathers some paper or a comic strip template and something to draw and write with.
Create Your First Panel:
Each player chooses one or more cards from their hand to inspire the first panel of their comic strip story.
You must draw the panel based on the cards you chose to start your story.
Under or next to the panel, write a short caption or sentence to go with the drawing
Eowyn is getting ready to go to school.
After illustrating the comic scene, players discard the card(s) they used and 5 in their
Trade Comic Strips:
Once the first panel is drawn, players trade comic strips with each other!
Now, each player continues the other person's story using the cards from their own hand.
Eowynis gettingready togotoschool
Everyonewas gettingreadyfor MusicNight
Everyone was getting ready for Music Night.
Draw the Next Panel: our hand to mic strip affects the story’s direction.
Write a caption if n
Set aside your used cards and draw back up to 5. CREATING
Finish and Share:
Continue trading comics and drawing for as many rounds as you like.
After both players agree to finish, stop and admire your comic strips!
Read them aloud or present them to a group.
DESIGN YOUR OWN GAMES AND ADD THEM TO THIS BOOK!
What games would YOU like to invent with your deck of Stronger Connections? Write down the rules of your game and playtest with friends and family.
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HOW TO PLAY
GAME #2
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HOW TO PLAY
# OF PLAYERS MATERIALS GAME
HOW TO PLAY
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HOW TO PLAY
A GIANT thank you to the Dots, Connectors, and
GIANT
team members who made this publication possible.
Concept & Planning
April D. Stanley (Fayette County Public Schools)
Rebecca Schifilliti (The GIANT Room)
Azadeh Jamalian, PhD (The GIANT Room)
Card Design & Development
Rebecca Schifilliti (The GIANT Room)
Rama Deshpande (The GIANT Room)
Paulina Quezada M. (The GIANT Room)
Camila Soto (The GIANT Room)
Iris Sun (The GIANT Room)
Maya Hood-Wilson (The GIANT Room)
Jessica Mezei, PhD (The GIANT Room)
Azadeh Jamalian, PhD (The GIANT Room)
Book Design & Development
Rama Deshpande (The GIANT Room)
Rebecca Schifilliti (The GIANT Room)
Paulina Quezada M (The GIANT Room)
A B O U T
The GIANT Room is a creative co-design lab that provides opportunities for children, families, and educators to collaborate with designers, policymakers, scientists, artists, and engineers.
In addition, on our GIANT Remix platform, we provide opportunities for children to co-design and co-publish books and games they can read and play with their friends and family
The GIANT Room LEARN MORE!
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