Come On Six

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This activity is taken from the book "More Activities that Teach" by Tom Jackson, and introduced as an activity at our facility by Brooke Sessions.

Materials:
   1 piece of paper per person
   1 pen/pencil per group of five
   1 dice per person

Description:
Split into groups of five.  It is best if you have each group sitting at a table, although the floor works too.  Each person needs to have a piece of paper and each group gets one pen and one dice.

The first person starts by rolling the dice.  The object is to roll a six.  If person one does not roll a six, the dice is passed to the next player, then the next, etc.  When a person does roll a six, that person takes the pen and starts to number on their piece of paper from 1 to 100.  The rules are that the person must write the numbers one at a time, in consecutive order, and the numbers must be legible.  The person must count out loud as they write the numbers down.  The person continues writing, as fast as possible, while the other players continue rolling the dice.  When someone else rolls a six, that person gets the pen and starts writing numbers on their own paper.  If you roll a six again, you can keep writing numbers from where you left off.  The game ends when a player successfully writes the numbers all the way to 100.  Multiple rounds can be played.

Processing:
Talk about stress and how different players felt stress during this activity.  Consider the following questions:
   -How easy was it to roll a six?
   -How far did you get in writing the numbers?
   -How did the level of excitement or stress change as people got closer to 100?
   -How can we compare this activity to stress in our lives?
   -How anxious do we feel about something that is going to happen a year down the road?
   -Do we sometimes cause ourselves to become stressed when we really don't need to be?  Explain.
   -What are some of the behaviors we exhibit when we feel stress?
   -How does our behavior affect others around us?
   -What are some positive ways to cope with stress in our lives?

Adaptations:
For a lower functioning group of individuals, I have often wrote out the numbers 1 to 100 on a piece of paper and made several copies.  Each player gets a copy, and on their turn they cross out the numbers in sequential order rather than writing them.  You could also play to 50 for a lower functioning group.