Free Stuff

Our stuffed animal communication wheels are free for personal, non-commercial use here.

Building the Wheels

... scissors, a paper plate (a sturdier one with a tall rim is best), a pompom ball (a small crumpled piece of paper can work), a quarter (or similarly sized, flat circular object), and the wheels in our books or on our website. A glue stick is optional.

Basically, we're creating a spinning top using a paper plate. Once you have cut out the wheel, make a small incision in the paper where the red line is marked in the center. Cut a corresponding line in the paper plate. Put the wheel on top of the plate, and push the coin through the wheel and plate, half-way. You can then twist the coin and the paper plate will spin like a top.

After explaining what we're doing, help the stuffed animal drop their pompom ball on the spinning plate. Our answer is where the pompom lands when the spinning stops

You'll Need...

Paste the wheels below into a printable file. For an ideal fit to a dinner plate, re-size the wheels to 8 inches square

Yes and No

The most powerful question is usually a simple Yes or No.

We can have lots of conversations using just Yes and No. It may take a long time, but you could ask something such as what their favorite food is, using just Yes and No (“Is it a fruit?” – Yes. “Is it yellow?” – No, and so on).

Numbers 0 to 9

Numbers are valuable for lots of questions!

Want to know a stuffed animal’s name? First, ask how many letters are in their name. Then, spin the alphabet wheel that number of times, to get each letter.

Numbers 1 to 3

It can be very useful to break questions into 1, 2, and 3. This way, for example, you can ask if they'd like an apple (1) or a banana (2) or something else (3). They are not required to answer a binary (yes or no, with no other choices) question.

Alphabet

Stuffed animals are not known to be good spellers!

Always remember to be patient and understanding with them

Weighted Alphabet

In English, “E” is the most common letter. If you count how many times each letter appears in a book, “E” will probably be more than 1 in every 10 letters.

But unless they’re in a main character’s name, “Z”, “Q”, and “J” are rare. Only about 1 in 500 letters will be a “Q” or a “J”, and 1 in about 250 will be a “Z.

The feelings wheel is helpful not just for finding out how your stuffed animal is doing, or how they feel about a specific topic or question, but you can also use it when writing stories and plays.

But keep in mind: Stuffed animals can change their minds and feelings quickly.

Feelings

Nicknames

While the stuffed animals may have their own names, in their own language, it can be nice to give them nicknames.

Show them the wheels and ask if they'd like Wheel 1 or Wheel 2.

There's an option for "Something Else" on Wheel 2. Maybe they don't even want a nickname. Maybe they're just very formal. "That's Mr. Twinketoes to you!"

These can also be the names of characters in a story or play.

What Do They Like to Do?

A fun question to ask stuffed animals is what they enjoy doing (when we’re not looking). Or, what they’d like to do next.

Here we have lots of activities (Wheel 1): playing guitar, pretending to be aliens, cooking, cleaning (well, some think this is fun), playing basketball, or pretending to be king or queen or otherwise making a game about castles.

We also have building with bricks, going on a treasure hunt, having a picnic, pretending to be mermaids, playing soccer, listening to music, putting together puzzles, gardening or pretending to manage a farm, going potty (well… maybe that’s not super fun), looking at things under a microscope, building or riding on a roller coaster, and creating art.

Here we have (Wheel 2): going to a playground, playing chess or another game, reading, disco dancing, skating, playing with cars, writing, sleeping, going to a museum, watching tv or playing a video game…

. ... or putting on a play, climbing (maybe not on rocks. Maybe just on your furniture), traveling, flying a kite, going to a beach, getting ready for Halloween (even in December), ballet, building or riding on a ferris wheel, or having a party.

Favorite Foods

It can be nice to know about your animals’ favorite foods. Also, maybe they’d like to help you cook. Perhaps they can replace an ingredient in a recipe with their own idea?

They can make recipes, too: ask for a number and then a food. For example, you may get 3 apples + 1 mashed cupcake + 4 mashed tacos… yum?

This is great for asking about birthdays. Use the 1 – 31 wheel to get the specific date. Caution: Stuffed animals can get confused.

February only has 28 days, except for leap years, when February has 29 days. So, what if a stuffed animal says their birthday is February 31? We can follow-up and ask if they meant—perhaps—February 28th? Or maybe they’re thinking March 3rd (Feb 28 + 3 days)?

Or, maybe they’re tired and need a nap.

Month of the Year

This is great for asking about birthdays. Use this with the month wheel to get the specific date. If an animal is confused about the date, try to not embarrass them too much.

January, March, May, July, August, October, and December all have 31 days. But April, June, September and November only have 30, so if the animal says 31 for those months, gentle follow-up may be needed. The Yes / No wheel may be useful.

Numbers 1 - 31

You may need to ask this question when you’re making plans and schedules.

Day of the Week

You can ask about a favorite color, but there are many other ways you can use the color wheel. This color could be the one they’d like to use in a drawing you’re making together. Maybe it represents a card or game piece they’d like to play in a game. Maybe it’s the color of a hat they’d like to wear in a play…

It can be a lot of things.

Colors

It’s a lot of fun to ask stuffed animals about their friends.

What if your stuffed animal says their best friend is a turkey, but no turkeys are around? Maybe they’re talking about one at the store, before you met? Or, maybe they just really like turkeys and wish they knew one. Follow-up questions could be needed.

Friends

We can act out adventures, after we ask the animals what their pretend superhero abilities are. These superhero abilities can be handy for writing stories, too. Let’s explain some of the words:

Camouflage: Blending into the background, to be hidden. Clairvoyance: Knowing the future before it happens. Telekinesis: Moving objects with mental power, not physical touch. Telepathy: Communicating with others directly inside their minds, without speaking, writing, signing, or otherwise using any known senses. Teleportation: Instantly moving something from one place to another.

Superhero Game

There are thousands of holidays across the world. We’ve included just a few: Groundhog Day, Chinese New Year, the Super Bowl (not a holiday, but a popular event some animals enjoy), Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Earth Day, Cinco De Mayo, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Father’s Day, Independence Day, Diwali, Halloween, the New York City Marathon (not a holiday, but many stuffed animals may enjoy it), Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve.

It could be a lot of fun letting your stuffed animals pretend to go trick-or-treating, or celebrate Valentine’s Day and give each other cards. Would they celebrate holidays like we do, or do you think they’d have their own traditions? Or even their own holidays, for different reasons?

Holidays

It’s also fun to plan parties with the animals.

You can give each animal a job: maybe some would like to set up games, or make a cake, or pretend to be a clown or a magician. Maybe some want to work on invitations, or play music at the party, or set up a bounce house. Maybe some want to handle the drinks or food, or build or supply a pinata, or decorate. Maybe some just want to clean-up afterwards.

Planning a Party

We can ask the stuffed animals to help us write stories. We can use the Friends wheels for characters, and this wheel will help us with the settings.

What else can we use the setting wheel for? Try to think of some ideas.

Maybe the stuffed animals would like to pretend to be leader of something (and they get leader of an island, or leader of … a volcano?) Or maybe you make an imaginary world in your home, and these are areas on the map.

Story Locations

If we’re telling a story, the stuffed animals can pick out nouns to help us write it.

Nouns in a Story

If a stuffed animal is helping you draw a picture, the shape wheel can help you put it all together: They pick a shape and a color, and you help them get their idea on the paper.

Shapes

Directions can be used in lots of different ways. If we’re drawing pictures, our stuffed animals can pick the direction for the next bit of the drawing to go.

We can use this wheel for hide-and-seek, with the stuffed animals either playing as the hiders or the seekers. See the body part wheel for how we can use the Directions to create dances.

Directions

We can play doctor with the stuffed animals, and ask where they’re hurt.

Some answers may be silly: a parrot may say their antlers hurt. But, what could that mean? Maybe the parrot means the spot where their antlers would be, if they had antlers. Or, maybe they’re worried about another animal in your collection who does have antlers.

We can also create dances. First, ask a stuffed animal to name a body part. Then use the number wheel to get a number, and then the direction wheel for a direction. Put these three things together for a dance move. For example, it could work out as, “shake your wing to the left 4 times.” After that, we can add another move.