Rolling With Relationships

Through this activity, you’ll make your own “Developmental Relationships Dice” to use as a simple and fun way to integrate the elements of the Developmental Relationships (DR) Framework into your daily practice. This activity works in any group size, and can be easily adapted to do alone. This activity works best as a consistent practice over time.

Developmental Relationships are close connections through which young people discover who they are, cultivate abilities to shape their own lives, and learn how to engage with and contribute to the world around them. The DR Framework—express care, provide support, challenge growth, share power, and expand possibilities—is not a program or curriculum, but a lens to view relationships.

Being intentional about integrating this framework into your setting takes time, just like fostering any habit. But regular practice always makes a difference, and a simple activity like rolling dice can help adults move the DR Framework from head-knowledge to heart-based habit—and foster a common language along the way.

This activity was developed by our partners at UP Partnership, a social impact non-profit organization in San Antonio that coordinates data, aligns pathways, and promotes policy change to achieve its mission to ensure all young people in Bexar County are ready for the future. Learn more about how we are partnering together in the Rooted in Relationships project.