**Please note**
This is the digital toolbox version of this card set.
The Toolbox includes:
- access to a digital set of the cards that you can download and use anywhere, anytime.
- a digital version of the booklet.
- ideas banks, blogs, card hack videos, interviews and other support material.
We are adding and updating the Toolbox content regularly so check in to see what’s new.
**Look for the link and QR code in your order confirmation email.
A tool to help us sail through life’s uncertainties
Life is never smooth sailing, and each of our personal journeys is unique.
Ups and Downs is a fun conversation-building tool for reflecting on our own journey. The set includes 54 individual cards featuring a little pink person sailing on life’s changing seas in a bathtub.
This set uses the sea as a metaphor for the unpredictability of life and adds humour and poignancy to support conversations about feelings, change and the future. Each card presents scenarios many people will relate to, from the relief of seeing the beam of a lighthouse to the anxiety of watching circling sharks.
Ups and Downs can also be used for a range of fun and informal activities, including breaking the ice, stimulating creative writing and kicking off workshops. The cards can also be used in professional contexts when discussing achievements and challenges.
This resource is suitable for all ages and is a versatile tool for psychologists, counsellors, mental health workers, educators, managers and life coaches.
Suitable for:
- Educators/Schools
- Life coaches
- Child and Family services
- Social and community services
- Health services
Additional resources:
Published by Innovative Resources, 2009. Digital version published in 2024
ISBN: 978-1-920945-12-1
54 full-colour digital cards and booklet
Author: Russell Deal
Illustrator: Ray Bowler
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Stories and Reviews
Ups and Downs in workshops
‘We use the Ups and Downs cards regularly and they’ve had very frequent use recently in feedback/reflection sessions at the end of most of our workshops. They’re a perfect way to end the session or the day. Participants not only find it easy to identify a card that represents how they’re feeling, but these particular cards are such great fun and elicit a great deal of warmth and laughter in the process.’
– Sue James, BJ Seminars International (Australia)
