Meet the Mmmmbuddies©
a cheerful bunch of colorful creatures that will help you talk about emotions. You know, all those things that you sometimes feel inside like butterflies, sadness, anger, tension, fear, joy, jealousy, and many more.
​The Mmmmbuddies are all different, gender-neutral and free to interpret. Feel free to discover some applications below, but most importantly use your creativity, you can use the cards in thousands of ways.
Exercises
Have a look at how we use the Buddies.
Do you use them in a different way? Please share your good practice with us so we can add it
Diary exercise
Use the cards to describe your day/week.
Friends for the Buddie©
An explorative exercise about emotions and how we can take care of each other.
A house for your Buddy©
Design a house for 1 or more buddies.
Design your own Buddie©
Use the template to design your own buddy.
Group conversation
Get to know your group better with this exercise.
Tell something about yourself
Use the cards to talk about yourself.
Diary exercises
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Ask your child/client to choose a card that best reflects how they are feeling. Have a conversation about the chosen card and the associated feeling. You can hang it somewhere or stick it in a permanent place. You can possibly ask during the day whether the card is still suitable? if the buddy on this card needs anything specific, if anything can be helpful? Talk openly about the chosen card, enter into a dialogue with your child.
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At the evening ritual you can go over the day with your child, and ask which card or cards he or she would choose to describe the day or the feeling of the day. Here too you can have a short conversation about the map.
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Draw a card every day: here you do not ask how your child feels, but simply to draw a card at random. You can then discuss what you see together. What does it say? How does that buddy feel according to your child? Has he/she ever felt this way? Then what helps? How would you describe this emotion? etc
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use the free "print outs" (at the bottom of the page) to let your child shape his or her feeling of the day.
A house for your Buddies©
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Place the buddies on the table face up.
Which buddy are you attracted to?
Which buddy best illustrates how you feel right now?
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Are there other buddies on the table who radiate a feeling that you would like to feel more or more right now? Can you explain a word about this?
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How can you make the first buddy you chose feel a bit more like the second buddy?
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What does that first buddy need?
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Now imagine for a moment that you were building a house for your first buddy. What would this house look like? Take pencils and paper and draw it. What materials do you use? What is the shape and color of the house? What's inside the cottage? What's not there? How does your buddy feel in that house?
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Can the second buddy come to visit? If so, what happens when he comes for coffee?
Would you like to invite other buddies to the house you just designed? What happens when they come to visit?
Group conversation
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Sit around the table with the group
Place all the cards face up on the table so everyone can see the pictures
Instruct each participant to choose one card that suits him or her.

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The assignment is to choose a card that reflects who you are within the group, how you open up or act.
Once everyone has chosen a card, everyone can take turns explaining the chosen card and why they think it fits their role in the group.
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​After everyone has explained their card, they may place it somewhere on the table. Again with the assignment to position the card in such a way that it says something about his or her role / presence / feeling in the group. For example, someone can choose to put the card in the middle of the table because he or she thinks it is often in the middle of the group or often takes on a present role, or someone can choose to place the card close to another person. because they often work together, and so on.
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In a group, ask why someone chooses a certain place, talk to each other, get to know each other better.
Friends for the Buddies©
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Place the cards face up on the table
Ask your child to pull out three cards of buddies who don't look so happy.
What emotions are there according to your child? What does the buddy feel?
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Then ask what would be helpful for this buddy?
Who could help and how?
Are there cards on the table that can help the sulky or angry buddies your child chose. Which one would your child choose? Why?
What could this buddy do?
Ask if he or she has already experienced such a situation. How did this go?
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There are countless variations on this exercise. If your child quickly gets angry, discouraged or frustrated, you can work with the cards together to find out what could be helpful.
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These exercises can also be used in small groups with children to discuss conflicts or misunderstandings and to better understand each other. How did the children feel in a given situation? Can they associate a ticket with that?
How would they like to feel? Which buddy could help them? etc.
Design your own Buddie©
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click here to download the template and design your own buddy
Tell something about yourself
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Use the cards to explain your day/week (chronologically). What happened - How did you feel? - Which cards did you choose for that? tell, etc.
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Choose 3 cards to describe how you feel right now, in the moment. Explain why you chose this one. Which 3 cards would you definitely not take - explain.
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What cards would other people deal you? (your partner - your friends - your colleagues, etc.) explain. Does it match the cards you would give yourself? why/why not?
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In conflict/anxiety/sadness/problem situations: How did you feel? How did you react? What did you need at that moment? Which 'buddy' could help you in such a situation? how? etc
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