Well-Being Experiment Cards®
Playful Experiments to Practice the Science of Well-Being in Everyday Life
Bite-Sized Practices
The Well-Being Experiment Cards® transform well-being research into lived experience through curiosity, play, and reflection.
Grounded in more than 26 years of studying, teaching, and researching the science of well-being, and refined through more than three years of real-world use, student feedback, and data collection, this 52-card deck includes 156 tiny, playful experiments designed to bring the science of well-being into everyday life.
Currently available as both a downloadable PDF and a professionally printed card deck with a custom box.
Developed from multidisciplinary research and refined through more than three years of real-world use by ~5,000 students at two universities.
Preliminary research data shows significant improvements in total well-being, connection, and insight, and near significant increases in awareness and curiosity, after only four weeks.
The findings suggest that bite-sized experiments may offer a practical and engaging way to strengthen well-being skills in everyday life.
Additional research is looking at the impact on playful engagement and perceived stress.
Research Meets Everyday Life
Many people believe well-being requires a rigid plan and dramatic changes to work. A big commitment to add to their to-do list. The science tells a different story.
Tiny works. Play works. Consistency works.
Well-being is a set of skills, not something to achieve. And experiments change the question. Instead of asking "Will this work?", we begin asking "What can I learn from one tiny experiment?" A pause. A smile. A look up. A shift in perspective. These moments may seem small, yet over time they help shape how we experience ourselves, our relationships, and the world around us.
The Well-Being Experiment Cards® offer a more playful approach to well-being, inviting curiosity and exploration rather than achievement, play rather than pressure, and practice rather than performance.
Play opens doors. Curiosity encourages discovery. Tiny experiments create opportunities to practice, notice, reflect, and learn through lived experience.
No rigid program. No finish line.
No pressure. No one right way to be well. Only an invitation to begin.
A playful Approach
What If Well-Being Could Be Explored, Not Prescribed?
healthy minds framework*
The Four Pillars of Well-Being
Share gratitude, kindness, and play to nurture belonging.
CONNECTION
Observe your mind, body, and the world around you to be in the moment.
AWARENESS
Explore values and motivations
to guide intentional actions.
PURPOSE
Get curious about your inner world to discover fresh perspectives.
INSIGHT
*Research Framework: Dahl, Wilson-Mendenhall, & Davidson (2020), The Plasticity of Well-Being.
Grounded in research from psychology, neuroscience, education, and well-being science.
Science-Based
Bite-sized practices designed to fit into everyday life.
Tiny
Centered on curiosity, experimentation, and reflection.
Playful
Adaptable to different people, settings, and ways of learning.
Flexible
