Cavendish Cards

A calm, no-scoring deck for naming sensory and interaction needs. Point at a card, or lay a few — no reading needed to play.

Cavendish Cards come from the Cavendish Space model — a way of shaping the space around real needs instead of asking people to hide them. The cards give you pictures and words for how you feel and what helps, so you can show someone instead of having to explain. Play on your own, or with someone alongside you. New here? Start with the guidebook.

No scoring. No points, no right answer, no winning. There is no wrong card and no wrong hand.

You choose what to share. Cards on the table stay face-down until you turn them up. Turning a card up is you sharing it.

What it’s for

  • Name how you feel and what you need — without needing the right words.
  • Show someone, on your own terms, rather than having to explain.
  • Give the people with you something to respond to — by changing the space, not you.
  • No scoring, no sorting, no right answer. There’s no wrong card.
Five ways to play
  • Show me — pick the one card that’s you right now.
  • Build my day — start with a place, then how you feel (the weather), then what helps. A sentence in pictures.
  • Class weather — everyone lays a weather card, and the room’s weather becomes visible. No one is named.
  • Map the edges — walk the lily-pad cards across a timetable to find the hard transitions.
  • Play as the environment — lay what-helps cards that conflict, and build one space that holds them all.

The deck

Choose a card to lay it on the table.

Moments

Drop one of these onto the table anytime — a pause, a not-yet, a ready-now.

The table

Nothing laid down yet. Choose cards from the deck above — they arrive face-down, and you turn them up when you want to share them.