Voxel stands with his arms open wide. Brixel, Dot and a small pink robot called Pip are beside him, in front of a tall tower of bricks.

A Brixel and Voxel story

Room for One More

A story about best friends

Voxel and Brixel build a wall of bricks together. Over to one side, tiny Dot waves at them, but they do not notice.

Voxel and Brixel were best friends. They built together. They bounced together. They did everything together.

‘Want to play?’ called little Dot. But Voxel didn’t even look. He was too busy with Brixel.

Voxel holds a red brick. Brixel looks cross, and small grey prickles fly from Brixel towards Voxel's tummy.

One day they both wanted the very last red brick.

‘Mine!’ said Brixel. ‘You’re not my best friend!’

Ouch. Those words felt prickly, right in Voxel’s tummy.

A small pink robot called Pip stands by a gift box with Brixel bouncing beside it. Voxel stands apart with one hand raised.

The next day a new toy came to the playroom. A little pink robot called Pip.

Brixel bounced straight over. ‘Can I play too?’ asked Voxel.

‘No,’ said Brixel. ‘You can’t play with us!’ Ouch.

Brixel sits beside balloons and party envelopes with his face turned away. Prickles fly towards Voxel, who holds his tummy.

And the day after that, Brixel said the prickliest thing of all.

‘You can’t come to my party!’

Ouch, ouch, ouch.

Voxel sits alone on a cushion, hugging his knees, with his antennae drooping. Far behind him Brixel and Pip play together.

Voxel sat down all by himself. His antennae drooped right down.

‘Brixel is my best friend,’ he thought. ‘And now I have nobody to play with.’

Night time. Voxel sits on Big Bot's lap in a big hug beside the shoebox bed.

That night Voxel told Big Bot all about it. Big Bot gave him a great big squeeze.

‘Those were prickly words, Voxel. Prickly words pop out when somebody is cross, or wants their own way. They hurt. But they are not true.’

Voxel and Big Bot brush grey prickles off Voxel's shoulders. The prickles fall to the rug.

‘You are a good friend, and prickly words can’t change that. So let’s brush them off.’

Brush, brush, brush!

Can you do it too?

The green, yellow and blue buttons on Voxel's tummy glow as Big Bot points to them.

‘Now, your helper buttons,’ said Big Bot. ‘Green. Stop and breathe.’

‘Yellow. Say how you feel.’ ‘That hurt my feelings,’ said Voxel.

‘Blue. Ask for something fair.’ ‘Can I play too?’ said Voxel.

The pink button on Voxel's tummy glows. Big Bot opens both arms wide. Behind them, Dot is asleep on a shelf.

‘And pink is for when the answer is still no. Find a different game, and a different friend to play it with.’

‘But Brixel is my best friend,’ said Voxel.

‘You can have a best friend and lots of other friends too,’ said Big Bot.

Brixel and Pip build a den from cushions and a red blanket. In front, Voxel breathes slowly with his eyes closed and a hand on his green button.

The next day Brixel and Pip were making a den.

‘You can’t play with us!’ said Brixel. Ouch!

Voxel pressed his green button. In… and out. Then he brushed the prickles off. Brush, brush, brush!

Voxel speaks calmly in front of the den with his yellow and blue buttons glowing. Brixel shakes his head. Pip looks unsure.

He pressed his yellow button. ‘That hurt my feelings.’

He pressed his blue button. ‘Can I play too?’

‘No!’ said Brixel.

Voxel bends down to Dot, who is building a tower of bricks. Dot throws both arms up, delighted.

So Voxel pressed his pink button and had a good look around.

There was little Dot, building a tower all alone.

‘Can I play with you?’ asked Voxel.

‘Yes!’ said Dot. ‘There’s always room for one more.’

The tower is taller than Voxel now. Pip holds up a brick and Voxel and Dot turn to welcome Pip.

The tower grew taller and taller. Pip came over to see.

‘Can I play?’ asked Pip.

‘Yes!’ said Voxel and Dot. ‘There’s always room for one more.’

Brixel comes over slowly, looking sorry. Voxel holds out a hand to him. Dot and Pip watch by the tower.

Then Brixel came over, very slowly. Boing… boing.

‘I’m sorry I said those things. They weren’t true. Can I play too?’

Voxel remembered how the prickles felt. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘There’s always room for one more.’

A party with balloons and a cake made of bricks. Brixel, Voxel, Dot and Pip all wear paper hats and cheer.

And when Brixel’s party came, everybody was there.

Voxel still has his best friend. Now he has lots of other friends too.

Because there is always room for one more.

Voxel stands tall with all four buttons on his tummy glowing. Big Bot stands behind him.

Voxel’s four helper buttons

Prickly words are not true. Brush them off, then tap a button.

The end

For grown-ups

‘You’re not my friend’ and ‘you can’t come to my party’ are very common things for four-year-olds to say. They usually mean ‘I’m cross with you’ or ‘I want my own way’, and they are often forgotten by teatime. They still sting, and they sting more when a child has put all of their playing into one friend.

Give the words a name. Call them prickly words, say plainly that they are not true, and brush them off together.
Practise one short reply until it comes out easily: ‘That hurt my feelings. I’m going to play with someone else.’ Then walk away. A calm reply and somewhere else to go takes the power out of the words.
Widen the circle on purpose. Invite one other child round to play, without the best friend, so there is a Dot to turn to.
Practise joining in. ‘Can I play?’ works best with an offer attached, such as ‘I’ve got more bricks.’
Don’t wait for the sorry. In the story Voxel is already having fun before Brixel comes back, and that is the part to praise.
Keep the friendship. Best friends at this age fall out and make up again and again.

If it happens most days, or a group is leaving them out, tell nursery or school. Staff can stay close to the play and coach both children.

Pictures and narration made with Higgsfield. Pip is new for this story. The four helper buttons first appear in Not the Baddie Again!