There’s never enough time in school counseling. Never enough time to plan and prepare, never enough time to meet with students, never enough time to effectively use data…the list goes on. One thing I did this past summer to be better prepared for my individual sessions was create a collection of issue-specific color-coded questions. It’s the easiest way to make any game a therapeutic counseling game.
Students pick one of several games that have colors or numbers or that you can put colored stickers on (CandyLand, Let’s Go Fishing, JENGA, Chutes and Ladders, Connect Four, Don’t Break the Ice, Uno, etc.) and they respond to prompts specific to their issue(s) as we play. The prompts are written so they can be answered multiple times in different ways, so it’s totally fine for someone to land on/pull the same color/number more than once. These were the faves in my office:
For example, “BLUE” might prompt “Practice tightening and relaxing your muscles” or “3” might ask “What is 1 thing you can ask someone to get to know them better?” Here are a couple of examples:
I laminated them, then put them on a key ring that I hang on the side of a bookcase for easy use.
5 Responses
You have some great ideas! I am a new-ish counselor as well and it's helpful to read about different methods and ideas. Thanks!
This is a really interesting idea. It adds a new dimension to play therapy. Thanks for sharing.
First time visiting your website, I love your blog!
Hi! Do you offer the colored stickers for purchase as well? This idea is great!
Hi! I bought them from Amazon. There are lots of sets that I think would work, but these are the exact ones I got: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MPXOENA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Best,
Sara