Elementary School Counseling Must Haves

I love a good PowerPoint/Google Slides slideshow in lessons, and I also love walking around the room while I present them. Having a clicker is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Not sure how I got along without one!

You don’t need every single fidget or calming tool that exists, but having a few is truly helpful. They serve two purposes: 1) they help kiddos who come to our offices because they need help regulating and 2) kids (and grownups!) like to have things in their hands when they’re talking to a counselor. My students’ favorites varied from school to school and year to year so I can’t predict what yours will love, but these have been some big hits: Pop-Its, stuffed animals (it would be great to have a weighted one as well as a super soft one), pin art, stretchy or squeezy things, and liquid timers.

Individual white boards are really helpful to use in class lessons. It’s one way to minimize worksheet/paper use in class. I’ve also used them in small groups. I bought mine from Amazon (cheaper than Lakeshore), but some people buy the material from Lowes/Home Depot and have it cut down

Individual page protectors/pockets are great for the same reason. Unless you think a student is going to refer back to a worksheet, or that caregivers will want to see it, each kiddo doesn’t need a copy. Use dry erase pockets and markers to cut down on waste (and give students the opportunity to use dry erase markers which they seem to really enjoy!).

I have sang the praises of the mini hand shredder many times before and I will continue singing it to my deathbed. It was one of my most used tools in individual counseling. We’ve shredded grudges, nightmares, unhelpful thoughts, and more. The physical experience of shredding is very powerful for the kids.

Smelly markers! They provide a sensory experience, they color really well (and very saturated), and they’re certainly more fun than pencils.

Books! BUT, I recommend, whenever possible, to read a book before you buy it. I’ve rented a lot from the public library, looked them up on YouTube, etc. to see if my students will connect with them and to determine if it’s a book I actually “need” to own. I’ve posted about my favorite Julia Cook, Trudy Ludwig, and Feelings books before. You’ll also want to have at least two different grief books available (The Invisible String is my favorite). PS This picture does noooot represent my all time faves. I can’t pick my all time faves! But, I can say all of these had very important roles in my counseling library.

You don’t need a million games…but you do need some games. Some favorites with my students have been: CandyLand, Chutes and Ladders, Don’t Break the Ice, and JENGA. I was shocked Uno wasn’t a fave, but I think my students’ families just didn’t play that so they weren’t familiar with it. Let’s Go Fishing is one I never expected to be a big hit – but my 2nd and under crowd loved it.

Adding structure into my individual counseling sessions, especially those that were a little more ongoing, has been so helpful. It keeps us more focused, it’s less intimidating to the students, and it provides predictability (and with that, a sense of safety). This folder lapbook rocks for checking in with emotions and how things are going, as well as what they want to talk about in the session, and how they feel as they leave.

My main counseling theory is CBT, so helping students to 1) understand the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and 2) identify helpful vs. unhelpful thoughts is important to me. I used interactive “CBT stories” and thought cards allllll the time. While CBT is awesome, the metacognition involved means it can be tricky for some students and making it more concrete vs. abstract is the way to go.

While lots of board games and card games can be therapeutic all on their own, I often add more directive counseling prompts in my sessions. These Any Game Counseling Questions cover 26 different skill areas or topics and can work with any game that has (or can have) numbers or colors.

Comfy chairs for individual sessions with kids, parent meetings, and teacher consultations. This wasn’t something available to me at my school, and with a limited budget, I turned to the always wonderful Target. Twice now I’ve bought their “dish” chairs and looooved them! Sometimes they go on sale with the rest of the “dorm room” stuff. They also have them on Amazon and WalMart.

In between my comfy chairs I kept a cart that held my most commonly used individual counseling tools (many mentioned above!). It helps the flow of the session to have as much right there on hand as possible! I got mine from IKEA, but they also have them at Michaels, and I’m linking one from Amazon.

Many of the students in my small groups had some emotional and physical regulation needs. Having seat discs and chair bands available at my small group station (a kidney bean table which also was my “desk”) was super helpful for them. I also had lots of extras of these that I loaned out to teachers.