I Spy Bottles to go in Coping Skill Boxes

Making I spy bottles is fun, fun, fun! The kids have loved dying the rice, choosing their trinkets to go inside, and to stare at their bottles to find each object.  I started by having each child hold a baggy with rice in it.  I poured about 1T of white vinegar and a small squirt of food coloring to the rice.  They would then squish the rice around until it was fully colored.  Then we poured it out onto paper towels to dry. After it was completely dry, we mixed the colors together. *Note, I discovered the hard way: don’t mix the rice until it is fully dry otherwise it turns and ugly brown color.

At a later session, I had the kids choose trinkets to go inside their bottles.  I used small water bottles with the wrapper removed.  You can certainly go with a large bottle, but it will take more supplies and not fit so nicely in the coping skill box. I had sequins, beads, brads, rubber bands, paper clips, and googly eyes.  You can really use anything that is small enough to fit in the bottle.  I enjoy giving them choices.  If you better at planning, you can make a list of items that they put in the bottle so that they will know what they are searching for. 

After they filled their bottles I used superglue to attach the lid to the bottle.  I have in the past had kids dump the contents at home, which the parents didn’t enjoy too much! Many of the kids have come back and talked about how they used their bottles to calm down when upset. 

Play Dough as a Coping Skill and to Process Emotions

Children process emotions in many ways, but usually best through play.  It takes time to develop an emotional vocabulary and to mature to the point to use it.  In the meantime, play can help facilitate processing emotions and communicating with caregivers.  Before children can adequately communicate feelings, they need to calm down strong emotions.  Play dough is a great tool for this! Let’s explore some options:

 Squeezing.  I encourage children to squeeze the play dough so that it oozes out of their fingers.  They typically enjoy this activity because it if fun, but it also is a sudden release of energy.  Anger builds up as energy that needs to be released to help calm down.  There are many options for letting out emotional energy, such as exercise, squeezing a pillow, stress ball, etc.; however, play dough is fun!  I also like the tactile aspect of using play dough.  Multi sensory play incorporates using grounding techniques in calming down.

Smashing.  Similar to squeezing, it is another way to let out strong emotions.  They can either create things and then smash them or just smash balls of play dough. 

Feelings Faces.  Kids who lack an emotional vocabulary can use play dough to communicate feelings.  They can use pieces of play dough to form feelings faces, they can squish a ball of play dough and carve out facial expressions, or they can use cookie cutters to stamp out feelings faces.  A friend of mine was selling some super cute emoji cookie cutters from Pampered Chef that I couldn’t pass up.  They are a hit with the kids!  They also stack up and click together to make storage easy.

Cutting with Scissors. Have you every cut play dough with scissors?  If not, you are missing out!  There is something strangely gratifying about it. I have found the children who have a history of trauma are especially intrigued by it. I’m not sure why, but they seem to love it.

Characters. Sometimes I will form little people out of play dough and encourage kids to act out situations with them.  It can be helpful to process frustrations about a situation, fears, or anything that is causing strong emotions.  Consider this example: A child comes in and says, “Tommy made me so mad that I want to punch him!”  I could give him a couple of play dough figures (or he could create them) and ask him to act out what happened.  He could then role play with the figures to demonstrate the situation. It would also give me the opportunity to help them process not only what happened, but to ask what he thinks would solve the situation, discuss what he did say or do, what he could have said or done, etc.  It opens the door for dialogue.

Creative Play.  Most children enjoy being creative, building and designing things.  As they play I look for themes in what they are doing.  I usually will watch for a while and then ask questions and I pick up on themes.  Sometimes you will see a child venting anger through play.  Or sometimes you may hear a cry for help.  They will often act out issues that are heavy on their hearts, such as feeling rejected and desiring friends, or fear of being hurt.  Many times they will act as a superhero overcoming difficult situations.  There is usually something to be learned by quietly watching a child play.

I hope these tips are helpful.  I am a strong believer in helping children learn many ways to cope.  Play dough has been good to me.  It is one tool that can be used in many ways.  This is not a comprehensive list, but a few ideas that I have used in my counseling room.  

Thought Crashers

I created this game about a year and a half ago and have been playing it with kids since then.  I have been pleasantly surprised at how much they enjoy it!  The first counseling game I designed was Cognitive Distortions.  It works well with older elementary kids and middle school kids, but younger kids really didn't get it.  I created this game to appeal to younger kids.  (However, my middle school clients like it as well!)

I try in every way that I can to use CBT techniques with my clients, as I believe they are effective to lasting change and good outcomes.  Teaching kids to understand CBT principles can be very challenging!  This game was designed to help children identify self-talk, irrational thought patterns, and to help kids learn how to modify their thoughts. 

This game puts Cognitive Behavioral Therapy skills in a play format.  Let's face it.  Children really do not typically sit still to talk about self talk and thought patterns! But they are willing to learn when it is presented through play.  

Check out the game on my website: www.pathwaystopeacecounseling.com.
It is also available for sale at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Thought-Crashers-1745244

You can also find our games on Amazon and Ebay.

The Trail of Fears

 

There's no better time than October to address fears and anxiety with children.  They are surrounded by monsters, ghosts, and triggers to fears.  For some children this is a fun and enjoyable time of year.  For others, it is full of fear and anxiety.  Children often struggle to separate fantasy from reality and anticipate the villains from movies to appear in their rooms at night.

This game incorporates CBT to help children challenge irrational thoughts and to learn coping skills to overcome anxiety.  I always love to play games in sessions, as children will answer questions asked by a game that they would hesitate to answer if I asked it directly.  And it is fun!

You can find it at my website, www.pathwaystopeacecounseling.com or my Teachers Pay Teachers store: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Pathways-To-Peace-Counseling-Resources
You can also find our games on Amazon and Ebay

Cognitive Distortions

I am super excited to introduce you to this game.  I created it about 6 months ago and have been playing it with clients since then.  I originally created it for my own use, but figured since I put in the work, I might as well share it with others. The reason I created this game is because there are very few CBT games available.  Those that are available come with a hefty price tag!  My goal is to help clinicians get resources without breaking the bank.  Take a look and let me know what you think!  I value your input.


This game highlights seven different cognitive distortions: global labels, blaming, mind-reading, magnifying, filtering, controlling, and catastrophizing.  There are 2 sheets of game cards (24 cards) for each of the 7 cognitive distortions.  3 cards are purposely left blank so that you have the opportunity to customize the game with some of your own questions.

Cut lines are printed on the cards.  It is recommended that you laminate the game cards and game board before using them so that they will be more durable.

The game comes with 6 pawns and 1 die.  It also includes instructions.  To play, you begin at the center of the board and follow the trail to the top left corner of the board.  Each symbol on the board represents a cognitive distortion and will have cards with a matching symbol.  The player draws a card with the corresponding symbol to the space they land on.   The first player to reach the end wins.

Please keep in mind that this is a process oriented game.  There may be questions that trigger an emotional response from your client.  Please feel free to take your time and allow children to ask questions and discuss times that they experienced these cognitive distortions.  The goal is for them to learn and to correct negative thinking.

Are you interested in purchasing the game?  No printing required...just purchase it online and I will ship it to you. Visit my store at www.pathwaystopeacecounseling.com for either a digital download or a hard copy.
It is also available on Teachers Pay Teachers. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Cognitive-Distortions-1500410

Please keep checking back.  I have more games in the works.  I have 1 for elementary aged children that is also cognitive behavioral, but in simpler terms. I also have one that I use for children that have been adopted or are in foster care.  It addresses abandonment issues.