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.

How to "POP" negative thoughts.

It's October and the weather has been beautiful!  One nice days I find myself looking for reasons to take kids outside to enjoy the day and break out of the monotony of everyday life.  This week I brought a bubble blower and told my clients to imagine that the bubbles were negative thoughts.  They had a great time "popping" negative thoughts and ridding themselves from upsetting feelings.

After a few minutes of popping bubbles, we sat down and made some cards with various thoughts.  We wrote things like:

• "I can't do anything right." 
• "I don't have any friends."
• "I am great at math." 
• "I'm going to fail my spelling test."
• "I am able to do great things if I try."

I encouraged the children to come up with new ideas to put on the cards.  Some children really struggled with this and others were writing down ideas faster that I could!  For those who struggled, I took some extra time to help them grasp the concepts.

I made one index card that said "Keep" and one that said "Pop."  I had the kids sort through the stack of cards into the two piles.  Once they were sorted, we worked on changing the "pop" stack into healthy self-talk.   They were able to identify that the best way to get rid of negative thoughts is to fill their minds with positive thoughts.  I also had the kids process how they would feel thinking the various thoughts and how the positive thoughts change their mood.

I love activities like this because children will forget the things I tell them, but when they see bubbles, they will remember to pop negative thoughts!  I want to them to always have triggers to carry with them to help them to remember to use the coping skills they have learned in counseling.  I hope this intervention works in your practice as well!