So many games, so little counseling sessions
Yeah right! As a school psychologist I am often counseling students on IEPs weekly...for an entire school year! Before I started making my own games, worksheets, and other activities, I was stressing out week to week, as my students dwindled down my low supply stash of games and activities. This was before TpT even existed, so any fun in counseling that my students had was purely physical board games that I purchased for $30 a pop. Hence the low supply.
As I started my journey of converting regular games, such as Jenga, Candyland, and UNO into focused counseling activities, my supply increased exponentially. Having something novel, fun, and instructional to do that can help target my students’ counseling goals is never a problem for me anymore. Yippie!
Are you looking for some fresh game activities to do with your counseling students?
Here are a few of the many games that I have created to support helping my students, and YOURS with COPING SKILLS!
Just click on the pictures to learn more about the game!!!
1. Coping Skills JENGA
Jenga up your counseling sessions! This game turns regular JENGA into Therapy that focuses on learning and practicing coping skills, such as breathing strategies, changing negative thinking patterns, visualization, and thinking about triggers for sadness or anxiety.
Can be used with students in grades K-12!!!
Its a super simple, fun, and easy game for working on coping skills with your counseling students. Just number your own Jenga (or imitation) Jenga #s 1-30, and you’re ready to go! As students pull pieces read the corresponding prompt or question related to improving coping skills.
2. Coping Skills Candy Land
Teach students about using Coping Skills and have them practice different skills, such as breathing techniques, counting, and more with this fun Candy Land Board game! Kids are always having to deal with their Big Emotions at school, and they aren’t always using positive coping skills, which leads to behaviors. Help your students learn which strategies will work best for them, so that they can better cope with stress, sadness, or anxiety. This game is a fun and easy way to work on teaching your counseling students skills for regulating their emotions.
****Also Included… A Printable “Color Land” gameboard for if you do not own your own Candy Land!!!***
Great for grades K-5.
Directions
- Play Candy Land as you normal would with 1-4 students.
- As they pick cards, read the related prompt.
- Use the prompts and questions to help facilitate discussions about their emotions, behaviors, and using coping skills.
- Have fun!
3. Coping Skills BINGO
4. Coping Skills UNO
Help your students with anxiety, depression, negative though patterns poor anger management, and poor emotional regulation to learn and practice COPING SKILLS with this fun UNO game. This game helps to reinforce lessons about coping skills that you have provided with your counseling sessions and makes it a little FUN. Just color-print, and your ready to go.
I’ve used this and the other therapy UNO games with students as young as Kindergarten, but it can work for students win Middle or High School as well.
Directions:
Just play Uno as you normally would, and as the students put their cards down, read the corresponding prompt or question. Prompts and questions are designed to help students learn coping strategies, practice coping skills, facilitate discussions, and think about what strategies they can use when feeling sad, angry, anxious, frustrated, etc., particularly at school.
5. Coping Skills Playing Cards
Help your counseling students work on learning and practicing coping skills with this easy to play card game. Just print out the game and use a regular deck of cards. Your students will love talking about when they have used coping skills and will have fun practicing some of the fundamental breathing strategies with the additional breathing cards. Prompts help facilitate discussions about situations when they will use coping strategies in the future.
To Play:
•Give students playing each 7 cards (and yourself if you want.)
•Put a random card down.
•Have students take turns putting down a card of the same suit, or a card that is a number the same or higher than the card on the table.
•As students put their cards down, read the corresponding prompt.
•If a student can’t put a card down, have them draw 2 cards, but skip their turn.
•Play until the session is over, or THE DECK runs out of cards.
6. Coping Skills Sticky Situations Card Game
Help your students with learning COPING SKILLS in your counseling sessions with this fun and easy card game. Good for students with a variety of emotional and behavioral difficulties related to poor emotional regulation. Very low prep. Just print and cut out cards to play. Use individually with one student, or in a small group.
For 2-4 Players
To play:
Shuffle all Situation and Positive/Negative Coping Skills Cards and place the Situation Cards face down in the middle of the table. There are 40 Situation cards with a variety of stressful school and peer related scenarios.
Then deal out all of the Positive/Negative Coping Skills Cards face down in front of all players.
For each round, flip one situation card and read it to the students. The students will then flip over the card on the top of their own pile and read it (or the counselor can read it) aloud and decide if it is a positive or negative coping strategy.
If the Situation card indicates an “P” for a Positive Coping Strategy, the students with a Positive Coping Skills card earn a point. If the card indicated an “N” for Negative Coping Skills, then the students with a Negative Coping Skill card earn a point. Use the score card to keep score for each game.
7. The Coping Skills Board Game
Help your students learn and practice COPING SKILLS with this EASY and FUN board game! Coping Skills can help your counseling students with difficulties in areas of ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, and EMOTIONAL REGULATION.
Just print the game board, laminate and attach into a classic square shape. Students land on stars for positive coping strategies and question prompts and an X for negative coping strategies (hitting, lying, elopement, unhealthy habits, etc.)
8. The Wheel of Colors Coping Skills Game
Practice Coping skills and thinking about coping strategies with your counseling students with this game for Elementary School students. Makes learning about emotional regulation, anger management, and managing stress and anxiety fun and engaging for kids.
Play with 2-5 students.
Directions:
To play, print the Color Wheel and score card and playing cards. Students pick their color for each round. Then pull a card and read the prompts related to the color each student picked. Give the students a point for each response….and have fun!
9. The Coping Skills Shapes Game (For TK- 3rd Grades)
This game is essentially the same game as the Coping Skills BINGO game, but made easier for younger students, or student with disabilities.
All of these GAMES, plus Art Activities, Social Stories, Worksheets, and Videos for a FULL COPING SKILLS CURRICULUM! This curriculum makes planning easy by providing a weekly plan for your sessions. This can make your life as a counselor easier. Just download, and print out any worksheets or games needed for fun and engaging counseling sessions for your students.
If you just need a few games or activities, then you can check out the Coping Skills Mini-BUNDLE. Just Click on the Pics!
