Michelle's Pixie Dust

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Communication Practice with Catch Phrase!

This week, I used the game "catch phrase" to stimulate some communication development in my groups. The kids had a blast!

Summary of play:

I wrote down a variety of words on little slips of paper. I used about 100 words for groups of 6. The words were people, places and things. I picked words that I believed to be the most relevant to high schoolers.

I put the slips of paper into an envelope.

At the beginning of group, we discussed communication and why it was important in friendships. We also discussed what makes communication difficult. Then it was game time!

I had them get into pairs. One member pulls a word from the envelope. Without saying the actual word, they try and get their partner to guess what their word is. When they guess it, the same person pulls out another word and continues. The goal is to see how many words the other person can guess in 60 seconds.

Each pair takes a turn, then the guesser becomes the person who draws a word.

We played for about 30 minutes and then tallied up the points.

We closed the group session by discussing ways that we could improve our communication skills.

You can find full instructions for the game and some great printable word lists at The Game Gal.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Creative Therapy: Why I Won't "Fall" for Drugs

This is a super simple activity I did to kick of the Fall season. The kids had a lot of fun doing this at lunch time. I hung the finished product in the hall at school so the kids could check out why everyone else wasn't going to "Fall" for drugs.

Why I Won't "Fall" for Drugs

Purpose: For students to discover personal reasons why they don't want to use drugs and for students to examine the reasons why fellow students don't want to use drugs.

Materials:

Leaf cut outs (I got mine at Dollar Tree, they are actually doilies)

Pens or Markers

Tree trunk and branches cut out from butcher or construction paper

Tape

Directions:

Have the students write a reason why they won't "Fall" for drugs.

Set up your tree and leaf display where all students can see it.

Prompts:

If students are having trouble coming up with ideas, the following questions could be used:

What would your family think if you used drugs?

How would your friends feel if you used drugs?

How would you feel about yourself if you used drugs?

Would you be able to play sports or get a good job if you used drugs?

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Creative Therapy: Different and the Same

This is an activity I did with my grief and loss group. I have posted the pictures before, but here I will describe the activity in more detail.

Different and the Same

Purpose: To let students express creativity while learning the concept that we are all different, but an important part of something bigger. The "bigger" could be a sense of community, family, group of friends or part of a school.

Materials:
Small canvas tiles for each student
A picture cut into equal pieces for each student
Paints or markers
Block or something to mount your finished product

Directions:
Before the group, cut the photo into equal squares (it helps to number each piece)
Give each student a piece of the picture.
Instruct the students to re-create exactly what is on their piece of the photo onto the tile.
When the students are finished, put the pieces of the picture together and admire your finished product!

Discussion Questions:
What are some ways we are different from each other?
Why is it important to be part of something bigger?
How would our finished product look if we were missing a piece?
List one unique quality about yourself.

Creative Therapy Labels

As most of you know, I work with kids and teens providing substance abuse education and treatment. I have been working hard to incorporate more creative therapies into my group and individual sessions. From now on I am going to try and post the majority of my activities on the blog.

Some of the activities involve art, others are games. Right now I facilitate groups for grief and loss, social skills, anger management, friendship building and at-risk youth groups. Once a month I try to do a lunch time activity with kids about substance abuse prevention.

I hope some of the teachers, counselors and parents find these activities fun and useful!

Here are the links to posts I have already labeled as "Creative Therapy", enjoy!

The Learning Tree
Halloween Kids Game (Web of Lies)
Valentine's Drug-Free Activity