106. The Counseling Game Closet: Easy Group Games for Spring Energy25, 2:59:23 PM

Carol: You're listening to the Counselor Chat podcast, a show for school counselors looking for easy to implement strategies, how to tips, collaboration, and a little spark of joy. I'm Carol Miller, your host.

I'm a full time school counselor and the face behind counseling essentials. I'm all about creating simplified systems, data driven practices, and using creative approaches to engage students. If you're looking for a little inspiration to help you make a big impact on student growth and success, you're in the right place.

Because we're better together. Ready to chat. Let's dive in.

Carol: Hey there, counselor friends. Welcome back to another episode of Counselor Chat. I am so glad that you're here with us today. And this is for those of you that are just joining us.

It's the podcast where we kind of tackle all things school counseling. We throw in a little dash of strategy, a sprinkle of sarcasm from time to time, and the occasional I can't believe that happened today moment.

I'm your host, Carol, and today we are unlocking the holy grail of school counselor survival, the counseling game Closet. You know, the one for some of you, it might be neatly labeled, maybe it's even really Pinterest worthy.

And it looks beautiful.

Or for those of you that are more like me more realistically, it's a chaotic shelf where your Uno cards, your stress balls, and that Connect 4 game with only three red checkers that are left live in fragile harmony.

Either way, that closet, it holds magic. And today we're diving into how you can use easy, low prep group games to channel all that wild spring energy into something positive, purposeful, and actually kind of fun.

So, my friends, grab your clipboard, your favorite fidget toy, or maybe that one last mystery game piece you've been meaning to return to its box. Because we're going in.

But before we really start diving into our our closet full of games, let's actually start talking about the why. Why should we lean into games this time of year?

Because it's spring. That's why the students are hyped up. The weather is, for the most part warm, the classroom AC units are broken, or if you live up north like I do, the heaters have been turned off for the year.

It's rainy, it's moist, and you can't get outside.

But despite all this spring energy, it's real.

And it's not always pretty. But games.

Games give us structure, they give us connection, and they definitely help with engagement. And they let us sneak in some skill, building under the guise of fun. That's Right. It's cell in disguise.

It's regulation wrapped in recess. It's team building without the trust falls.

So let's talk about some go to games.

These are the easy to run low prep and I think the high impact games that are perfect for your small groups,

some classroom lessons, or those kids that just drop in and want to have a little fun. The first one that is so low prep is and really easy to do is feeling charades because all you have to do is write some feeling words on index cards.

Maybe it's happy, frustrated, embarrassed, shy.

You can name them and let your students act them out silently while the others guest.

Then you can debrief what when have you felt that, what helps when you feel that way and why this works well. It's great for emotional vocabulary, for empathy, and for impulse control because my friends, there is no blurting allowed when we're playing feeling charades.

Another low prep game is a coping skills memory match.

It's so easy to just make some cards, half with the coping skills like maybe deep breathing or talking to an adult,

getting a drink of water,

and the other half with either emotions or scenarios. Once again, these are easy things that you can make yourself and you're just going to have students flip two at a time and try to find a match.

Then you could talk about when they've used those strategies themselves.

And if you're asking why it works well, it teaches healthy coping and it gives you a minute to sip that coffee while they're concentrating.

There's also the would you rather counseling edition. Would you rather have a best friend who listens or one who makes you laugh?

Would you rather fail a test or forget your lines and apply and then let them vote with the thumbs up or walk to one side of the room then ask follow ups.

I love the would you rather for classroom lessons this time of year? Because it does get them up and moving, especially when you know they're all looking out the window just hoping that they can go outside.

At least this gives them a little movement as you're talking about the things that you want to talk about and why this works well. It encourages decision making,

perspective taking, and you can even have some pretty hilarious debates.

I also love the compliment circle, but with a twist.

So here's what you have to do. You're going to have students toss like a softball or something kind of squishy and give a compliment to the person they toss to.

You can even add some music and play it like a positivity, positivity, hot potato and whoever has the item when the music ends has to say something kind about someone else.

This is fun and I love doing this with my small groups. And if the weather is warm enough, this is one that we can definitely take outside.

And why this works well, it builds community and it really reinforces positive peer interaction.

And if you're talking about self esteem, when kids are giving other kids a compliment,

that is a big self esteem booster. Plus it's just plain heartwarming.

Another fan fave in my office is the scenario Freeze. This is where you present a problem. Maybe it's like conflict at recess.

Or maybe have them act out a conflict that they're having within a group that's working together on a project.

Then ask students to act out a response.

Then what you're going to do is you're going to yell freeze.

And talk about what's going on well and what could be different right then and there in that situation.

This is great for both classrooms and small groups.

As a bonus and I would use this, maybe with older, the upper level kids, you can let other students jump in after you yell freeze and have them try a new ending.

And why this works well, you're really actively role playing without the awkwardness of a full skit. This really is great for practicing your conflict resolution skills.

Now what about those quick games for when you've got no time or patience? Because let's be honest, some days your group walks in and you've got zero prep five minutes and a to do list longer than your CVS receipt.

Well, here are your emergency go tos Four Corners.

Not only is it great for your small groups, it it is perfect for your class lessons.

For Four Corners, it's super easy. You just label each corner of the room with a response. Maybe it's I agree, I disagree sometimes or I'm not sure.

Then read a statement. It's okay to be angry and have students move to a corner and explain their thinking.

This is fast, it's interactive and it's definitely thought provoking.

You can use Four Corners for a variety of topics and I have definitely used them. We are doing a safety unit right now. Personal Safety. We're using it with Personal Safety.

We have also used it with our conflict resolution, our emotions unit, I mean, and our study skills. So you name it, you can make the questions for the four corners.

Another quick activity is the emotion Detective where you're going to have one student silently choose an emotion and the others will ask yes or no questions to figure it out.

Think, is it something you feel at school, would it make someone cry? This is a short and sweet and even a sneaky way to sneak in emotional literacy.

So think of this as 20 questions,

but emotion style.

Another one is pass the emoji. Because I have all kinds of emojis in my rooms from little like beanbag emotions or cards.

You name it, I have something with emojis on it. And what you can do is you can either pass around like an emoji pillow if you have one, or a deck of cards and give each kind of kid a card.

And once again, it's like musical chairs. When the music stop or the timer dings the student who's holding the card or the pillow, they're going to name a time they felt that emotion.

If you're using cards, it's kind of neat because you never know what emotion you're going to have if everyone has one. And it gets everyone the opportunity to share out and to participate.

It really is like musical chairs, but this is way more therapeutic.

So let's wrap up with some pro tips for making your game time work for you and not the other way around. The big thing, I think when you're playing a game is to always have a debrief because the magic isn't just in the game, it really is in the reflection.

I always like to ask the what did we just do?

Why did we do it?

And what does this have to do with our future? How can we use it later on?

But just asking, what did you notice? How did it feel? What would you do differently next time? Perhaps having that debrief. That's where the learning really takes place.

And it's also important, I think, to really let the students lead. When possible,

you can assign a game captain or a rule checker because that also builds leadership and it gives you a break from saying, okay, eyes on me 42 times in the group or the lesson.

The other thing that I think that you can do is to always keep a portable game kit for this time of the year. It's nice to be able to take things outside when you can.

So fill a tote with uno, a feelings cube, some post it notes, stress ball, and maybe a few index card games.

It's instant sell on the go.

And my friends, don't be afraid to end early because if the energy shifts, just wrap it up. We don't want to take because sometimes their little bodies get too excited and we want to wrap it up before they get to the.

They just cross the line into chaotic and it's okay to end on a good note because after all, that's the best counseling decision of the day. A good note.

And then you can steer the conversation or the the game in another direction. So just be aware of those energy shifts.

So there you have it. Your crash course in game powered counseling for spring. Because my friends, when the energy is high, attention spans are low, and everyone's counting down to summer break,

games just give us a chance to connect, to build skills and keep things fun without losing are marvels.

So thank you for joining me today on Counselor Chat. If you have a favorite Go to Counseling game, I'd really I'd love to hear all about it. Send me an email or DM me on Instagram @cosselingessentials and maybe I'll do a listener favorite episode.

Until next time, keep that game closet stocked, your coffee cup fall and your patience on standby.

I hope you all have a great week. Until next time. Bye for now.

Carol: Thanks for listening to today's episode of Counselor Chat. All of the links I talked about can be found in the show notes and at counselingessentials.org podcast. Be sure to hit follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast player and if you would be so kind to leave.

Carol: A review, I'd really appreciate it.

Carol: Want to connect? Send me a DM on Facebook or Instagram at Counseling Essentials. Until next time. Can't wait till we chat.

Carol: Bye for now.