Page 27 - 101 SEL Activities

Would You Say That To A Friend? (5+)
Time: 2-5minutes
Purpose: To identify and shift unhelpful thinking patterns.
Instructions: When your child says something unkind or unhelpful to themself ask them if they would say that to a friend? Have them come up with something more helpful or kind. The important thing here is that they say something they can still believe. Over time and with practice, their thoughts will become more kind. For example: your child says, “Ugh I can’t do anything right!”
Ultimately, we would like them to recognize their own effort and things they can feel good about. However, they may not believe “I am talented and work hard.” just yet, so help them find something more helpful such as, “Just because I feel like I can’t do anything right doesn’t mean it’s true.” As parents we want to swoop in to “fix” and say, “You are amazing! Are you kidding me? Look what a great job you did,” etc. HOWEVER, if they can’t believe that for themselves or see all the wonderfulness we see, we need to teach them. Ask yourself, “Am I fixing or teaching?” If you keep “fixing” you aren’t teaching.
Body Builder (5+)
Time: 10-15minutes
Purpose: This activity can help your child identify their strengths and build their confidence.
Instructions: Take turns naming different qualities your child possesses and write them down in a list. Make sure you have authentic examples for why you are choosing each quality. You want your child to be able to identify qualities about themselves. Make sure to include 1-2 areas of weakness. Once you complete the list, start to use the words to fill in their body. Let them see how all these qualities make up the complete person!
See Figure 7: Page 22
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