Play Therapy in Schools

I've recently had the privilege of speaking to a Counseling Children class at my university about the practical uses of play therapy in schools.Play therapy is often viewed as something that only clinical counselors can do. It's seen as being too time consuming and a poor use of a school counselor's time. These statements, however, could not be further from the truth!

Imagine that someone in an authority role came up to you and started asking you to do something in a language that you could not understand or comprehend. You most likely would not know what to say in response, and would be at a loss of what you were expected to do. Using talk therapy with children can sometimes come across this way too.

Play is a child's first language. Using play therapy allows the child to express themselves in an alternative, more comfortable way. Children learn about their world through play, and are able to manipulate their world on a smaller scale to work through their own issues. We have been taught to meet the children where they are. If they are most comfortable in speaking "play", why should we not meet them where they are?

As stated by Blanco and Ray in their article, Play Therapy in Elementary Schools: A Best Practice for Improving Academic Achievement,  “Play therapy allows child to overcome emotional limitations that were hindering expression of intelligence and released the child to demonstrate full potential (2009).” Play therapy helps kids succeed academically by helping to remove emotional barriers. 

So, how can you use play therapy as a school counselor, and still keep your sanity?? Below are some ideas!

Puppets

• Interview puppets about child
• Make up stories with puppets 
• “impulsive puppy”- Classroom puppet who teaches students how use whole body listening
• "Which puppet are you? Why?" 
• Create your own puppets
• Finger puppets - cut tips off cheap gloves, attach googly eyes, yarn hair, construction paper  (or felt) clothes
• paper bag puppets- decorate with markers, lightweight materials
• Puppet shows
• Shy students can hide behind puppet theater
• Have student puppeteers present to classes on important issues
• Introduce new topics to class using puppet shows
• Shoe box for finger puppets, trifold board or turned over table to bigger puppets

Play Dough

• Create a feeling using dough - what does sad look like to you?
• Make yourself from dough - what do you like about yourself? What, if anything, do you wish you could change?
• Take out aggression- punch, squeeze, hammer, etc
• Energy outlet while talking- gives hands something to do while mouth does the talking

Sand Tray

• Create your world - who is in your world? what are they doing?
• Make a story - tell me a story about a time when you ___.
• Who do they introduce? Do they leave out anyone seemingly important? Where are objects placed in relation to one another?
• Ask questions - why did you choose a __ for yourself? How does that make (sand tray character) feel?
• Suggest changes (what would happen if…)

Games

• Social skills - taking turns, patience, being a good sport, following the rules
• Get-to know you games 
• connect 4- for each token you drop, say one thing that you like
• Jinga - put talking prompts on each wooden block, answer prompt as the block is chosen
• Uno- assign color cards to prompts

Expressive Arts

• Drawing- 
• Draw your family doing something 
• Family accolades- who is the happiest? is anyone sad?
• Draw a time when you felt… 
• Color your life- feelings assigned to color
• ex. pizza- cheese= yellow= happiness. Pepperoni= red= Anger.
• Zentangle- relaxation, concentration (http://www.zentangle.com/)
• Music- give or create instruments 
• What does sad sound like? 
• How angry did that make you?

Other Play Techniques

• Play house - who is there? who is not? what happens in each room, etc
• Toss ‘n Talk ball individual or group prompts
• toss ball while talking (great with boys)
• Mask collage
• outside- what you show the world
• inside- what are you hiding from the world
• Shared Drawing- if drawing with a child, ask what and how you should draw.  
• Narrative (create story of life) 
• large sheet of paper, draw big events of life, walk through and talk about each event
• Basketball hoop in office- talk while shooting hoops! Or answer prompts to shoot the ball x number of times.

Counseling Boys

I attended a counselor training that provided a lot of great ideas for working with boys. The speaker was Michael Gurian, Founder of the Gurian Institute (http://gurianinstitute.com/). He discussed how a male's brain is very different from a female's brain. For example, when a female's brain is in a resting/bored state, about half of her brain is still active (I cant remember the exact stats...). For a male's brain in a resting/bored state, nearly his entire brain shuts down (minus what he HAS to have to survive). Obviously, it would be difficult to talk to a male student when his brain has shut down, so here are some tips to remember when working with boys:

• Talk shoulder to shoulder instead of face to face. Allow the boy to not make eye contact with you.
• Toss a ball while talking. Do any kind of work while moving an object through space. "Tossing a ball opens the windows of the boy's soul" -M.Gurian
• Walk and talk
• Talk about things in your environment. Find similarities between an object in the environment and the situation. 
• Do not discuss a behavior incident immediately after it occurs. Try to wait several hours if possible. If you must talk to him right away, give him a few minutes of physical activity/service to do to allow him time to privately process the events. If he does not have this period of time to process the events, he may not be able to completely recall what has happened or how he felt (because of how the male brain works).
• Have male teachers from school lead a boy's group for struggling boys. They can discuss things that a female counselor could never completely understand. The counselor could come up with a suggested group agenda if needed.(male mentors at school)
• Use expressive arts
• Less verbal praise for general behavior, more praise for achievements or accomplishments
• Hang boy-friendly pictures up in the office (sports, insects, etc)
• Have an object for the boy to squeeze while talking to you (nerf ball, playdough)
• Give the boy responsibilities (at school and at home)
• If completing a writing assignment, allow them to draw a picture of the topic first. This provides the much needed visual aid to help them process the written assignment.
• This one was emphasized over and over: USE VISUALS! Group discussions should have a picture to reference. Use charts and diagrams. Give handouts. Watch video clips. Use Powerpoint presentations.
• Set goals and objectives.
• Ask what their father figure would say in any given situation
• Use humor.
• Dont try to talk to a boy while he is crying. Give him processing time

Mr.Potato Head- classroom management

Introducing: Mr.Potato Head! I have used this as a visual for whole body listening. At start of a classroom guidance or small group lesson, discuss what ears, eyes, mouth, hands, brain (hat), and bottom should be doing, adding body parts as you discuss. If you notice that kids are not using their body appropriately during the group or class, remove that part of Mr.Potato head. Replace when you have everyone's attention again. 

At the end of class, if Mr.Potato Head has all of his parts, give the class a compliment when their teacher arrives to pick them up, or another agreed upon incentive. For smaller groups, you could pass around Mr.Potato Head at the end. 

(I believe the original Mr.Potato Head classroom management strategy came from here, but please correct me if I'm wrong!)
How would you use Mr.Potato Head?






(Inspiration for Mr.Potato Head from here)

Random Acts of Kindness Week

Random Acts of Kindness week is Feb. 11-17. My Secret Service Group will be helping me during the RAK week, as they are the experts in the field! We have decided to start off each day with morning announcements. 

Our main Random Acts of Kindness activity will be a school-wide RAK bulletin board. My Secret Service agents suggested that we decorate the bulletin board with paper people chains, so that everyone is "holding hands" and showing kindness! Their homework this weekend was to make the chains so I can staple them on the board! 

All students at the school are invited to participate in RAK week. When students complete a RAK, they will write (or draw) on a heart cut-out about what they did. The hearts will then all be posted on a bulletin board. I am excited to see the bulletin board fill up with hearts this week! I will also be adding pictures of students helping other students.

Random Acts of Kindness week morning announcements:

Monday:

Good morning! This is ____ from Ms.____’s class. This week is National Random Acts of Kindness week. We perform Random Acts of Kindness when we go beyond what is expected of us and reach out to help another person. There are three simple steps to performing a Random Act of Kindness.

• The first step is to find out what another person needs. For example, Sally has her hands full and she needs to open the door to get to her class.
• The second step is to think about how you would feel if you had that need. You might feel frustrated if your hands were full and you could not easily open the door by yourself.  
• The final step to performing a Random Act of Kindness is to offer your help. Hold the door open and let Sally enter.

There are hundreds of ways to show someone that you care. This week, look for opportunities to show that you care by performing Random Acts of Kindness.

Tuesday:

Good morning! This is ____ from Ms.____’s class. Today is the second day of National Random Acts of Kindness week. Today’s message is about Kindness and empathy.  Kindness and empathy are very closely related: kindness is simply empathy in action. When we understand how someone feels and then do something about it, we are showing kindness. Even if you sometimes do not think that anyone notices when you are being kind, remember the words of the Ancient Storyteller, Aesop. “No act of Kindness, however small, will go unnoticed”.

Wednesday:

Good morning! This is ____ from Ms.____’s class. Today is the third day of National Random Acts of Kindness week. Today’s message is about showing appreciation to those who help you. Appreciation is when you are thankful for what someone else has done for you. Do you have a friend that you can always depend on? Has one of your teachers taken the extra time to help you learn something new? Try to find the time today to say thank you to the people who mean the most to you. Remember: a simple “thank you” can go a long way!

Thursday:

Good morning! This is ____ from Ms.____’s class. Today is the fourth day of National Random Acts of Kindness week. Today’s message is about making and keeping friends. One study found that children who performed Random Acts of Kindness felt more accepted by their classmates, and had more friends than the children who did not perform Random Acts of Kindness. When you are kind to others, more people want to be around you.  Being kind to others is one of the best ways to make and keep friends! How will you show kindness to kids in your class today?

 (adapted from: National Public Radio)

Friday:

Good morning! This is ____ from Ms.____’s class. Today is the final day of National Random Acts of Kindness week. Today’s message is about passing kindness on.  When we do kind things for people, they feel so good about what we did that they often do kind acts for others. As kindness is passed on from one person to another, an outward ripple effect is created, like a raindrop that falls into water.  In this way, one Random Act of Kindness can be passed on and on, bringing happiness to many others. Anthropologist Margaret Mead once said, “Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.” Thanks to all the students and staff for helping to make this a great week. Now let’s all work together to pass the kindness on throughout our school and into our community.
(adapted from: Randomactsofkindness.org)

Other runner-up ideas for RAK week:

• Bulletin board in the main hallway for teachers, parents, and students to write a note to someone who has made their day, or to thank someone for what they have done. Pens would be attached to the bulletin board so people could write something when passing through.
• Valentines Day theme: get the whole school involved by having all students write on a heart diecut any time they see someone performing a RAK. Put the hearts up on the board. My Secret Service group had the idea of creating a border for the bulletin board by making and decorating paper chain people holding hands. 
• Morning announcements with a positive quote to start the day
• Graffiti positive quotes on the sidewalks with sidewalk chalk  
• Mirrorless Monday - promoting self-esteem. Be kind to yourself.
• Pay it Forward (starting with a few people doing RAK's, watching it spread through the school. Haven't worked out the kinks yet. Please let me know if you have a similar idea!)
• RAK board- all students have the option of participating in. For the entire week, students will try to complete every activity on their board, and turn in their completed board to their teacher at the end of the week.

Confessions of a Former Bully Lessons

I just got the book, "Confessions of a Former Bully" by Trudy Ludwig, and I have already used it several times!

Here's the book description:

"After Katie gets caught teasing a schoolmate, she's told to meet with Mrs. Petrowski, the school counselor, so she can make right her wrong and learn to be a better friend. Bothered at first, it doesn't take long before Katie realizes that bullying has hurt not only the people around her, but her, too. Told from the unusual point of view of the bullier rather than the bullied, Confessions of a Former Bully provides kids with real life tools they can use to identify and stop relational aggression."

So far, the 3rd and 4th grade girls that I have used this with really seemed to grasp the concepts. This opened the door to talk about the motives behind one girl's bullying behaviors, helped another girl understand ways that she could help when she is a bystander, helped a girl begin to see what the good and bad qualities of a friend are, and gave some useful strategies for another girl who is often the target of teasing. While this book could easily be read from cover to cover, I have been using it more as a reference book depending on the specific situation. I could see this book being the topic of a girls small group, discussing a few pages at a time.

Once concept in the book talks about using "empower" tools as a way of dealing with bullying/teasing. I created these cards as a takeaway for kids, using the same wording from the book and clipart of the tools that correspond with the book.

Empathy and Perspectives Lesson

I did a lesson with 4th graders on empathy and seeing a situation from another person's perspective. We discussed how two people in the same situation can see things completely different. 

To emphasize this point, I had two volunteers stand up and face each other, a few feet apart. I put a picture of a "6" in between them, and asked them to name the picture. One said it was a 6, the other said it was a 9. Then I asked the class: Who is right? How can both be right? 

The same thing applies in conflicts. Even if you know for sure that you are right, take a moment to consider why the other person also thinks that they are right. Is there another perspective?

Other ways to use concept is to use optical illusions such as this one:

Pinterest Workshop

Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I am hopelessly addicted to Pinterest! So when the opportunity came along to share my passion for Pinterest with other teachers in the school, I was very excited!

Pinterest can be an excellent tool for teachers if they know how to use it! If you are not on pinterest- here are a few reasons why you should be!

1. It's a great tool for collaborating with colleagues. If colleagues follow one another's boards, they can share creative lesson planning ideas. In fact, multiple teachers can pin to the same board!

2. Plan creative/unique lessons. There are lesson ideas for about anything you can think of! There are also instructional videos that can be utilized during instruction. Just search for your topic.

3. Maximize space in your classroom.  Find original ideas on how to organize your classroom.

4. De-stress after a long day! Lose yourself in page after page of inspirational ideas!

About the workshop:

All of the teachers and staff at the school were invited to attend. To introduce the concept of Pinterest, each person wrote down several ideas that they have used in their classroom based on different categories, and used a push pin to "pin" their idea to the correct board. This process helped them understand what a pin is and what a board is, and start to see the benefit of having hundreds of thousands of people sharing some of their best ideas- all in one place!

Here is a handout with some of the basics of Pinterest.

If you share my passion for Pinterest, please follow the Inspired Counselor here!! Yeah, it's kind of an addiction :)

Secret Service Group

I'm very fortunate to have a site supervisor for my internship who encourages me to try new things and to make mistakes. I've done a little of both with this group! When I told her about the idea of having a Secret Service group, she was very supportive of the idea. I got the inspiration for the Secret Service group from Dianne Senn’s book, Small Group Counseling, Grades 2-5. After reading about her Secret Service club, my wheels started to turn!

Before the group started, I met with each student. I gave them a manila envelope with “TOPSECRET” printed on it. Inside the envelope, was the official secret service invitation and parent consent to be in the group. I told each student to return the envelope with parent signatures to asecret location outside of my office. I also explained to them that the US Secret Service’s job is to serve and help the country through protecting its’ leaders. This group will serve and help the school by doing random acts of kindness (Intro by Dianne Senn).

Another great introduction to Random Acts of Kindness is a Youtube video by Life Vest Inside- Kindness Boomerang. In this video, one act of kindness causes another person to want to do something kind for another, and so on. This is a great "real life" example of paying it forward, and sparks a conversation about how easy it can be to be kind. Click on the picture to play the video.

Each week, I assign a secret mission to the Secret Service Agents. This could be anything from giving compliments to a classmate, or writing anonymous thank you notes to teachers around the school. I usually print the assignments out on a half-sheet of paper so that it fits into their envelop. Some of the missions may be written in code so that the students have to decipher it first! The students keep track of their service assignments in a journal. After each completed assignment, the students record the responses of the recipient of the deed, or their own responses (feelings, thoughts, other ideas). We use the journal as a springboard for group discussions.

I have also challenged my group of 6 students to do a combined total of 100 Random Acts of Kindness throughout the duration of our group meetings. We brainstormed different things that each person could do to earn extra stars (see list below). My goal in doing this is to encourage them to constantly be on the lookout for kind things to do for other people, rather than simply focusing on one task each week. A quote/motto that we often refer to in group is, "No act of kindness, no matter how small, will go unnoticed" -Aesop. They are not doing the services to get recognition for themselves, but rather for the satisfaction of knowing that they are making a difference in someone's life.

I created a group notebook (below) that is hidden in an “undisclosed location”. This notebook serves as a source of information and a means of communication for group members. If the students have questions during the week, they can refer to the notebook. (This also helps me with the group since I am an intern and am not at school all week to answer their questions). Included in the notebook are some of the most common questions- the date and time of the next meeting, the agenda for the next meeting, our list of ideas for secret service projects, extra copies of handouts, and a chart to keep track of the 100 assignments as they are completed. 

This group has been great for building students' friendship, leadership, and social skills, in addition to promoting students' positive self-esteem. So far, the kids are very enthusiastic about being members of the Secret Service at school. I have already noticed some changes in how the students are treating one another during group time. They were beyond excited to learn that they are the school's ONLY Secret Service, and that the only adults who know about the Secret Service besides me are their classroom teachers and their parents. I am excited to see how the rest of our group meetings turn out!

Extra Stars Ideas:
Pick up trash in your classroom
Be a peer helper to a life skills class 
Read to younger students 
Offer to help someone in your class with an assignment they are struggling with
Say thank you to cafeteria staff 
Smile to someone who may be having a hard day
Say “good morning” to someone you don’t normally speak to
Offer to get extra materials for someone (pencil, paper, textbook, fork, napkins, etc)
Stand up to a bully- don’t just be a bystander
Do an extra chore at home without being asked
Invite someone to play with you at recess who is not playing with anyone
Send a letter to an adult friend (with parent’s help)
Write a thank you note to a parent
Host a collection drive for an important cause
Put up positive posters around school (get adult approval first)
Give compliments to classmates, teachers, or students you do not know
Leave anonymous positive notes in a classmate’s or teacher’s desk
Put out birdseed after it snows
Hold the door open for the next person
Draw a picture for someone
Sit by someone different at lunch
Take time to get to know someone new
Puppet show to teach younger kids about friendship
Offer to help a specials teacher during your lunch time

You can now purchase the ENTIRE packet of documents for this group at my Teachers Pay Teachers store! Check it out: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Secret-Service-Group-Promoting-Random-Acts-of-Kindness-1252038

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Secret-Service-Group-Promoting-Random-Acts-of-Kindness-1252038

Progress Cards

I recently bought the Progress Cards book- this is honestly one of my best school counseling purchases yet! It is a great motivational tool to increase positive behaviors! I am using the blank cards to let the students come up with their own goals, using cards as reference.

I have been using the blank practice cards with a few students so that they can work towards their very specific goals that they set for themselves. For younger kids, I have created a smaller practice card that only has two or three blanks for goals.

Once we have decided on what goals to set, we then use the counselor and teacher rewards to see what the student is willing to work for. For example- 10 minutes of your teacher's undivided attention, helping your favorite teacher for 20 minutes, having lunch with a friend, getting 15 minutes on the computer, and a positive phone call home. The student sorts out the reward cards into three groups: Absolutely Love (big rewards), Like (small rewards), and Don't like (put aside). The small rewards will be a daily reward for achieving the day's goals. The big rewards will be a weekly reward for achieving the daily goals for all 5 days. I have been very surprised at the things that the kids have picked that they really want to work for!

Bullying Wordles

After four weeks of lessons about bullying, we headed to the computer lab to create some "Wordles" to sum everything up. 

We began by briefly going over some of the important terms that we have learned and other things that we have talked about during lessons. For example, we talked about what bullying is: MOO- Mean, On purpose, and Ongoing. We talked about how to handle bullying: HA HA SO- Help, Assert yourself, Humor, Avoid, Self-talk, Own it. We talked about the role of the bystander using the book "say something".  Students were encouraged to come up with 20 unique words from the things that we had talked about over the last several weeks. 

Below is the bulletin board they were displayed on! 

Make your own Wordle here: www.wordle.com

Tattle Tongue Mask Lesson

We read A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue by Julia Cook in first and second grade, and did a mini-unit based on the book. Here is the book description from Amazon:

Josh the Tattler doesn't have any friends. He tattles on his classmates, on his brother, and even on his dog! He tattles so much that he wakes up one night to find that his tongue is yellow, unusually long, and covered in bright purple spots! Will a bad case of Tattle Tongue teach him a lesson? A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue gives teachers and counselors a humorous, cleverly creative way to address the time-consuming tattling-related issues that often sap classroom energy and thwart teaching opportunities. Parents who "battle the tattle" at home, on the playground, in the grocery store, or anywhere else, can use this book to both entertain and enlighten their children about "The Tattle Rules." Every adult that desires to help children understand the differences between unnecessary tattling and the necessity of warning others about important matters needs this book!

Week 1: 
On the first day, we read the book and discussed the difference between tattling and telling. This was taught using "little problems" and "big problems". Big problems are problems where someone or something is being hurt or could get hurt. Everything else is a little problem that can usually be handled without an adult. Using slips of paper with problems on it, students had to decide if the problems were little problems or big problems.
Week 2: 
During the second week, we started with a review of the book, and reviewed what little problems and big problems were. Today, we talked about why people tattle, and what people could do besides tattling. We talked about how to handle "little problems" and discussed a few scenarios where students had to decide what they would do in that situation.
Week 3: 
On the final day discussing this book, we made these adorable masks! I first gave each student a paper plate. On the back side, they completed the sentence: "I will not tattle because..." Once they had compelted their sentence, I gave them a cut out picture similar to Josh in the story. Students colored their picture any way they wanted to. At the end of class, I let students who wanted to share tell the class their sentence and show their mask.