Spice Up School Counseling with Games

Kids of all ages love playing games! School counseling games are no different! Kids of all ages seem to enjoy a game one-on-one or even if it’s skill’s based. I like to incorporate games into my small groups, individual and classroom lessons. Over the years, I have accumulated quite a big selection and I wanted to take some time to share a few of my favorites! If you want to check out any of the school counseling games below, just click on the image it will take you over to my affiliate link!

The Ungame for Kids

This school counseling game is all about communication! Which, makes it perfect for an icebreaker activity in counseling. 2-6 players take turns rolling the die, moving their pawn across the board, and answering questions. Some of the questions are surface level and some provoke deeper thought. This game is a non-competitive game where there are no winners, just good conversations!

Pro-Tip: Go through the cards before you play with students. Make sure the cards in the deck speak to the audience you playing with. If there are too many high-level cards you can remove them. If there are cards, not age-appropriate, remove those too!

Whoonu

This game is perfect for introductions to groups or individual kiddos! The game is focused on “who likes what” and requires little time to play. The game takes you through a series of players who are “it” and cards are dealt to all players except who’s “it”. From those cards, everyone picks the one they think the “it” person will like the best.  The “it” person ranks them from favorite to least favorite. Coins with points are awarded based on the card’s rank. Then the next person is “it” and new cards are dealt. This goes around until everyone had a chance to be “it” and then the person with the most points wins. Seems like everyone I know who has played this game really enjoys it! It’s a little expensive but worth the investment.

Pro-Tip: This is a time-saver! You can play this game in no time flat… which makes it perfect for school counseling!

Mad Dragon

Have kids dealing with big angry feelings? This is the perfect school counseling game to share conversations about what makes them angry and find triggers. It also has cards thrown in that allow the student to express other feelings and thoughts.ly enjoy playing this with kids who struggle and need a fun release. Mad Dragon plays a lot like “Uno”… which is my favorite game! Players race to get rid of the cards, all while learning to control and manage their anger.

Pro-Tip: If playing this game with small groups, make sure you discuss confidentiality and group rules. This game can spark deeper conversations, so make sure is a safe space and environment that students can feel comfortable sharing.

Jenga

Oh, Jenga… we all know and love this game. But, in counseling sessions this well-known game can shine! There are so many different ways to play. Some counselors have colored the blocks and each color represents a different set of questions. This allows the possibility of a TON of therapeutic questions. Also, some counselors have written questions on the blocks themselves and when a student pulls out a block, they answer the question. Truth be told… I am a neat freak and have trouble coloring and writing on my blocks! But, I have asked a series of questions anyways without colors and it still worked great!

Pro-Tip: This game is so versatile, you can use it however you want!

Candy Land

This is another oldie, but goodie! With the colored squares on the Candy Land board, you can make up games to go along with it. Similar to the Jenga colored blocks and questions. You could ask a series of questions for each color here as well.ly enjoy games like this because you can customize it however you want. Several TpTer’s have revamped this idea and created go-along sets for this specific game. Defiantly worth checking out!

Pro-Tip: I use clear packing tape on my game boards. The more they are folded up and put away the boards start getting flimsy. Once I have it taped front and back, I slide it between my filing cabinets. This is where I keep all my game boards!

Thumballs

Okay, so I know this isn’t a game… but while we are on the topic of icebreakers, I thought I would throw this one in there. These make perfect icebreakers for classroom lessons, small groups and for  individual students. Kids love to play catch! I’ve even had shy girls who didn’t want to open up, play this with me in my office. They are easy to use, easy to store and just plain fun,! Amazon has TONS of them for lots of different topics. These are the three I like the most (so far) Elementary Ice Breakers, Coping Skills, Stop the Drama.

Pro-Tip: Talk about expectations for handling the ball and playing toss. This is mainly for classroom lessons! Kids sometimes want to show off in front of their peers in the classroom and there’s always that one student who throws the ball super hard at you or another kid. Explain this is not okay and keep the fun within a learning level.

The Coping Skills Game

This game is for ages 7-12 and two to four people can play at a time, which makes it great for small-group and for individual stud. This game is fun, interactive, and allows students to really dig into thong skills. They learn ways to ask for help, adjust their attitudes, and discover choices they might not know they had. I love the wheel in the middle of the game board because it’s exactly what we want our students to practice!

Pro-Tip: I did tape my board because I  do that to all my boards, but this one was folded in quarters so I felt like it needed it more. I also use this with students who can read. There are some lengthy questions and multiple steps so my little ones have a harder time with reading the questions. But, 3rd and 4th grade do just fine!

Emotional Roller Coaster

Such a cute game! Kind of resembles the game Cutes and Ladders, but this one is a roller coaster theme! There are two card decks in this game, chaos cards and coping cards. , Students will move their pawns along the game board and do what the squares say. The cards have very age-appropriate scenarios on them and activities that will help them cope.

Pro-Tip: I also share these school counseling games with parents! This is with a fun one that I recommend when they are looking to spark conversation with their child and help them learn coping skills together. I have heard from one parent she was very thankful for these conversations because she now has more coping ideas to help her child.

I hope you find this helpful for picking out your next school counseling games!

Thanks for reading and have fun!