Stress balls!

Stress Balls! 

I know it's been a while, but with the end of the school year it's been busy.

This is my last week at school so I decided to do something fun with my clients.

Steps to making a stress ball: 

You'll need balloons, scissors, filling for the balloon, permanent markers to decorate the stress ball.

I made my own filling out of flour and oil- approx 1/4 c oil to 2 cups flour

Then I cut the balloon to make it easier to fill

Then when filled I put the balloon inside another balloon.

Lastly I tied it and then the clients colored the balloons.

We discussed ways to use the stress ball.

Social skills group- Personal Space

The last month I have been running a small social skills group for four 1st/2nd grade students.

This past week the topic was respecting personal space.

In order to illustrate the concept I told the students to imagine that they have a bubble around themselves and so does eveyone around them. We spoke about how if another person gets to close to them then their bubble will pop. I explained how they can pop other people's bubbles by sitting to close to them in class, standing to close when they talk to them, touching others etc

To further help the students understand the concept- I had all the students stand up and stand an arms width from each other and then I turned on music. I told them that if they got to closer to each other then an arms width they would pop

The other person's bubble and they would be out. The students loved his activity and it helped them to pay attention to the students around them.

Then we ended the group by each student drawing a picture of themselves in a bubble. 

They labeled where people should stand when interacting with them.

An important thing to note is I listed how sometimes there are instances where it is ok to be in someone's bubble. For instance it is normal for people to get hugs from family and friends. Additionally, we discussed how at carpet time students are close to one another which is why it is important to sit criss cross apple sauce. Lastly, doctors may have to get close to check out a person.

Sand tray therapy

This last summer I attended an all day seminar on play therapy and by the end of the day I decided I needed to try sand tray therapy. 

      So I did! 

I asked my company to order me 20 lbs of sand meant for sand therapy and I got myself a box and some figurines.

Now what does one do with sand therapy??? Really I only know a few techniques.

What I did was ask my client  to create their world in the sand... That's it no other directives. My clients went to work. My client who rarely takes initiative and never completes work in class or participates in therapy was in heaven. He created the paper house seen in the picture and he made himself a world in the sand.

A second client created a battle field which he later told me represented him and his sisters fighting again something that had never really come up in our sessions. 

I was amazed. 

My most defiant client let out a loud scream of excitement when he saw the sand.

I what I learned and have seen for mhsf is that the texture of the sand soothes the clients and also it allows them to create with no boundaries. I am exploring how to go further and do more with sand therapy,

So please share your ideas. 

Last week was No Name Calling week.

At my school, the social worker, her intern, the school psychologist and I celebrated the week with several school wide activities. Recently, we have presented a diversity lesson to students grades 2-5 and we thought this would be a great continuation to our lesson.

Each day last week, either a student or staff member reminded students to use kind words when talking to one another. Students were also reminded to try to be caught being kind.

Teacher were given smiley face stickers to give out to students they “caught” being kind.

Teachers were also given a “kindness stick” to use for an activity once or twice per out the week. They were asked to sit their students in a circle for 10 minutes and pass around the stick. Whoever was holding the stick had to give a compliment to the person next to them. The idea was for each child to practice giving and accepting compliments.

Lastly, the art teachers had each of their students make posters about being kind. 

The teachers did give out stickers to their students and some used their kindness stick, but we were most impressed by the art posters which were displayed around the school. Each student wrote something different and meaningful.

We are hoping that the students thought about the way they talk and act and how they can being a little bit more kind over this week.

 Search #kindwordsmatter to see more pictures on instagram or Facebook.

Facebook page is now up

https://www.facebook.com/Thebusycounselor/

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No name calling week

Today begins national no name calling week. If you work in a school Share what activites you have planned for the week. Stay tuned as I will post my activities later in the week.

My mouth is a volcano

This book is one of my favorites. It is about a boy who interrupts others all the time. It's a great book for all age elementary clients.

Here is the amazon link:

My Mouth Is a Volcano! 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1931636850/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_9RtMwbH4GT8M5

The book comes with a cd with worksheets, but I also created my own activities.

Although the book is about interrupting I connect it to any kind of behaviors which  clients struggle to control. 

I do this by having clients identify ways they "erupt" and they we talk about negative consequences of their "eruptions". 

Then clients make their own volcano and write down ways they "erupt" and then on the side they write ways to stop their "erupting".

Below is a sample of a volcano a client made in session.