Tag: challenging behaviors

Strong Suits™: A Game to Boost Social Emotional Learning

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Making Social Emotional Learning Fun

 Strong Suits™, a game for communication skills, engages young players in a fun card game. In it, participants identify and communicate their strengths, personality, and individuality.

In addition, this quick and easy game builds mental/social-emotional health skills. These communication skills include self-confidence, resilience, self-knowledge, self-respect, and the respect of others.

The game, designed for 2 or more players, works well played at home or in groups in the classroom. Along with its ability to work for camps and after-school programs.

This image shows an abstract illustration of a diverse group of people with different interests and vocations. Because groups are often diverse, a game for communication skills is not only engaging but critical.

Get Strong Suits™ in the new aws Studios Store!

Other social emotional learning activities and games currently on the shelves at the aws Studios Store:

  • “Circle of Community™” – a fun team-building activity that works well with groups or teams. The activity presents well in the classroom or in the home! “Circle…” shows teams/groups how to work together. This includes keeping conflict to a minimum. This gives groups/teams a better chance of reaching their goals or going for a win.
  • “Reframe It™” is a fun game that builds empathy and an understanding. In particular, it does this exploring child and parent behavior or why kids and parents do what they do! The engaging and interactive game offers players a chance to think about modifying their reactions to challenging behaviors. And it offers ideas on how to alter the environment for more positive behaviors. In addition, this game for Parenting Educators and their parent groups works with pre-teens and teens.
  • “DIY Hardcover Picture Book,” on how to craft your own hardcover picture book.

To purchase this and other activities and a game for communication skills and social emotional learning at the aws Studios Store, you will need to make a FREE Teachers Pay Teachers account. Anyone with a FREE Teachers Pay Teachers account can purchase materials at the aws Studios Store!

And be sure to Like the aws Studios Store, give me a Rating or Review or Ask Me a Question! Check it out here!

Reduce Your Anxiety and Boost Your Mental Health: New SEL Resources

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NOW OPEN! The aws Studios Store!

Parents, grandparents, teachers and educators!

You can count on the effectiveness of the SEL resources in the aws Studios Store! As a mental health educator and curriculum developer, hundreds of students, young and old tested and approved my activities and curricula.

Furthermore, I am excited to provide you with my most popular SEL resources and curricula.

Check out my new store here!

SEL resources currently on the shelves at the aws Studios Store:

“Circle of Community™” is a fun team-building activity that can be used with any group or team, in the classroom or in the home! “Circle…” shows teams/groups how to work together, keeping conflict to a minimum giving groups/teams a better chance of reaching their goals or going for a win.

Picture shows cover of one of the SEL resources at the aws Studios.art Teachers Pay Teachers Store
Another picture from an aws Studios.art SEL resource in the TPT store

“Reframe It™” is a fun game that builds empathy and an understanding of child and parent behavior or why kids and parents do what they do!

The engaging and interactive game offers players a chance to think about ways to modify their reactions to problematic or challenging behaviors and offers ideas on how to alter the environment for more positive behaviors.

Particularly, this game is for parents, Parenting Educators and their parent groups. In addition, it plays well with pre-teens and teens.

“DIY Hardcover Picture Book”:

A one-pager on how to craft your own hardcover picture book. Great for art class! Plus, it’s a FREE download.

Picture from an aws Studios.art picture book used for an SEL resource art project

To purchase the resources at the aws Studios Store, you will need to make a FREE Teachers Pay Teachers account. Anyone with a FREE Teachers Pay Teachers account can purchase materials at the aws Studios Store!

Like the aws Studios Store, give me a Rating or Review or Ask Me a Question! Check it out here!

Reframe It!™: A Game for Parents Looking to Solve Behavior Problems

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Reframe It!™ game reduces anxiety and boosts social emotional mental health!

Reframing is a social-emotional mental health tool or strategy that helps to understand the function of human behavior. The American Psychology Association defines reframing as “a process of reconceptualizing a problem by seeing it from a different perspective.” This, then, creates possibilities for parents and others to solve child problem behaviors. Reframing shows how to foresee behavior and bypass it while building empathy and reducing anxiety.

As a parent, I loved learning about reframing. It showed me ways to try to get to the source of my child’s behavior problems. I was able to predict what might happen and diffuse their triggers.  It also helped me improve relationships with family members and friends. Reframing showed me how by to see behaviors from another’s perspective.  I enjoyed learning and teaching reframing so much that I developed “Reframe It!™,”* a game that teaches reframing. It shows a way to see why children or adults behave the way they do. The games also helps to build compassion for others and ourselves.

Reframe It!™ is a fun game!

“Reframe It!™” is a game for parents and others who are parenting to help them understand child behavior and behavior problems. The game can also help parents understand their own behavior, building self-compassion.  With reframing, we gain an understanding of “the function of behavior,” or why people – children and adults – do what they do.

An aws Studios.art cartoon illustration showing a bunch of celery reframing two onions with behavior problems

Reframe It!™ offers players:

  • A chance to think about ways to modify their reactions to challenging or problem behaviors
  • Ways to predict difficult behaviors and then
  • Make changes to the environment or situation to bypass potential problems.
  • For example:

A parent learns that sibling conflicts often arise from children seeking attention or they are bored or jealous. The parent sees the connection and plans ahead to give each child positive attention regularly. Or they change the environment by helping the child engage in a personally stimulating activity.

Reframe It!™ objectives include helping parents:

  • Learn about reframing.
  • Learn how to reframe behaviors to understand the function of behavior.
  • Begin a practice of reframing to help plan for and modify behavior/reactions and the environment.
  • Build empathy.
  • Build an understanding of personal behavior and “why we do what we do.”
  • Enter into discussions about behavior, stress, family roles, tasks, conflict or anger management, etc.
  • Increase comfort in communicating with each other.
  • Improve parent-child communication.

More about reframing here, here and here!

Click here to purchase Reframe It!, a downloadable pdf for $12.00

* Reframe It!™ is a trademark of aws Studios and was developed using the child and parent behavior reframes in Intervening with troubled families: Functional family therapy and Parenting Wisely. D.A. Gordon, author. 2003.