How to get kids to talk, open up, and tell you more

 How to Get Kids to Talk

How do I get kids to talk?
Why are they not telling me the whole story?
What is really going on with this one?

Have you ever struggled to get information or down to the root cause of an issue out of a young child or adolescent?  How do you get them to talk and share freely?  How do you get them to open up?  One way is to meet them in their environment - which is in the world of play.

Plato Recognized Play

Plato, an early philosopher (429-347 B.C.), recognized the importance of play among children.  He noted that “you can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”  Play therapy is the use of games and play to help children prevent or resolve challenges. 

A parent can use a game or toy while talking to their child to help relieve stress or anxiety.  A counselor or therapist can rely on toys or games to help children to talk and share.  Children can act out behaviors or stories and use the toys or games to share events that are troubling.  Children can also use the toys to help tell about events that are difficult to put in words.  Games can give kids ideas to resolve problems, strengthen communication skills, and prevent further disruption.  

Everyone loves games!

Play is for all ages - ages 3 - 93.  Everyone loves games!  Everyone loves interaction with others.  Using a game and play therapy techniques make conversation creative, easy and FUN!  In today's world, kids get caught up in a video game world with no interaction using words or with humans.  When you get a student to interact with others with conversation, lights begin to go off!  Playing with others is fun!  Play helps to tell the story that is being held inside. 

Use Easy Classic Games

Counselor Games is a way to use everyday and familiar games to teach kids anger control, stress management, study and organizational skills, making friends, creating goals, decision making and more.  We show you how to  integrate counseling strategies into the games.  Counseling sessions become visual, auditory and kinesthetic/hands-on.  We give you video demonstrations using the games with the techniques so you can use them over and over.

Some examples include the following:

Use Don't Break the Ice for stress management.
Use Tumble for making friends.
Use playing cards to teach taking turns.
Use pick-up sticks to teach relationships and their dynamics.
Use Topple to teach about priorities.
Use Whack-a-mole to teach about goals.
Use Perfection to teach about the importance of being organized
and there is so much more!

Counselor Games is Play Therapy for Schools.  And it is not only for school; it is for home too.  It is important for parents to repeat and play the games at home to reinforce what is being learned.  It strengthens the communication between the adult and the child.   It is easy and fun!

Creative, Easy, FUN

If you are a parent who wants to find and use creative ways to get your kids to talk, this is for you.
If you are a school counselor who wants to use inexpensive, but familiar and fun games to enhance your counseling sessions, this is for you.
If you need a quick idea with little preparation to get big ideas across, this is for you!

Counselor Games has demonstrations of play therapy techniques using everyday games to help you teach strategies for stress management, anger control, making friends, study skills and more.  It is creative, easy and FUN!  We show you how.

Get your learning sessions here or find them at counselorgames.com.
Get your Play Therapy Workshop and learn how on your own time. 


Questions?  Contact Counselor Games  info @counselorgames.com  (take out the space after info)

More about Grace 

    Grace Wilhelm is a National Board Certified Counselor with experience in mental health and school counseling.  She enthusiastically presents to counselors, teachers, youth workers, and parents on anger, stress, crises intervention, communication, data, counseling programs, play sessions, and more.   She has been awarded ASCA National School Counselor of the

Year Semifinalist, RAMP, and FLDOE Parent Involvement Award.  Her publications include student workbooks on anger control and stress management and several articles.  She has also completed two DVDs on Games and Play to Enhance Counseling and Teaching Strategies: Creative Ways to Engage Students in Small Groups, Classrooms or Individual Counseling Sessions.
        Speaking engagements have taken Grace as far away as Papua New Guinea. She currently resides in Jacksonville, Florida with her husband Mark and three children.  She enjoys traveling, genealogy and playing the violin.

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