A Friendly Game
As you read this, many young people will have been in school or homeschooled for about a month. Not every child is happy about this. Besides missing the freedom that came with the summer days, they also miss playing with their friends. When school started, some of those friendships were put on hold, leaving them with the sometimes difficult task of learning how to make new ones. Learning how to make new friends doesn’t get easier with age. So it’s important to help children learn these skills for their social success later.
Sometimes, we can ease the pain of making new friends by facilitating friendly interactions among children. School activities, sports, birthday parties, and holiday parties are common places to start. At these events, you can organize games that get children talking.
In Where the Sidewalk Ends, the beloved poet Shel Silverstein wrote about a fictional game in a poem titled, “Hug o’ War,” where children hug and laugh instead of tug and roughhouse. While hug o’ war might be fictional, you can use real team-based and cooperative games to get children playing nicely together. There are also games where everyone wins and there is no real score.
A game of get-to-know-you bingo could be just the thing you need. In this game, children walk around the room to find others who both share common interests and have unique experiences. Regardless of whether a child completes a row to “win,” they will be able to walk away from the game having learned how to introduce themselves, articulate questions, and speak about themselves to others with confidence. These are some of the skills we all need to know to be able to make new friends.
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This month’s HoneyB3E’s activity sheet titled A Friendly Game is available for free at http://www.honeyb3e.com.
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Look for a copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein at this link or at your local library.