Self-Esteem Building Play Therapy Activities for Kids

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Morning Glory Treatment Center
for Children
© Copyright 2009
1207 Pigeon Forge Road,
Pflugerville, Texas, 78660 USA
Phone/FAX : 512-251-3298

The Toilet Paper Game
Using Play To Develop Self Esteem

Just the mention of the name of this game will bring a smile to the players. What the players do not know is that as soon as their fingers touch the toilet paper they will be increasing their self-esteem. It is yet the most fun and the best therapetic game for self-esteem-building.

Children say positive statements about themselves.

How To Play

OBJECTIVES

• Help children to discover their personal
strengths,
• Help build self-esteem,
• Promote empowerment,
• Develop and strengthen self-confidence, and
• To aid in diagnosis and assessment.

SUPPLIES

• A roll of 2-ply bathroom toilet paper!

INSTRUCTIONS

Do not explain to the children this is a self-esteem play therapy activity or for self-esteem-building. That would give away the surprise!

Each child is instructed to pull off a handful of toilet paper from the roll. Each child's amount may vary. Next, each child should separate their toilet paper into individual squares and stack them into their own stack of squares.

Now, surprise the children by instructing them to say one nice thing about themselves for each sheet of toilet paper! Going around in a circle, each child takes one square of toilet paper, says one achievement or one thing of interest about themselves, and moves it over into a new pile. This continues until all the children have used up all their sheets of toilet paper. The more toilet paper a child begins with, the more self-compliments they will come up with thus boosting their self-esteem!

Play Therapy Techniques

The facilitator leads a discussion on how the children felt about giving themselves the perlmission to name so many compliments. Was it bragging or honest sharing about true abilities? They can also discuss what was learned from taking too few or too many pieces of toilet paper to begin with. For especially “shy” children who only took one piece of toilet paper, the facilitator can separate the two-ply tissue into two pieces so they at least have double the opportunities!

The facilitator asks the children how they feel about the game itself. Once, I worked with a child who was not popular because he liked bragging about everything. He took a handful of at least 87 squares! He quickly ran out things to say, but the other children helped by offering suggestions. After this experience, he learned positve things about himself from his peers.

In summary, this game is excellent to include in self-esteem play therapy activities, self-esteem activities for kids, and therapetic games for self-esteem-building. That day he learned about helpful friends, not to use excessive toilet paper because they come from trees! Thus my firm belief that this is the best therapeutic game for self-esteem building for children.

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