Military Child and Military Families Counseling Group - Military Kid Activities

This 6-week military families small group is designed to help support the military child and students who have family members that are serving in the military. Through engaging activities and discussion, students will share their feelings and identify healthy coping skills. They will learn to establish healthy routines and identify their support system.

This curriculum includes everything you need to run a successful school counseling small group including self-assessments to make data tracking easy. The included weekly outlines are aligned with CASEL Standards and ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors.

GROUP OUTLINE:

Week 1: Feelings

Week 2: Coping Strategies

Week 3: Healthy Routines

Week 4: “My Family Member”

Week 5: Reflect and Connect

Week 6: Support Systems

ACTIVITIES INCLUDED:

• Show and Tell Challenge
• Card Games
• Interactive Worksheets
• Cut and Paste Activities
• Social Story
• Video Clip
• Beach Ball Toss
• Discussion Die
• Discussion Cards

INCLUDED EVERY WEEK:

• Outlines: Easy to implement outlines with ASCA and CASEL-aligned objectives
• Group Rules: Suggested and DIY Group Rules poster so students can take ownership of the creation of the group rules and norms.
• Feelings Check: Feelings Check Poster to serve as a visual aid for students to self-reflect on their emotional state at the start of each session.
• Self-Assessments: Pre and post-group self-assessments to track student growth and make data collection easy!
• Engaging games and activities: I include everything you need to run each session. Simply print each week before the students arrive and you are ready to go.

BENEFITING STUDENTS:

Each week students will develop tools they can use at home and school to help them cope with having a family member deployed or in the military. In addition, they will develop empathy, identify people in their support system, and select appropriate coping skills to regulate their emotions.

At a minimum, being in the counseling group allows students to identify and share their feelings, develop important social skills through participation, and practice empathy while hearing others’ experiences.

SAVING TIME:

With easy-to-implement outlines and activities, this group curriculum is very low-prep. Simply print out each session before students arrive and keep them in a file folder.

The included self-assessments are a great way to get students to self-reflect on their progress and you can then share this information with teachers, and parents, or in your program report.

WHO IS THIS DESIGNED FOR?

This military families small group is designed for students in grades 2-5 with family members in the military but it can be modified to work with students across different grade levels.