Jenga Anyone?

Jenga might very well be a counselor's best friend.  It's like truth syrum, for sure, because as soon as we start playing, kids tend to tell me what's on their hearts and minds.  But what else can you do with this game? In small group counseling, we use it as a metaphor for life. As the students build the tower, they tell each other all of the good stuff in their lives, the stuff they’re thankful for, the stuff that builds them up.  Then, as they pull a block from the tower, they talk about things that have happened that kind of weaken their tower, like the time their cat ran away, what happened when they made a bad grade, the day they got into a fight with a friend.  As the blocks come out, they're put onto the top of the tower.

As the Jenga tower grows taller, it’s also getting weaker. The goal is for the students to handle with care as they try to build it up as high as they can before its eventual demise.  It does eventually collapse, so I warn students about that ahead of time, especially those who have trouble managing their feelings when there's a perceived loss involved.  When their tower falls, students pause to reflect about a time that they may have felt like their life was falling apart.  Typically that’s a death or divorce, but it can be anything they want to share  We then build the tower back up as we talk about what it takes to put the pieces back together.  This is the time to share strategies:  deep breathing, exercise, music, talking it out, drawing, reading. 


If you buy the fancy version, known at Totika, you get some color coordinated discussion cards, so that's a fun twist on the original game.  The game really has endless possibilities.  Click here to see how Rachel Lynette from Minds in Bloom uses it as a Getting To Know You activity. If you're on Facebook, click here to see what Pam Dyson at the St. Louis Center for Play Therapy suggests. How do you use Jenga in your counseling or in the classroom?