Do you have favorite games you enjoy playing with your child, grandchild, nephew, niece, or Kids Hope USA student?  

From never-ending Uno rounds to competitive Candy Land turns to extensive Dominoes strategies, games of all kinds are often a favorite activity for kids. And that’s especially true during the one hour spent between a Kids Hope USA mentor and their student.  

Perhaps you and your student have a go-to game that you must play each week. Or maybe each week features a new fun game to explore. In either case, spending time playing games together during the mentoring hour can both bring joy and help your student develop valuable life skills.  

In our article, “Beyond Books & Games: How Simple Mentoring Activities Strengthen Valuable Life Skills”, we explore how seemingly simple mentoring hour activities, such as playing a game, can really strengthen valuable life skills for your student. The article also notes how reading together can play a significant role in supporting life skills, including perseverance, confidence and focus.  

Here, we’ll explore ways that playing games can help develop and strengthen those important life skills.  

SIX WAYS PLAYING GAMES STRENGTHENS LIFE SKILLS

For you, a game of Uno can be an opportunity to have a conversation and entertain your student. But for your student, that simple game can also help reinforce valuable life skills they are developing. Check out this list of six ways that playing games can help your student strengthen these important skills.  

Games Support Communication

Games where you’re taking turns and needing to talk with the other person can be a great opportunity to strengthen communication skills for your student. For example, in the game “Headbandz” the student works with their mentor to ask yes or no questions to discover what their card says. This fun game not only brings joy and laughter but also helps your mentee develop essential verbal communication and social skills. 

But communication doesn’t always need to be verbal. Dr. Emilie DeYoung from Winning At Home says that games can be a great approach if a student is having difficulty using words to communicate with their mentor. “Games can be a bridge for communication,” she said. For example, in a game of checkers, there may not be much that is said, yet there’s still a shared, two-way experience involving nonverbal communication taking place between the mentor and student that can be both fun and helpful.    

Games Help Students Learn Positive Sportsmanship

Games provide a valuable opportunity for students to strengthen and develop positive sportsmanship, especially when the game isn’t quite going their way. When playing competitive games, mentors can serve as a model for how to navigate responding to a frustrating set-back or even losing a game and the student can learn how to celebrate winning a game without making others feel poorly about their experience.  

Games Support Creative Problem-Solving

Imagine a game of Uno where your student has five more cards than you—including a Draw Four card. In this scenario, your student must determine when the right time to play that card is so that he can have fewer cards than you and, eventually, win the game! Scenarios like this, whether in a card or board game, create opportunities for your student to develop and demonstrate creative problem-solving as they assess the situation and decide what the right course of action should be.  

Games Create an Opportunity to Practice Emotional Management

Particularly for competitive players, games can be an emotional rollercoaster. One minute you’re down to your last Uno card and the next you’re drawing seven more cards just to lay down one that fits. As students are developing and learning to manage their emotions, playing games can be a great way to positively reinforce healthy ways to manage emotions.  

Elise Zuber from Winning At Home says that “We learn through experience.” So, when something happens in a game that causes a student to become frustrated, their mentor can help walk them through navigating those emotions in a positive way.

As a mentor, you can encourage your student to first take a deep breath and then ask questions about why they are getting frustrated. From here, you can help model a positive response to a negative emotion by being calm and understanding towards them and their feelings. As you model positive, regulated responses, your student will learn and develop those same skills.  

Games Help Build Perseverance

Games can be tricky sometimes. Especially when the game is new and your student is just learning how to play, games can be a wonderful tool to strengthen perseverance. With the support of their mentor, a student can work to overcome the frustration of not knowing how to play correctly and instead ask questions and push forward to playing the game without giving up.  

Games Strengthen Relationships

In addition to games just being a fun activity, they can also strengthen your relationship with your student. Your student will learn more about you, and you will learn more about your student, including their interests and how they respond to either positive or negative experiences in the game. A game can also be a great opportunity to create memories with each other. They can be small reminders of a time when you both laughed a lot or when your student felt proud of continually winning the game over and over again! 

STRENGTHEN SKILLS BY PLAYING GAMES

A round of Uno or taking turns in Sorry! can be much more than just playing a game. Spending time together with a game has the potential to strengthen valuable life skills that your student is developing.  

In a Kids Hope USA mentoring program, students and mentors meet one-on-one, for one hour, once a week. This school-based mentoring program helps kids realize their importance and value as an additional caring and consistent adult shows up each week just for them.  

Are you interested in learning more about mentoring through a Kids Hope USA program? Check out our program page!  

The post Beyond Games – How Games Strengthen Life Skills appeared first on Kids Hope USA.

Imagine about halfway through your Kids Hope USA mentoring hour, your student heads over to the library shelves. She pulls out a few, looks at the covers, considers reading them, and shoves them back. She finds another shelf and pulls out a couple of books that you have read together too many times to count.  

Reading may be your student’s favorite activity. Or it may require some encouragement and nudging to get them to read a page. In either case, spending time during your mentoring hour to read can be both a fun and valuable learning time for your student.  

In our blog article, “Beyond Books & Games: How Simple Mentoring Activities Strengthen Valuable Life Skills”, we shared how seemingly simple mentoring activities, such as reading, actually pave the way for significant growth in valuable life skills.  

Here, we’ll dive deeper into how the activity of reading can help support important life skills for your student.  

SIX WAYS READING SUPPORTS LIFE SKILLS 

The activity of reading can help a student’s literacy and language. And it can also help your student develop soft skills as they persevere through each page. Check out this list of six ways reading can help your student build valuable skills.  

Improves Literacy & Comprehension 

Perhaps the most obvious, practicing reading helps your student become a better reader. By encountering new books and stories, and coming across some new words, they’ll grow their language knowledge and ability to move across the page. Practicing page by page can help them move through words and sentences quicker as they gain more experience in reading.  

Asking questions about what’s happening in the story can also reinforce their comprehension of what they’ve just read.  

Strengthens Confidence 

Particularly if your student has had to put in extra effort for reading, they may also struggle with their confidence in being able to read well. Reading together during your mentoring time can encourage them and strengthen their confidence in themselves. By praising their efforts, they can learn that they are capable of reading well. Your encouragement and support as a mentor can make a tremendous difference in boosting their reading confidence.  

Builds Perseverance 

Imagine while reading with your student, she continually gets stuck on –ing words. Even when taking the time to sound out each syllable, she struggles to put the pieces together to sound out the right word. In this, she – and you as her mentor – can either give up on the book or persevere to get the right word.  

With your encouragement, your student can learn to not give up when she can’t figure out the word or sentence immediately. She’ll strengthen her perseverance to keep working, sounding out each letter, and looking at the context to determine the right word. Letting your student work her way through a challenging sentence can empower her to build resilience and confidence that she can do difficult things.  

Encourages Focus 

Especially as a student is learning how to read and strengthening their skills, they require a lot of brain power to get through a page. That’s why reading can also enforce the importance of focus when reading. To go through page by page requires them to not worry about what another student at the other table is doing but to zero in and focus on the task at hand.  

Teaches Empathy & Creativity  

While there are benefits from the actual practice of reading, there’s also opportunity for growth through the stories that are read. Books that highlight social-emotional skills, such as empathy and managing emotions, can be a great opportunity for your student to learn and for you two to discuss what showing empathy or being kind to a friend looks like.  

The storyline or setting of a book can also encourage your student to think outside of the box and be creative. You can also ask your student other questions about the story or characters to spark their own creativity, such as asking what the character is feeling in that scene.  

Reading Strengthens Your Relationship  

Just as with the card games, coloring pages, and other activities you do with your student during the mentoring hour, reading also can help build your relationship. Dr. Emilie DeYoung from Winning At Home says that “a way for you to fill your student’s love tank is sitting with them and reading a book.” 

As you spend time together, there are also many ways that you can make reading even more fun. Pick a funny voice to read in. Make a summary of the story when you’ve completed it. Mentors and directors can access their Kids Hope USA portal to find even more great ideas to liven up your reading time with your student.  

STRENGTHEN SKILLS WITH READING 

Like a game of Uno or a 500-piece puzzle, the activity of reading serves a far greater purpose than taking up time during a mentoring hour. Taking time to read a story supports both your student’s academic skills and social-emotional skills, too.  

Want to learn more about mentoring through a Kids Hope USA program? Check out our program page!  

The post Beyond Books – Reading Supports Life Skills appeared first on Kids Hope USA.

For many Kids Hope USA one-on-one relationships, students and mentors spend time in mentoring activities such as games and reading. They play games like Uno or Connect 4. Take turns reading a page in a silly voice. Color in pictures while talking about how the week is going.  

That hour fills up quickly with activities, conversation, and games. At the end, students come away with much more than a fully colored picture or a sense of pride after winning a competitive game of Candy Land.  

MENTORING ACTIVITIES STRENGTHENING LIFE SKILLS  

Each hour an elementary student spends with his or her mentor is an opportunity to develop and strengthen valuable life skills that are applicable in a variety of settings. In fact, sometimes the simplest things—whether dealing another game of Go Fish!, practicing spelling words, or completing an “All About Me” book—can make a transformative difference.  

Seemingly ordinary activities develop valuable habits and reinforce skills that support students’ learning in school and life.  

WAYS MENTORING ACTIVITIES BOOST LIFE SKILLS  

There are so many ways that one hour spent with a student can make a profound difference in their life, even if that transformation or growth is not visible right away. During a typical mentoring hour, students practice decision-making, time management, and reading for comprehension—all within a safe, positive and encouraging setting.

By simply playing a game together, students are reminded of the importance of learning and following the rules, taking turns, and showing good sportsmanship (win or lose). A short chat allows students to practice asking and answering questions, encourages listening, and develops empathy.

Below are just a few of the many ways that mentoring activities can pave the way for further growth.  

• Reading together strengthens relationships between mentors and students. The stories they read help boost creativity, empathy, moral responsibility, and vocabulary.  
• Games help reinforce social skills, strengthen communication, and provide opportunities to manage frustration, and learn good sportsmanship. 
• Puzzles help support resiliency and perseverance in overcoming a challenging activity.  
• Having a routine greeting when you get together helps reduce anxiety for kids as they have confidence in that consistent, positive interaction.  
• Coloring and other art projects cultivate creativity and imagination.  

MENTORING MATTERS  

The one hour a week a mentor spends with their student can be an fun time of playing games, talking, and reading. Remember that those simple, ordinary components of the hour can be life-changing for a child. By showing up each week, mentors cultivate fun opportunities for students to develop and strengthen valuable life skills.  

Become a Mentor

Learn more about mentoring programs with Kids Hope USA by visiting our Program Page.  

The post Beyond Books & Games – How Simple Mentoring Activities Strengthen Valuable Life Skills    appeared first on Kids Hope USA.

Do you have any established routines with your KHUSA student? Many educators find that children respond well to a routine because research tells us that consistent, positive practices can reduce anxiety. When interacting with kids, I’ve found that they really enjoy knowing what to expect, especially if the routine is fun!  

A Simple Greeting Routine to Start Your Time Together 

Here is a greeting routine that you might enjoy using with your student. I call it the “Best-Worst” activity. This activity is wonderful because it gives the student a safe space to share the “highs” and “lows” of their day. 

1. Choose a pair of questions that highlight the opposite ends of a spectrum. For example: 
   • What was the best part of your day so far? The worst? 
   • What do you feel good about today? What’s been your biggest struggle? 
   • What was today’s high point? Low point? 

2. Each time you meet with your student, ask the positively worded question first and then give the student your undivided attention. Respond with words of affirmation. For example, “That sounds so fun!”, “How did that make you feel?” or “Wow, that is so cool!” Or you might ask some questions about the child’s experience to give them the opportunity to relive the positive experience. Enjoy the moment together. 

3. Then, share your positive experience. Sharing is a bonding experience and can pave the way for more sharing in the future. 

4. Next, ask the student to share their response to the “worst” or “low” part. Again, listen carefully. Put your judging, fixing, critiquing self on the shelf. Your job is to give the child a safe place to share struggles, disappointments, and failures. You might say, “Oh, that sounds like it was hard,” or, “I can see that this was disappointing to you.” 

5. Then share your “low” response, while ensuring that it is appropriate for a child to hear. Again, it is important that children understand that adults also have times they fail, are disappointed and less than perfect! 

6. Conduct a closing or ending to the routine. Close this time by thanking them for their openness and honesty and let them know that you are there to support and encourage them.  

The Benefits of Establishing a Routine with Students 

Routines can help students feel seen, heard, and valued. As a KHUSA mentor, when you open your meetings with the greeting routine consider the following benefits: 

You, as a mentor, 

• Demonstrate that it is ok to share your feelings and thoughts 
• Will learn much about your student (and yourself!) 
• Are building a bond between you and your student 

Establishing a positive, healthy pattern of behavior such as a greeting routine with your students helps them anticipate a fun mentor/student meeting. It also helps them feel valued and provides them a chance to build a stronger bond with you, their mentor. Give it a try today! 

About the author: Karen Mulder is founder of Wisdom of the Wounded, a ministry that inspires and equips others to care for the suffering during life’s difficulties. 

The post Why Greeting Routines Help Kids appeared first on Kids Hope USA.

As a Kids Hope USA mentor, you understand this fundamental truth: your student, like all human beings, wants to be known and valued. And that’s why mentoring is so powerful—it shows others that we value them by spending time with them. However, during this time of social distancing, you may have had to find different ways to connect with your Kids Hope USA student.  As founder of the caregiving ministry Wisdom of the Wounded, I see firsthand the power of reaching out to someone in need. Our team has gathered ideas to help you care for and encourage your student, whether virtually or from a safe social distance.

LAUGH:  Science tells us that laughing can enhance our physical, mental, and emotional health.  It can lighten a mood between you and your student. Send your student a joke or riddle in one of your notes as a pen pal. Or, if you meet online, you could open with a joke. This will give your student something to look for and anticipate.  Encourage him to start a joke collection on a computer or in a notebook.  Then when he talks with friends or family, he will have something to share and may discover how enjoyable it is to make others smile.  Online resources like, Third Grade Jokes, 277 Puns for Kids, and Riddles for Teens can get you started.

PLAY A GAME REMOTELY:  Are you still able to meet with your student virtually via webcam? Close the distance between you and your student by playing some fun games together online during your session.  This list of nine classic, free online games is sure to send you down memory lane—and help you create an enjoyable meeting with your student. Just be sure to read the website’s “fine print” to ensure you’re protecting your student’s privacy, as well as following all Kids Hope USA guidelines. If you’re mentoring as a pen pal this year, you could create some word scrambles or simple word or math puzzles for them to solve and send back to you.

SURPRISE YOUR STUDENT:  Most kids, whether older or younger, enjoy a nice surprise. It is fun. It makes both the giver and the receiver smile. So, plan a small surprise for your student. If you are meeting online, tap into your inner performer to sing a silly song, or narrate a poem using funny voices. Or incorporate a “guest visit” from your pet. If your program allows it, you could arrange to send a small gift. Some ideas could include: a bag filled with popcorn and fresh or dried fruit. Or perhaps the surprise bag is filled with a book of puzzles, or coloring pencils and coloring book. Many students enjoy Mad Libs, which can be found at dollar stores. There’s even an online Mad Lib app, if you can get approval for your student to use it.

JAZZ UP YOUR INTERACTIONS:  Just because you are meeting remotely, or temporarily confined to pen pal mentorship doesn’t mean your interactions need to be boring. Here are two ways to make your interactions memorable (and meaningful!)

• Do a “get-to-know you” activity. Maybe this time of social isolation is the right time to get to know each other better. So, make up a list of questions which you would like to know about your student.  (Your student could do the same and give you a list of questions she would like to know about you.) For ideas to get you started see: “Kids Get Acquainted Questionnaire” created by Wisdom of the Wounded.
• Make your written work shine. If you are corresponding primarily through writing, take a moment to ponder: how can I make this letter “pop”? You don’t need to be a talented artist to catch a child’s interest. Consider adding a silly drawing, joke, or stickers to your card. Stick figures are fine! For inspiration, here’s a tutorial on creating simple doodles.

We at Wisdom of the Wounded hope that the above ideas will help you support and connect with your student during these times of social distancing.  Also, these ideas may ignite your creativity as you discover and experiment with other ways of connecting.

Thank you for being a Kids Hope USA mentor. You are making a difference in a child’s life.

About the author: Karen Mulder is founder of Wisdom of the Wounded, a ministry that inspires and equips others to care for the suffering during life’s difficulties.

The post How to Connect with Kids from a Safe Social Distance appeared first on Kids Hope USA.

As you prepare to launch into a new school year with a fair degree of uncertainty, I simply want to take a moment to encourage you. I understand that many of you are transitioning from in person relationships to ‘virtual’ platforms or ‘pen pal’ arrangements, and while this might be discouraging or intimidating, any type of connection or communication with your mentee offers a sound opportunity to sprinkle hope and spread compassion to students who are desperately searching for consistency and connection. With that in mind, I want to share four simple principles that will promote resiliency in your relationship with your student.

First, be Present. I have had the privilege of working in the counseling field for over twenty years, yet over the past six months, I have encountered students who are suffering from disconnection and isolation unlike anything I have previously witnessed. As weeks of lockdown orders lingered into months for students, friendships dwindled and loneliness became pervasive. As we enter this school year, students are starving for meaningful connections. Being available and present for a student throws a lifeline fostering human connection and relationship. When you write them a note, they realize that they matter. They are important. And someone else holds them in mind. Then, when you are able to connect in person and you can add the ingredients of active listening and empathy, students develop the strength to break the shackles of loneliness and embrace their identity as children of the King of Kings.

Second, be Positive. Wow, has our culture grown to inflate negativity! Spending a few moments reading the news or following social media reminds me how hostile, angry, and negative our mainstream culture has become. Students are drowning in this swell of chaos as well. Many are bombarded by criticism on Instagram posts or assaulted with put downs among ‘friends’ while they are gaming. Filling your words and relationship with positivity and kindness builds trust and heals wounds. Kind words create an alternative and corrective experience for kids. Their internal voice changes from ‘I’m worthless’ to ‘Maybe I matter?’ When you see things from a positive perspective, you invite your mentee to experience the world in that way as well. Help them look for the ‘good.’

Third, be Playful. There is nothing like a good laugh to lighten a mood. Stuart Brown, a national expert on the value of play quipped, “When enough people raise play to the status it deserves in our lives, we will find the world a better place.” And isn’t this true! Pause for a moment and consider how you feel when you take the time to play. Whether you are on the tennis court or playing a card game, the act of play triggers positive, happy feelings. I hear many of you wondering, how is it possible to do this when I am not even able to see my mentee in person? While that might be true, there are a multitude of ways to encourage play. If you are meeting them virtually, there are screen options that allow you to play games like Uno or crossword puzzles together. There is even a ‘whiteboard’ where you can play games like dot-to-dot or tic tac toe. If you are writing notes, perhaps you can encourage play through including a coloring page or sharing a pretend story. Encouraging kids to create space for play will indeed make the world a better place.

Finally, be in Prayer. Having less face-to-face time with your student is challenging. They are probably facing obstacles of which you are not even aware. Even so, keep praying for them. Just this morning, I had a conversation with a mom who shared that she had been wrestling with how to create restrictions around her son’s screen time since he had been spending inordinate amounts of time on his Xbox. She committed to praying for him for a week to see if Jesus would provide her direction. Wouldn’t you know, her son approached her a week later and said he was “kind of sick of his video games.” He had decided to try some other activities with friends. What a testimony to answered prayer! Not all changes occur radically like this one, but we can trust that our God is at work and He is making a way. We simply need to ask.

Friends, you will continue to be in my thoughts and prayers as you build relationships with students this year. In some ways, you may feel challenged more than ever. Even so, I am confident of this. You will continue to pour hope into places of hopelessness and spread light in places of darkness. “And let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23). And may you be richly blessed as you press on.

The post Promoting Resiliency During Uncertain Times appeared first on Kids Hope USA.

This is a guest post by Dr Emilie DeYoung

As February comes to a close and we embark on March, you may be sensing the seasonal doldrums that accompany the loooooong period between Christmas Vacation and Spring Break. For school calendars, the months of January, February, and March often experience an ‘educational surge’ where students encounter more frequent tests and receive larger loads of homework. In addition, limited light due to shorter days and cloudy weather can perpetuate already irritable moods. What is a mentor to do? Let me offer just a few thoughts. 

First, watch for changes in the student that you are mentoring. You might have a typically, talkative ten-year-old who begins to withdraw, or complains of being tired or sad. Or, perhaps your ‘busy’ boy loses interest in activities that have been favorites for weeks. Or, your gentle second grader begins to exhibit signs of anger and aggression. While there are a multitude of possibilities behind these changes, they might be indicators of depression or possibly, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). While we often attach the notion of SAD to adults, kids can experience seasonal mood shifts as well. Common symptoms of SAD include fatigue, irritability, withdrawal from activities previously enjoyed, difficulty concentrating, and loss of motivation. In addition, sleep and appetite can be affected. When these symptoms become the norm rather than the exception over the course of two or more weeks, it is important to consider depression or SAD as a possible cause.  

Whether or not depression is to blame, there are a variety of activities that might restore some joy in your time together. 

1. Remember that inactivity breeds inactivity, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion. In other words, the sedentary months of winter where kids gravitate toward screens or devices perpetuate the problem. How quickly minutes and hours pass when students are engaged with electronics! During your mentoring time, be sure to get those bodies moving for at least five minutes. A few laps around the room or skipping up and down a hallway can be FUN. Even more important, movement and exercise release healthy doses of “feel good” chemicals in the brain. No wonder most kids feel better after exercise! 
2. If possible, spend some time outside. Even when the weather is frigid, there are outdoor activities that can elevate mood. Perhaps you can catch snowflakes together (check out this link), or watch boiling water freeze (check out this link). No matter the weather, the fresh air does a body good. 
3. Engage in child-centered or creative, imaginary play. In order to do this, you will need to invite your mentee to pretend with you. I suspect that you remember pretend play as a child. Maybe you were the teacher while all of your stuffed animals were students. Or, you were an astronaut who made regular visits to Mars. Pretend play engages a part of the brain that is different than the ‘thinking brain’ required most often in school. Last week, I engaged in pretend play with a client who was pretend auditioning for American Idol. As we belted out various songs, we “judged” each other on performances. My sides ached from laughter! It was a welcome relief in the middle of a dreary afternoon.  

I suspect that you are wondering about the absence of worksheets or “homework” in my suggestions. My simple response is this. Your ‘homework’ or work time during the mentoring hour will be much more productive if you try one of these suggestions first. In addition, spending time on an activity, in the outdoors, or in an imaginary world will inevitably build the relational equity that you might need to persuade your student to do the homework during these winter doldrums. May you be richly blessed as you show up for your students! 

The post Dueling with the Doldrums…  appeared first on Kids Hope USA.

The post One-on-One: Why does it matter that you read with your student? appeared first on Kids Hope USA.

The post One-on-One: Why does it matter that we combine relational and academic activities in the mentor hour? appeared first on Kids Hope USA.

The post One-on-One: Why do relationships matter? appeared first on Kids Hope USA.