Self-control skills enable children to control their emotions, thoughts, behavior, and motor actions in various situations. Throughout the day, children must be able to tolerate sensations and situations and form appropriate responses. It necessitates that children control their impulses to stop doing something if necessary and to participate in something even if they do not want to.
Playing some activities can help children learn the skills they need to self-regulate while having fun. In this post, we will discuss seven games to practice self-control.
1. Balloon Tap
To start with, you can discover some out-of-the-box self-control activities online. If you want to try something simple, you can try balloon tap. This entertaining game requires only balloons and an open area. Arrange students in a circle and assign students to two teams alternately. Make a circle out of balloons. “Team 1!” exclaims the captain. Only group 1 students should tap the balloons. Switch to Team 2; only Team 2 students should tap the balloons. Switch on and off at 20-30 second intervals. Students will have to pay close attention to the auditory cue that indicates it is their team’s turn to tap.
Want to include everyone in the fun? Use a variety of colored balloons. When the “off-limits color” is called out, no one should tap any balloons of that color. Then change the colors! Students must listen for the auditory cue and suppress impulses when the forbidden color appears nearby.
2. Statue
The counselor stands on one side of the room while the students stand on the other. The counselor turns away from the students. The students begin silently approaching the counselor. The counselor can turn around, but every student must freeze in a statue position and hold it until the counselor turns around again! Anyone who moves is out of the game, according to the counselor.
3. Jenga
Every time a student removes a block from the tower, remind them to use self-control. The more cautious you are, the more likely it is that you will win. This is not only a fun and interactive way to practice self-control, but the entire game becomes a metaphor for self-control in real life. Things can fall apart if you are not careful. Take your time, pause to think, breathe, and proceed with caution.
Jenga’s slow, controlled movements are excellent for practicing self-control! If you move too quickly, the tower will collapse. If you don’t pay attention to balance, the tower will collapse! Students will need to slow down and concentrate on the task at hand.
4. Don’t Break the Ice
This game requires no materials! Play music in an open area. Students will dance while the music is playing and then freeze! When students freeze, have them strike a yoga pose to add a layer of difficulty.
5. Red Light, Green Light
This is yet another game that requires no materials! Every student stands on one side of the room. The counselor or leader is on the opposite side of the room. When the counselor says, “Green light,” students may proceed toward the counseling. When the counselor says, “Red light,” the students must stop. Change the required movements to increase the difficulty – students could hop, crab walk, or bear crawl on a green light!
6. Clap pattern
This is a fun activity to do as a group warm-up or to end a session. The counselor begins clapping in a pattern. All students follow the pattern, and one student adds to the pattern. With the new additions, students must follow the pattern. See how many variations you can make to the pattern!
7. Mirror
For this activity, students should be paired up. One student will play the person’s role, while another will play the part of the mirror. The mirror student should mimic the other student’s movements, facial expressions, and so on, just as if they were a mirror. They’ll need to pay close attention and be conscious of their body movements!
Essential Techniques and Skills We Should Know
- Develop Your Self-Awareness
How many temptations do you believe you resist daily?
It’s impossible to say because most of our decisions are subconscious. We can better manage our behavior by becoming more aware of when, where, and how we exercise self-control.
- Believe in Willpower
Our beliefs about willpower can impact our ability to exercise self-control.
In a study, participants were able to exercise the same level of willpower after a depleting task by viewing self-discipline as an unlimited resource, demonstrating our beliefs’ impact on our actions.
This implies that you and I are capable of doing the same. Choosing not to regard self-control as a finite resource may provide us with some of the motivation we require to overcome, at least mild cases of, ego depletion.
- Regular Physical Exercise
According to research, you can improve your self-control by simply practicing it. Students who participated in a two-month exercise program demonstrated significantly improved self-regulation behaviors. Participants outperformed the other non-exercise group in self-regulatory visual tasks through regular physical exercise, which required repeated acts of willpower.
- Implementation Intention
The implementation intention technique may help you improve self-control, break bad habits, and change undesirable behavior (Gollwitzer, 1999). Creating an if-then plan that specifies when, where, and how you’ll act to achieve a goal is the method.
It has been demonstrated that implementation intention increases the likelihood of goal achievement by bridging the gap between our goal intentions and behaviors. We can make this behavior more automatic when we identify and commit to concrete goals, then specify the specific goal-directed behaviors we’ll engage in.
Bottomline
Temptation is everywhere, but we can strengthen our self-control by practicing it. Self-awareness, motivation, the right mindset, and increased willpower can provide all aid in the development of better self-discipline, which has the potential to benefit our success and long-term goals.