How to Play the Toilet Paper Game

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for Children
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The Toilet Paper Game
Using Play To Develop Self Esteem

I like this game because its fun! I also never knew I could name so many nice things about myself!

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 bathroom toilet paper!

INSTRUCTIONS

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 positive thing 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 must come up with!

Play Therapy Techniques

The facilitator leads a discussion on the children felt about giving themselves so many compliments. Was it bragging? 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 liked to exaggerate every thing. He took a handful of toilet paper of at least 87 squares! He quickly gave up trying to compliment himself, but the other children had lots of suggestions. After this experience, he learned some nice, new things from his peers, even though he wasn’t very popular, and he also learned to use less toilet paper and save trees!

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