Adventures in Guidance: How to Integrate Fun into Your Guidance Program

School counselors are called upon to provide many types of activities for their students. Keeping their guidance curriculum interesting and engaging is one of the most challenging parts of their jobs. Counselors are looking for active techniques that will allow them to teach their students new skills for communication, problem solving, and exploring options. This book includes games, activities, and initiatives that can be used to accomplish the goals and objectives of a K-8 comprehensive guidance curriculum. Following the introduction in chapter 1, chapter 2 provides definitions and a conceptualization of developmental guidance. Chapter 3 presents information on experiential learning, adventure education, and adventure therapy. Chapter 4 gives an overview of some of the sequencing and leadership skills needed for using adventure-challenge activities. Chapter 5 contains 49 activities and information on the goals and objectives; materials and preparation; how to play; and sample application-processing questions for each activity. Appendix A includes a matrix describing the goals and age level of the activities. Appendix B contains a Matrix classifying how the activities are categorized according to whether they are for ice breaking, trust-building, or adventuring activities. Appendix C describes the Personal-Social Guidance Curriculum.