I'm a huge fan of using games to target goals because it builds relationships with kids and keeps them engaged — two important elements to successful instruction. This week, I was introduced to a new social-emotional learning game called Chat Chains and I'm very excited to share about it! It's a fantastic tool to practice waiting and listening skills, conversational interaction, social awareness, expressing emotions and more. Check it out in detail below...
The game has cooperative and competitive elements. Players work together to maintain a conversation and rack up points by building Chat Chains with response cards. Players compete for the highest score each round by participating actively in the conversation. "
Where to Purchase
Head over to ThinkPsych to order Chat Chains for yourself and browse the rest of their collection as well. As an added bonus, ThinkPsych offers free shipping everywhere in the U.S. for all orders!
About Chat Chains
Chat Chains is a social-emotional learning game that was created by clinical psychologists to help kids improve their social skills and talk more freely about their emotions. Those of you who follow us often know that I am a huge proponent of research driving instruction and Chat Chains has a strong evidence-base behind it. It includes tons of conversational starters with different levels of difficulty and allows for multiple play styles based on children's skill levels. The game is recommended for ages 8 and up, and I will say from my own experience, this game has been a blast for kids from elementary school to high school!
Chat Chains is a social-emotional learning game that was created by clinical psychologists to help kids improve their social skills and talk more freely about their emotions. Those of you who follow us often know that I am a huge proponent of research driving instruction and Chat Chains has a strong evidence-base behind it. It includes tons of conversational starters with different levels of difficulty and allows for multiple play styles based on children's skill levels. The game is recommended for ages 8 and up, and I will say from my own experience, this game has been a blast for kids from elementary school to high school!
Why I Love It
This game is great for all kids, but especially for those who struggle with expressive language delays, social anxiety, difficulty talking about thoughts and feelings, difficulty making friends, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorder. It requires cooperation, but still allows for some friendly competitiveness, which is an important social skill to master as well.
Chat Chains targets the following social-emotional goals:
- Enhancing social awareness
- Improving waiting and listening skills
- Building confidence in social situations
- Improving nonverbal behaviors in social situations
- Making new friends and deepen existing relationships
- Learning new questions and answers to use in conversations
Teacher Tip: In addition to playing Chat Chains the traditional way, you may also love using it as an icebreaker activity at the beginning of the year, integrating it into your morning meeting as a quick think-pair-share activity, or use the cards for expressive writing tasks at your writing station! It's so versatile, both kids and adults have fun with this game.
Playing the Game
"To start, players select conversation topics that vary in difficulty. The difficulty of the topic and subsequent point value is determined by how emotionally vulnerable the topic requires players to be.The game has cooperative and competitive elements. Players work together to maintain a conversation and rack up points by building Chat Chains with response cards. Players compete for the highest score each round by participating actively in the conversation. "
Win It!
The people at ThinkPsych have generously offered to provide one lucky winner of our giveaway with a Chat Chains Social-Emotional Game of their own! Enter below for your chance to win. Entrants must be at least 18 years of age and reside in the continental US. Across the Avenue is not responsible for prize fulfillment. Good luck!
Where to Purchase
Head over to ThinkPsych to order Chat Chains for yourself and browse the rest of their collection as well. As an added bonus, ThinkPsych offers free shipping everywhere in the U.S. for all orders!