Totem the feel good game – Team Building, Therapy Games for Teens, Family Games for Kids and Adults, Counseling Activities, Boost Mindfulness, Social Emotional Skills and Self-Esteem

I’m a clinical social worker in private practice working mostly with children, teens, and young adults. This game is wonderful for building a therapeutic alliance with kids, reinforcing psychological concepts and coping strategies, exploring issues, and building self esteem. While the game was intended for group play, I use it in individual therapy with kids in a number of different ways that help children to identify their own strengths and weaknesses. The game often ends up becoming a springboard for children to talk about the things that challenge them in a way that feels safe and fun. The game also provides an opportunity for children to see how attributes are not “all or none” and how our “gifts” can sometimes be to our detriment when not in moderation (i.e. one card says “I do things with precision”). I play the game by dealing 7 cards to both myself and the child and then ask them to put them in order face down in the order most to least relevant for them (or, what they think apply to me if it’s a child I know well). Then we turn over one card at a time and discuss why we picked it, giving examples of how the attribute fits or doesn’t fit us. Sometimes we swap cards when it seems to fit better for the other person. Sometimes I place the cards in order for the child the way I think they might do it and then they correct it and we see how many I got right. I let them do the same for me. In the end, I have kids pick 9 cards that were most relevant to them, place them in a 3 x 3 grid, and take a picture with their smartphone as a reminder of their “gifts”. Please note, the words used in the deck of cards to describe traits and attributes are, for the most part, too advanced for elementary school-age children, so the game is used for my middle and high school kids. Even these children will sometimes not know the meaning of a word, so I will either tell them or let them google it for a definition. I have contacted the company and suggested they make a “junior” version and hope they soon will! I have many games in the office and this is, hands down, one of my favorite.

This game is so fun and uplifting. Love having it in my therapy space.

I purchased this because I was researching games for my classroom to build community. I decided to try it out with my family. This is such a wonderful game. We pick out an animal that represents the dealer. It took a bit of convincing to my animal lover daughter that she shouldn't pick her favorite animal but the one that represents the dealer :) Then we get to talk about the wonderful things associated with the dealer and their positive traits. And you get to do it again with the second set of cards. When it was my turn to be the dealer I had to hold back the tears!Totem provides a structured and safe way to share compliments. It's not an wide open field. Because you have to select from 7 cards, it gives you boundaries and helps focus your thoughts about a person. I can tell you that my 7 year old son was better able to give positive comments about his sister using this game than he ever has. It wasn't a general "you're nice" or "I like your shirt." He was able to articulate "I think you're like a whale because even when I'm having a hard time you can be calm and help me through it." I was BLOWN AWAY!The kids keep asking to play the game every day and love to call each other by their given totem. Best purchase for our family in a long time! I'm very excited to try this out with my classroom throughout the year and will continue to love playing it with my family. Buy it. You won't be disappointed.

I’m a school psychologist and have used this game when working with small groups of upper elementary students (4th & 5th grade). It depends on the personalities of the group members but for the right group it has been a hit and effective in getting them to think about positive traits in themselves and others!

Totem is an amazing game which promotes self affirmation and self realization from different peoples perspective. Although I’ve played it with adults my favorite use is with my students in our social emotional learning class. There are many adaptations you can use with the game to build self-confidence, Self-awareness, and perspective. I was not going to buy it due to the cost but I’ve already used it multiple times in two weeks. It’s small so it can go in a travel bag, purse, backpack etc. and very accommodating to any space to play. It is a giftable game which I can see even young adults embracing. The directions are easy to follow and everyone leaves feeling very good about themselves! The game can be played in long or short sessions. It lends itself to adaptability so I have even used it By playing one round each day. Not only does it give you self affirmations through the other people playing but it also allows you to show them things that you recognize in a positive way also.

About a year ago my department was moved into CorpHR. Even though we all knew each other, for months it still felt like two departments meeting together but without any bonding. Eventually our VP of CorpHR announced we were having a department bootcamp and asked if anyone had any ideas for a team-building exercise. I had previously bought Totem months before to use along with DISC and suggested we use it. Wow! Our plan was to do only one person due to time constraints. That absolutely did NOT happened. Going around the first time for one person was so meaningful that the VP announced we were scrapping everything else planned for the day and only concentrate on Totem. What a day! There were tears, sincere observations, meaningful bonding, unknown feelings shared and beautiful friendships formed. In fact, as a special surprise for everyone I’m having someone create a totem with all our animals to give to each of the ten people in our department. Thank you for creating Totem! We love it and what it did to help us open up to each other!