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Activities>Games

Write a Postcard to Yourself

By The Aloha Team

A design of pine tress, a platform tent, and a fire.

Activity purpose:

This engaged activity is a way of allowing children to set personal short-, medium-, and longterm goals for themselves and their families. This is a great exercise to help kids think about
what they want to achieve, as well as gauge how willing they are to follow through on things
they deem important.

Supplies:

All you need is a piece of paper, postcard, or something that you can post on the refrigerator or
somewhere public in the house.

How it works:

  1. The adult should begin by handing out a postcard to each child.
  2. Give the following directions: “Everyone has goals. I would like you to spend the next
    ten minutes thinking about your individual goals for the following:”

    • One day from now
    • Five days from now
    • Two weeks from now
    • By the time camp starts
  3. Explain: “We want these to be thoughtful. Ask yourself: If you were accomplishing your
    personal goals and being the type of person you wanted to be, what would you be doing?
    Think small. Think big.”
  4. Next, ask the children to turn their postcards over. They would repeat the steps, but this
    time, challenge them to think about how they are going to help others in their family (and
    potentially the local community).
  5. “Everyone has goals. We would like you to spend the next ten minutes thinking about
    your goals for helping others.”

    • One day from now
    • Five days from now
    • Two weeks from now
    • By the time camp starts.
  6. Explain: “We want these to be thoughtful. Ask yourself: If you were accomplishing your
    personal goals and being the type of person you wanted to be, what would you be doing
    for others?”
  7. The adult can collect these to hold onto or the family could make the decision to post
    them in a public location.

Debrief questions for parents/adults to discuss with children:

Was one of these harder to do than another?
Is it hard to set goals for ourselves? Why do you think that is?
What did we find to be most difficult? Are there ways that we/I can help it be less difficult?
How can we best support each other to follow through on any of these goals?
Are we willing to share these goals with others?
How do we know if we’ve been successful in accomplishing these goals?
How can we best remind each other of our goals, and support each other to follow through?