One of my most requested asks of parents is “Can you help them get along better with their brother/sister?” I absolutely love doing family therapy. There is something about working with systems and relationships that truly lights me up. Here are a few of my go-to family therapy activities with siblings. DISCLAIMER: Most of these activities work best with younger clientele and siblings ages 3-10.
1.I-Spy: You can either play this game organically – aka how you probably played as a child. Looking around the room and saying “I spy with my little eye something blue!” OR since I have been doing more telehealth family sessions as of late I like to use I-spy images or worksheets I can share on the screen. A quick google search can pull up some great ones here and here are a few I have used recently.
2.Spot the Difference: These were really popular in kids magazines I read growing up. I still love them to this day! The idea is there will be two pictures side by side and at first glance they look similar but there will be a few, subtle differences. Siblings can work together to find the differences or they can take turns. This promotes collaborative teamwork or practices the art of impulse control during the turn taking portion. Here, here and here (more challenging) are a few I have used recently as well.
3.Matching Games: To be honest these games work a lot better in person. Any matching game such as this Spiderman one or this Bluey one will work. My absolute favorite is this Feelings Matching Game by Bright Spots as it incorporates emotional literacy learning as well. When a match is made you can ask “Do you know this feeling? Tell me a time you have felt this feeling before.”
4. Back to Back Drawing: This one is a crowd favorite. I actually wrote a post about this one with all the instructions and templates that you can read here.
Helpful Healer 