6 Self Esteem Activities to Help Your Child Develop Confidence

 

Think about the times in your life when your confidence was put to the test. Perhaps you were interviewing for a new job, asking someone to dinner, or traversing a foreign country. These are all instances that demand a strong belief in your own abilities and strengths.

At Heswall Primary, our focus is on empowering our students and giving them the confidence they need to succeed in a global community. The power of 'YET'.  But we can’t do it alone. Research has shown that parent involvement is key to helping students develop the skills they need to succeed.

Ready to get started challenging your child? Try one of these confidence building activities that you can do at home.

 

6 Self Esteem Activities to Try at Home

 

1. Packing for a Trip 

Focus Skill: Independence

Instill confidence in your child by encouraging them to practice independence. Before you go on your next family trip, ask your child to pack their own suitcase. Once they’re packed, check the suitcase and prompt them to think about items they missed. Instead of saying, “You forgot your Flip-flops,” say, “Do you have everything you need for the beach?”

 

2. Invent a Recipe

Focus Skill: Learning from Mistakes

Help your child see mistakes as learning opportunities, not failures. Gently encourage mistake-making by asking your child to invent their own pancake recipe. Have them write down an ingredient list and quantities of each item. Supervise the process so nothing dangerous is ingested, but do not interfere. Even if your child adds something unusual to the recipe (like goat cheese or baked beans!), let them experiment. After cooking a test batch of pancakes, ask, “What could you have done differently?” Then, allow your child to modify the recipe and try again.

 

3. Make Slime!

Focus Skill: Teaching Others

Children can build self-assuredness and develop confidence by demonstrating newly-learned skills when interacting with others. Give your child a chance to impress their friends and have fun by teaching them to build “slime” (a gooey substance that can be stretched or molded). Start by giving your child a recipe for “slime” and have them follow directions without your help. Once your child has concocted their slime, ask them to explain the process to you. Then, when we can, invite friends over! Have your child demonstrate the slime-making process before everyone tries it for themselves.

Simple Slime Recipe:

Mix 1/4 cup of water with a 1/4 cup of glue

Add a few drops of food colouring

Add a little liquid startch

Kneed until stretchy

 

 

4. Chore with a Purpose

Focus Skill: Care of Environment

Taking on a consistent chore can be a huge responsibility. In order to promote your child’s confidence in their ability to care for their environment, have them pick out a special chore. They could be in charge of watering the plants, walking the dog, or help with the dishes. Compliment them for good, consistent behavior with specific praises such as, “The plants look nice and healthy because you’ve been watering them regularly” or “Thank you for walking the dog every day. I know he enjoys it!”

 

5. Float Your Boat

Focus Skill: Problem-Solving

Problem-solving is one of the best self esteem activities. Give your child an open-ended challenge and let them brainstorm ways to create solutions. One great exercise is to give your child several items from the recycling bin—milk jugs, cans, cardboard, glass jars—and challenge them to build a boat. Provide tape, glue, string…and nothing else! Let them experiment with different ways to put together their boat. Then test their creation in a lake,pond or bath. 

 

 

6. Serve a Snack

Focus Skill: Multi-Step Planning

Develop your child’s confidence in their cognitive skills by giving them a multi-step challenge. Ask them to plan, prepare and serve a snack (or a lunch, for older children). This task forces your little one to think about many different things at once: what to serve, how to prepare the food, how to set the table, etc. This activity encourages multi-step planning and gives them the confidence that they can solve an open-ended challenge.

 

Step Forward with Confidence

When your child believes in their ability to overcome mistakes and accomplish tasks all on their own, they will feel empowered to take on challenges in school and in life. While there is no magic key to unlock every child’s inner-confidence, these activities will give you a good starting point. The key to helping your child trust in their abilities is look for opportunities to challenge them and then to let them seek solutions on their own.