Hope 4 Hurting Kids - Moving from hurt and trauma to Hope and Healing.
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • Explore
    • Emotions
    • Family
    • Trauma
    • Other
  • Help Centers
    • Emotions Help Centers
      • Emotions General
      • Grief
    • Family Issues Help Centers
      • Divorce and Modern Family
      • Domestic Violence
      • Family Issues
      • Foster Families
    • Trauma Help Centers
      • Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Domestic Violence
      • Sexual Abuse and Rape
    • Destructive Behaviors Help Centers
      • Bullying
      • Cutting and Self-Harm
      • Eating Disorders
      • Substance Abuse
      • Suicide
  • Get Help
    • Contact Us / Get Help
    • H4HK FAQs
    • Hotlines
  • More…
    • About Us
    • Surveys
      • Children of Divorced/Separated Parents
Hope 4 Hurting Kids - Moving from hurt and trauma to Hope and Healing.
Home
COVID-19
Explore
    Emotions
    Family
    Trauma
    Other
Help Centers
    Emotions Help Centers
    Emotions General
    Grief
    Family Issues Help Centers
    Divorce and Modern Family
    Domestic Violence
    Family Issues
    Foster Families
    Trauma Help Centers
    Child Abuse & Neglect
    Domestic Violence
    Sexual Abuse and Rape
    Destructive Behaviors Help Centers
    Bullying
    Cutting and Self-Harm
    Eating Disorders
    Substance Abuse
    Suicide
Get Help
    Contact Us / Get Help
    H4HK FAQs
    Hotlines
More...
    About Us
    Surveys
    Children of Divorced/Separated Parents
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • Explore
    • Emotions
    • Family
    • Trauma
    • Other
  • Help Centers
    • Emotions Help Centers
      • Emotions General
      • Grief
    • Family Issues Help Centers
      • Divorce and Modern Family
      • Domestic Violence
      • Family Issues
      • Foster Families
    • Trauma Help Centers
      • Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Domestic Violence
      • Sexual Abuse and Rape
    • Destructive Behaviors Help Centers
      • Bullying
      • Cutting and Self-Harm
      • Eating Disorders
      • Substance Abuse
      • Suicide
  • Get Help
    • Contact Us / Get Help
    • H4HK FAQs
    • Hotlines
  • More…
    • About Us
    • Surveys
      • Children of Divorced/Separated Parents
Understanding Emotions

Soccer Ball Questions

Soccer Ball Questions

Sometimes it’s hard to get kids to open up about their feelings. Soccer Ball Questions if a great conversation starter and a way to get kids talking. Here’s what you’ll need:

  • A soccer ball. You can find cheaper ones at places like Five Below. I would suggest a white and black one and one that isn’t overly decorated as it will leave more space for your questions. A volley ball works fine too and allows you to include some longer questions but has fewer spots for different questions.
  • Permanent markers that will show up on your soccer ball. We used a regular black magic marker and a Sharpie white paint marker for the black spaces.
  • Write a question on each spot on the ball. The questions we used are listed below, but feel free to pick your favorites and add your own. Based on experience, I suggest writing questions on about a quarter of the ball at a time and letting the marker dry completely before doing the next section (this helps to avoid smudging and gives you a way to hold the ball while you’re working).

Once your ball is done, the exercise itself is pretty simple. Pass the ball around the room or the table. As a child catches the ball, have them answer the question in the section under their right thumb. You’ll be surprised how well this activity brings even shy kids out of their shell.

Here are the questions we put on this ball (you could do a separate ball with questions for an individual emotion like anger, sadness or grief). You will notice that we used a mixture of emotion-specific questions and questions designed to get kids talking about things that might spark conversations about emotions:

  • What is the hardest thing about being a kid?
  • What emotion is strongest in your life?
  • What would you do if you were never afraid?
  • When do you get angry?
  • How did you overcome your biggest challenge?
  • What color describes your mood?
  • What would you do if you had a “magic wand?”
  • What makes you cry?
  • What stresses you out?
  • What is your favorite memory?
  • Give 3 words to describe how you feel right now.
  • Share something you fear.
  • Describe a happy family.
  • What is the greatest thing about being you?
  • What is the best advice you ever received?
  • Do you ever feel lonely? When?
  • What do you look like when you get angry?
  • Tell about a time when you hurt someone’s feelings.
  • What is your biggest worry?
  • If you could change anything in the world, what would it be?
  • If you could have any superpower, what would you pick?
  • Share one of the happiest days of your life.
  • Talk about a time when you were very irritated.
  • How do you feel when someone laughs at you?
  • When do you feel sad?
  • What is the best advice you ever received?

Continue reading

February 17, 2017by Wayne Stocks

“Helping young people on the journey from hurt and trauma to hope and healing.”

To contact us for any reason, please use our Get Help page. We promise to get back to you as soon as we can.
© 2018 Hope 4 Hurting Kids