1. introduce the basic concepts of self care. You can use a self care wheel if you want Or just talk about different ways to take care of ourselves (emotionally, physically, spiritually, etc.).
2. Introduce a puppet or other toy who needs help practicing self care, give one starting clue. For example, this could be something like, “Rabbit does this when he needs to let out some tears he’s been holding in.” The child would guess “cry!” Then look for something in the office (perhaps the tissue box). You would then have another clue hidden there leading to another self care practice. This could be a glass of water, a phone to call a friend, art supplies, a pillow to meditate, etc. So you will need to have all the clues hidden before session and can tailer these to the individual needs of the child.
3. I hide a little “Super star of self care” paper in a treasure chest marking the completion of the scavenger hunt.
4. Once the child finishes finding everything, see if the child wants to make a scavenger hunt for you to show ways to practice self care from the child’s perspective! Another option is doing this with a child (once face to face sessions resume) and then brining in the parent to find the clues the child has hidden (getting them both to talk about what self care means to the child and their family as a whole).
Art of Social Work 