Use the letters of your name to help you think about your own positive traits and how to use them in your life.
What you’ll need: Pens and paper
What’s it for?
This activity will help you get to know your strengths and recognise your own value. It will allow you to think about your positive traits and how you can use them to help you succeed in daily tasks, build your self-esteem and boost a sense of happiness.
Check In:
Notice how you’re feeling right now. Close your eyes and notice what’s going on inside your mind and body.
How are you feeling?
What are you thinking?
How does your body feel?
Method:
START BY WRITING YOUR NAME
Take a sheet of paper and write your name in the middle of the page so that you have some space above and under your name.
You are about to create a crossword using each letters of your name to help you come up with your own positive traits that describe your character and personality. Each letter of your name could be the beginning of a positive trait word or it could appear within the word.
You could start with the first letter of your name and think about a trait that begins with that letter. For example, KIND KAROLINA, IMAGINATIVE IAN OR SUPPORTIVE SARA. Continue working through all the letters of your name this way.
Another way of doing it is to find the right traits and then try to fit them with the letters of your name in a way that each letter of your name is included within each word describing your traits. For example, CHEERFUL HEATHER, FUNNY IAN, CARING SARAH.
CHOOSE YOUR POSITIVE TRAITS FROM THE LIST
Here is a list of positive traits that could help you recognise some of them within yourself. If some of the words do not sound familiar to you, you could ask an adult to explain the meaning:
Ambitious ~ Adventurous ~ Affectionate ~ Brave ~ Brilliant ~ Caring
Creative ~ Cheerful ~ Calm ~ Confident ~ Considerate ~ Daring ~ Determined Eager ~ Energetic ~ Enthusiastic ~ Encouraging ~ Friendly ~ Funny ~ Fair
Flexible ~ Gentle ~ Generous ~ Hard-working ~ Honest ~ Helpful ~ Happy Joyful ~ Imaginative Independent ~ Kind ~ Keen ~ Knowledgeable ~ Loving Loyal ~ Lucky ~ Mannerly ~ Motivated ~ Neat ~ Nice ~ Optimistic
Observant ~ Outgoing ~ Organised ~ Peaceful ~ Positive ~ Polite ~ Patient Quick ~ Quiet ~ Reliable ~ Responsible ~ Respectful ~ Supportive ~ Sincere Smart ~ Sensitive ~ Sweet ~ Trustworthy ~ Thoughtful ~ Talkative ~ Unusual Understanding ~ Useful ~ Upbeat ~ Valuable ~ Very _____ ~ Warm ~ Wise
Welcoming ~ Willing ~ exciting ~ excellent ~ Youthful ~ Zealous ~ Zesty
CREATE YOUR OWN WORDS
If none of the listed traits describe your special qualities, try using other words to define your strengths and positive traits, for example:
Share - to describe that you are good at sharing with others.
Play - to describe that you can play nicely with others.
Listen - to describe that you are a good listener/ can follow the rules.
Learn - to describe that you are a quick learner/ enjoy learning new things.
Maths - to describe that you are good at Maths and problem solving.
Art - to describe that you enjoy expressing yourself through art.
CREATE YOUR POSITIVE TRAITS CROSSWORD
Now it is time to create your crossword using the letters of your name to build the words describing your positive traits. Here are some examples of how it may look:
S P
F C I O F
U C R N B S R
N W A E C C R I I
I A N S A R A H H E A T H E R
M M Y U R I T O E R V I A N E
A B P M N I N E E E V R D S
G I P G V E R E D L P
I T O E S F W Y O
N I R T U O N
A O T L R S
T U I K I
I S V I B
V E N L
E G E
When creating your positive traits crossword, try to think about how you use each trait in your daily life. How does it help you and how does it affect others?
Extra Activity: Make your strengths chain by cutting out strips with your positive traits. Curl the first strip to create a ring in a way that your special quality is on the outer part of the ring. Using glue or tape, secure the ends of the strip and then thread the next strip through the ring to create a chain. Working together with members of your household or friends will help you see how your strengths fit together with theirs. You can connect your chains to create one big chain and hang it up in your house or classroom to remind you of your own strengths and how everyone contributes to making stronger communities at home or at school.
When you’ve finished, spend a moment reflecting on the activity and ask yourself the following questions:
Was it easy or hard to think about your positive traits? What is your favourite trait that you possess?
What are some of the ways in which you are already using your positive traits?
How does it help you and how does it help people you interact with every day?
If you worked with a partner, can you think how your strengths and their strengths affect your relationship and those around you?
How do your strengths help you with your schoolwork and responsibilities at home? Can you think of a specific example?
How do your positive traits help you enjoy your favourite activities? Can you think of a specific example?
Can you think of any new ways you could use your strengths to help you and those around you?
Conclusion:
This activity helps you to have a clear idea of what your positive traits are and how you can use them effectively. Knowing your strengths and how to use them could have a positive impact on your self-esteem and help you feel happier and more resilient when attempting to accomplish tasks and goals. Being aware of how your strengths affect those around you, could help you build even stronger relationships.
Take a moment to notice how you are feeling at the end of this activity. Did you discover anything surprising? What can you take away to make you feel better about yourself from this activity?
If you would like to, share something about your experience with this activity with someone you live with! Ask the person who looks after you to send us an email if you have any questions or comments about the activity or would like to send us any pictures (info@catcorner.co.uk). Don't forget to subscribe for more fun CAT activities!
Created by Karolina Koman © June 2020
Creative Arts Used: Art, Creative Writing
Psychological Areas Explored: Resilience, Relationships, Self-Exploration, Self-Expression, Communication
If you enjoyed this activity, you might also like: Affirmations Garland: Learn to appreciate your positive qualities by creating your own affirmations garland.
These activities could be done by children of all ages, but some may need the support of their parent or carer to read the instructions or complete the activity safely.
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