5 Fun Activities for Setting Goals with Children

Setting goals is a life skill learned at an early age. We have brought together 5 fun goal-setting activities you can do together with your children.

Reaching our goals is the most important thing we need to do for both achievement and happiness. According to research, adults find it harder than children to stick to their goals. That is because setting goals is a life skill, and when learned at an early age it grants a planning ability that lasts a lifetime. In this article we share five fun activities you can do together with your children.

1. Prepare a To-Do List

One of the most troublesome situations in large groups and families is deciding on an activity to do together; sometimes the decision-making stage even takes longer than the time set aside for the activity itself. Gather everyone together and create a list. Focus on what you want to do together. Hang the list somewhere you can see it; ticking off each item as you accomplish it boosts motivation.

2. Draw a Wheel of Fortune

Together with your children, draw a wheel of fortune that looks like slices of pizza. Let each child write the things they care about in each section: playing with friends, football, guitar, painting, studying and so on. Hang the wheel on a wall, set aside a specific time of the week as "wheel time" and do whichever activity the wheel lands on.

3. Create a Dream Board

Collect old magazines, newspapers and catalogues. Ask the children to cut out pictures that show their dreams for the future. Create a section for each dream and paste the pictures in. Once decorated, keep it somewhere visible by framing it or hanging it on a board. Ask what these dreams mean to them and how they plan to make them come true.

4. Play Three Stars and a Wish

Give the children a sheet of paper and ask them to write down three things they are good at: running fast, getting along well with friends, singing beautifully and so on. Then have them add a wish to the same sheet: whatever they want to achieve or which talent they want to develop. Give this wish a time frame (at most one year), put the sheets away and check them together when the time is up.

5. Ask Fun Questions

You do not necessarily need pen and paper to set goals; dreams can be built through conversation too. Ask questions such as "What would you do if you won the lottery?" or "If you were a superhero, which power would you have and what would you use it for?" Then talk about how making dreams come true does not require lots of money or superpowers, but rather the desire to succeed and hard work.

To discover a child’s strengths, you can read our Hidden Talents article or take a look at our guidance unit.

Gökkuşağı Koleji · Children who dream and set goals.