Talk Me Up!: A positive affirmation game for Black kids (BMHC)
This resource was created in collaboration with BMH Connect.
------
Talk Me Up! is a fun, interactive card game designed to help kids learn and recite positive and empowering statements as they participate in gameplay. Positive affirmations and self-talk can be helpful coping mechanisms for clients who experience stress, anxiety, low self-worth, or negative social interactions.
Positive affirmations include:
- My voice is powerful
- I can do anything I set my mind to
- Black is beautiful
- I am unstoppable
- I believe in myself
- I can, and I will
- I am more than enough
- I love the skin I'm in
- People love me for who I am
- I am confident
- + 30 MORE!
Set-Up
This card deck contains 48 Talk Me Up! cards and requires printing and cutting. For best results, it is recommended to print in high quality, on card stock, and laminate, if possible, for prolonged use.
How To Play
Six cards are dealt to each player and the top card in the remaining deck is flipped over. The person with the next closest birthday goes first, and play continues clockwise after that. Players take turns discarding a card from their hand if it matches the number or color of the previously played card.
As a player lays down a card, they must say the positive affirmation displayed on the card that is being played. If they forget to say the affirmation and the next person takes their turn, then that player must draw two cards from the deck. This is only if they are called out by an opponent. If it is unnoticed, they are not required to draw.
If a player does not have a matching number or color, then they draw one card from the deck. If they are able to play the card, then they can lay it on the discard pile. If they are not able to play it, the card remains in their hand, and then it is the next person’s turn.
The Talk Me Up card in the deck is a “Wild” and can be played at any moment during the game, particularly if a player does not have a matching card. When a player lays down the Talk Me Up card, everyone must go around clockwise and say something positive about that player. Once this is done, the player can then lay down any card that they would like. The You’ve Been Skipped card, when played, skips the next person’s turn.
The game continues until a player is completely out of cards. The first player to do so is the winner of the game!