Friendship Dilemmas Game-Played like Apples To Apples

In this resource, you will teach students how to solve a variety of friendship dilemmas. This game is played like Apples to Apples. There are 18 examples (with pictures) of friendship dilemmas. There are 36 friendship strategy cards. Some of the examples for the dilemma cards are; your friend likes to copy you, your friend brags, your friend does not let you play with other friends, your friend cheats at games, your friend shared something private to someone else and other examples. For the strategy cards, some examples are; talk to your friend about how you feel, listen to their perspective, think about your part in the problem, talk to a parent, talk to an older sibling, distract yourself with something fun, and many other strategies.

For the game, divide students into groups of about 4-5. All players get 5 strategy cards. The judge begins by drawing a friendship dilemma card and reads it and shows the group. Each player chooses one strategy from their 5 cards that could be a way to handle the friendship dilemma. Players place the strategy cards FACE DOWN so the judge does not know who placed which strategy card. The judge chooses which one they would most likely use in that situation. It helps to know what the judge might choose! Important: All strategies are valid, there is not one BEST strategy, only which one the judge might most likely choose. The next round, all players take another strategy card as they always need to have 5 strategy cards with each turn. The played strategy cards go back under the strategy pile. someone else is the judge and the game continues as time allows. There are 2 mindfulness coloring sheets to offer to the students after the game. This is an engaging game to play after a friendship skills lesson or conflict resolution skills lesson.