Ages: 7-12

Lesson Objective:

Children will gain an understanding of their individual strengths and weaknesses and those of their peers. They will also learn how to best utilize those strengths and weaknesses. 

Group Meeting:

1. Gather your group to your meeting area and have everyone take a seat.
2. Ask for a volunteer to play a game of catch.
3. Once the volunteer comes up, ask them to catch the ball with just one hand. Throw either a small ball or a ball of paper for them to catch.
4. Ask your volunteer which hand they used and why. More than likely it will be their dominant hand. If so, ask them what it means to be right- or left-handed.
5. Ask the group, “If one hand is dominant or stronger, does that make the other hand useless”?
6. Remind the kids that everyone has aspects of themselves that are stronger than others. That’s what makes them unique! However, weaknesses or parts of ourselves that may not be as strong aren’t necessarily negatives and can even be hidden strengths. 

Summary of Tasks/Activity:

Strengths Bingo

1. Pass out copies of Strengths Bingo to each child.
2. Ask the kids to go around and find another person with a square that describes that person, who will sign the bingo sheet. The goal is to get bingo (a signature in five squares in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally). 
3. Depending on group size, limit signing to either one or two signatures per person.
4. If someone has made a signature on a certain strength or talent, they may be asked to prove it.
5. Allow kids to play until most of the group has gotten an opportunity to mingle with the rest of the group.

Self Strengths Bingo

1. After this is over, ask the group if making bingo was easy or difficult and why.
2. Pass out another bingo sheet to the group, and ask them to mark their own strengths rather than those of their peers. 
3. Ask the group to share some of their favorite strengths about themselves.

Identifying Weaknesses

1. Tell kids to flip the page over and write down some of the things they would consider weaknesses in themselves.
   1. To give them an example, you may say, “I tend to strongly avoid competition because I don’t like conflict at all,” or “I’m not a strong speller.”
2. As kids are identifying both strengths and weaknesses, have them start coming up one at a time and writing them down on an anchor chart or whiteboard, splitting it in half between strengths and weaknesses.
3. Talk over these with your group before moving on, and have some kids expand on what they wrote down and why.

Translating Weaknesses

1. Bring back the point made earlier in the lesson that weaknesses often don’t just mean a bad quality in someone, but can bring out a hidden strength.
   1. For example, “Although I may not be competitive, this can be considered a strength because it also means I can be a peacekeeper,” or “I may not be a strong speller, but that means I’m more careful and I work hard to check my papers for errors.”
2. Go one at a time down the list of weaknesses, and together with your group come up with ideas for interpreting them as hidden strengths. Make sure to write these down on the anchor chart or board as you go.
3. In the end, relay to the group that it’s important not only to be aware of what our natural gifts may be, but also to know there are ways to make our weaknesses useful without changing who we are.

Materials/Equipment:

• Pens and pencils
• Markers
• Whiteboard or anchor chart
• Strengths Bingo Sheet (two per person)

Class 6 — Strengths Exploration PDF Lesson Plan