Liar, Liar Pants on Fire Counseling Game
Updated: Feb 26, 2022
I am excited to introduce a new game designed to help children who tell lies. Over the years I have worked with many children who have been in trouble for telling lies, but there are many different motivating factors for their behavior. I have found that talking about it directly often leads to more lies, as they are either ashamed to talk about it or they fear being in trouble. Naturally, the children who are in the habit of lying tend to lie about their lying habit.
I scoured the internet looking for resources but didn’t find much related to lying. I figured it was a good time to make a new game. This game plays like Old Maid. There are 10 different characters in addition to the Liar, Liar Pants on Fire card. You pass out all of the cards to the players. It’s likely that one person will receive more cards than the others due to the odd number of cards. Each player will hold up their cards and one player will select a card from another player's hand. If they get a match, they will lay it down on the table. This will continue with players taking turns until the Liar, Liar Pants on Fire card is the only one that remains. The player left with this card loses.
Related Post: The Truth Behind the Lies: Motivated Behavior
Each character has a different motivation for lying. The game comes with a description for each character and questions that can be used to generate discussion about the motivation for behavior as well as encourage the child to think of possible consequences for the behavior. The goal is to open discussion, normalize feelings, and help identify the client’s motivation for lying. The therapist can segue into talking about alternative behaviors that would work better than telling lies.
One reason that I am so excited about this game is that my daughter illustrated the game. All characters are original pieces of art. I may be biased, but not too shabby for a 12-year-old! I’m extremely proud of her hard work. Once I figure out the logistics, I plan to open a Teachers Pay Teachers account for her to sell her artwork.
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