The Life Skills Handbook provides advice and active learning activities for teaching life skills to young people. It supports and guides all people who plan, manage, teach or work on formal and non-formal education programmes. It can be adapted and used in different cultural contexts worldwide.
- To support existing formal and non-formal school programmes in personal, social health and citizenship education (PSHCE)
- To support existing life skills training programmes
- To introduce life skills into other education programmes for young people, for example, literacy and numeracy classes or vocational training
- To train life skills educators; or
- To develop a life skills programme where none exists.
The Life Skills Handbook is intended for use with young people aged 8-16. The activities need to be adapted to the needs, experiences of the young people you work with. Many people use the activities with adult groups too.
Here is a detailed list of the contents of The Life Skills Handbook.
Sign up in the box on the left to receive 6 sample sessions. To get a feel for how they are set out, view three Life Skills Activity Sessions in the section FREE Life Skills Activity Sessions. Click here
Other Life Skills Sessions will be posted regularly on the blog.
For the complete collection of all 61 Sessions and for the first two sections, buy the Life Skills Handbook here of £4.99.
IF YOU CANNOT BUY THE BOOK THEN PLEASE CONTACT US TELLING US ABOUT YOUR PROJECT AND HOW YOU WILL USE THE BOOK, WHY YOU CANNOT PAY AND WE WILL SEND IT TO YOU FOR FREE. WE MAY ASK YOU TO WRITE US A SHORT CASE STUDY ABOUT YOUR USE OF THE BOOK IN YOUR PROJECT!
Detailed Contents List for The Life Skills Handbook
Introduction: The purpose of this handbook
- How to use this book
- Definitions
- Life skills and children’s rights
Section One: What are life skills and why are they important?
- What are life skills?
- The needs of children and young people
- How life skills help
- Organising life skills programmes
Section Two: Planning, managing and implementing a life skills programme
- Introducing a lifeskills programme
- Planning a life skills programme
- How to organise the order of topics
- Planning an individual life skills session
- Approaches to teaching
- Tips and tools for life skills educators
- Training for life skills educators
Section Three: Life skills Activities
In this section there are 61 Activity sessions divided into three parts:
- Part One: where are we now?
- Part Two: moving forward
- Part Three: endings and beginnings
PART ONE: Where Are We Now?
Self Awareness
- Activity 1: special me
- Activity 2: my place on the tree
- Activity 3: the timeline
Identity factors
- Activity 4: What are identity factors?
- Activity 5: making changes easier using our identity factors
Influences
- Activity 6: what is my network of relationships?
- Activity 7: adverts and media
Friendships
- Activity 8: what is a friend?
- Activity 9: being a friend
- Activity 10: circles of friendship
- Activity 11: resolving conflicts in a friendship
- Activity 12: negotiating roles and responsibilities in a group
Communication Activities
- Activity 13: missing the message
- Activity 14: body language
- Activity 15: mime the lie
- Activity 16: I see. Do you see?
- Activity 17: drawing together
- Activity18: listening well
- Activity 19: you and I
- Activity 20: how assertive are you?
- Activity 21: negotiation
- Activity 22: saying no
- Activity 23: fight and flight
PART TWO: Moving Forward
Rights
- Activity 24: rights and responsibilities
Problem-solving
- Activity 25: identifying our problems
- Activity 26: what risks do we take and why?
Decision-making
- Activity 27: the three C's in decision-making
- Activity 28: practising making decisions
Taking Harmful Substances
- Activity: 29: what do I think about substance abuse
- Activity 30: responsibility and consequences (drugs and alcohol)
- Activity 31: peer pressure
- Activity 32: avoiding risks
Sexuality
- Activity 33: let’s talk about it
- Activity 34: love and sex
- Activity 35: the myths
- Activity 36 bad touch
- Activity 37: fleet of hope
- Activity 38: islands of the future
Behaviour that Hurts
- Activity 39: what makes me angry?
- Activity 40: what happens to us when we get angry
- Activity 41: helping to sort out conflict
- Activity 42: spiralling into trouble
Discrimination
- Activity 43: gender roles in society and in the group
- Activity 44: coping with discrimination
PART THREE: Our Future
Goal Setting
- Activity 45: returning to the tree of life
- Activity 46: setting short term goals
- Activity 47: reaching the goal
A Stronger Me
- Activity 48: resisting pressure using SWISH
- Activity 49: preparing for the unexpected
Coping with Emotions
- Activity 50: emotional pressure
- Activity 51: attack and avoid
- Activity 52: stress
- Activity 53: fear and courage
- Activity 54: breaking the cycle of hurt
Preparation for Relationships
- Activity 55: long term, intimate relationships
- Activity 56: the job of being a parent
Endings and Beginnings
- Activity 57: making a stronger me
- Activity 58: where am I now?
- Activity 59: my timeline/lifeline
- Activity 60: my new network
- Activity 61: moving on
Games and closing activities
