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Activity 3: Self-Esteem (60 min) Do this activity in camp teams. Self-esteem is what you think of yourself and your worth. A person with a high self-esteem feels very positively about himself or herself. A person with low self-esteem feels unhappy about himself or herself. Self-image is the way you look at yourself—it is what you believe other people think about you. You can have a self-image as someone who likes basketball. How we see ourselves is going to have a huge impact on how others see us and before we can expect others to love and respect us we need to love and respect ourselves. It’s normal to feel down on ourselves every once in a while, that’s okay, but being able to pick ourselves back up and maintain that positive self-image is what makes us strong. Having a positive self-image and self-esteem is very important for mental health. As well, it inf luences our habits and can lead to successes. Negative self-esteem can lead to bad decisions and can thus hurt us. In this camp we have done activities to build our skill-sets, talked about history, our connections to others and worked on our ability to resolve conf licts and set goals. All of these things can together help us create a positive self-identity. • What do you think are some things that can help us to build up positive self-esteem? (Allow time for response after each question) Possible responses: • Smiling • S etting SMART goals • Eating healthy • E xercise • L earning new skills • Finding things that we are good at • G etting a compliment • Giving a compliment • Spending time with positive influences We are going to do an art activity- a self-portrait to put down on paper who we are. Each person is going to get a large piece of paper and have a friend trace his or her shoulders, neck and head on the paper. Then you can paint or draw or use magazine cutouts to decorate your portrait. Use words or images to explain who you are, what you like, what’s important to you, what you are good at and why other people like you.