SOON August giveaway – tell us about your favourite card
Posted: 25/07/2024We have five free card sets to give away … and we want to hear from YOU!
Tell us about a favourite card from any Innovative Resources card set.
Why does it speak to you? How has it influenced your life or work?
What do you love about it? The design style? The word/s or illustration?
You can send your response in whatever form you like—prose, verse, a personal video—however you feel inspired. But keep it under 300 words.
It’s not a writing competition—we’ll choose five names at random to receive a free card set, of your choice, valued up to $89.95. All valid entrants will receive a 5% discount on their next purchase.
We can’t wait to hear from you. Email your response to editorial@innovativeresources.org by Friday 30th August.
Terms and conditions
Submission Deadline: All entries must be received by 5pm Friday 30th August, AEST, 2024.
Notification: Winners will be notified via email by Friday 6th September 2024. Winners have three months to claim their prize after notification. 5% discount code valid for three months from August 30th 2024.
Publication: Entries may be published on Innovative Resource’s website, social media channels, or quoted in other promotional materials.
Attribution: Innovative Resources will credit the author when using the content for promotional purposes, unless otherwise advised with entry.
Data Privacy: Personal information collected during the competition will be used solely for the purpose of administering the competition and will not be shared with third parties without consent.
I love the bear cards and the self-care cards. Bear cards when working with children are so helpful! I use them when meeting with children at work. I usually – depending on the age of the child, pre-select a variety of different emotions (10ish) and then ask them what bear they are in certain situations. It gives me so much insight into how they are feeling, especially when words are hard to express. The self-care cards have been a great ice breaker at team events and also in supervision.
There are so many wonderful cards. The one that speaks to me the most is ‘the school bag’ frrom the Two Worlds deck. It is a reminder of what it must be like for my nearly 9 year old carting things back and forth between homes. I useed these cards a lot in child-inclusive practice in mediation for separated families. Each child would pick cards that spoke to them about their experience at each home and would explain why. Invaluable!!
The Car Cards are my favourites as they are so easy to use with any age or gender. At work we have used them with women’s groups, with children, parenting groups and also when working with teenagers. We use them as a pre/post tool for some of our groups too and the stories and anecdotes are powerful.
I love the shy looking bear from The Bear Cards Set. I love that the body language is open to interpretation and have so many adults and children select that card but attach different meanings and feelings to the bear.
I love the Angels cards. I use them with students at the high school I work at. I use them as a diagnostic and formative assessment tool, a way of gathering student voice that is enjoyable for them; picking a card that resonates with them, discussing what it is about the card they are drawn to, what it says about who they are or who they are becoming or who they aspire to be, what this means to them and what this looks like in their day to day life, inside and outside of school. I choose a card too, to build relationship and scaffold their experience with the cards. They might also choose a card that speaks to them about what they hope for. I use the cards as doorways to many different ideas and thoughts students may have about their life, and life in general.
The pack of Symbol cards are the most used. I have 3 different sets of cards from Innovative Resources, but the symbol cards have been the most used as they are always simple, easily placed on the floor or tables, people walk around and can immediately identify a symbol that relates to their current experience of a question. It certainly helps individuals share in small or large groups. Totally recommend them.
One of my favourite cards from the Innovative Resources are “Strength Cards”. These cards feature a simple yet powerful message to encourage people to notice their strengths and resources. They may not recognise these strengths in themselves. Displaying these cards on the floor or table for participants to choose the cards – aligning and resonating to their own life, personality and story. These cards break the silence withing every person who are feeling disempowered in their current situations. These Strengths cards are valuable to open the topic – as Discover Your Top 5 Strengths Now – which are covered so far by your self-limiting beliefs and perception.
What speaks to me most about this card is its depiction of strength in flexibility. In both my personal life and work, leveraging one’s top 5 strengths have been a cornerstone values. These cards serve as a reminder that facing challenges and adversity is a natural part of growth, and that the ability to adapt and recover is a true measure of strength. But, first Discover Strengths, Develop those strengths like muscles and Empower Your Strengths by using them daily.
In my work, these cards have been a valuable tool in facilitating discussions about overcoming obstacles. It has helped clients visualize their own power of strengths and recognize their capacity to bounce back from setbacks. Personally, it has been a source of encouragement during tough times, reminding me to stay grounded yet flexible.
I love the design of the cards – the simplicity of the clear, impactful word. The design style is clean and minimalistic, which allows the message to stand out without distraction.
Overall, the “Strengths” card has had a profound influence on my life and work. It encapsulates a powerful concept in a beautifully simple way, making it a cherished part of my toolkit for inspiration and support.
Mahesh Trivedi
My favourite card is “achievements”. We so rarely stop and reflect on what we have achieved, we focus on what has gone wrong or what we still have to do.
It has been powerful both in life and work. It’s a great way to be grateful too. Grateful for the things that are going well.
I like the design too. The stacked rocks remind us that achievement does not mean perfection.
Working in a school I loved the ‘Sometimes Magic happens when’ cards to help students identify how they best work in class and share this information with their teachers. I saw imcreased engagement in their class work and closer relationship with staff. So helpful 😊
The Strength cards are a wonderful resource to support children’s self-esteem. At times they do not realise their amazing qualities and they are happy to see they have such fantastic strengths and qualities. They walk away feeling great about themselves knowing they have beautiful qualities. I ask them to read their qualities out aloud which reinforces their qualities to them.
The Talking up our strength’s cards are my favourite card set. As an Aboriginal woman and psychologist finding culturally safe and appropriate tools is difficult as their as so few resources. Having these cares which focus on our cultural strengths is extremely important. The cards are created in a way that is universal and can be used across the age range with children, teens and adults.
love the strength cards. I’ve used them with new mums, teenagers and work colleagues as a hospital social worker. My favourite – strengths unlimited – PLAY! I love the vibrant colours and the conversations it opens about the importance of laughter and silliness, especially in hard situations.
I enjoy using a variety of cards but the bear cards are my favourite .. especially when there are no words to describe in words .. they are non judgemental /don’t discriminate /CALD
I use them with adults, teens and children in my work
I love to use the angel cards. During Covid I would post them in my OneNote for the students every day. We would talk about them. Talk about the people who they know that make that feeling possible. I plan to use them again this year, posting them once a week, discussing them with the students and pumping them with positive vibes. Angels are everywhere.
Talking up strengths – for mob that is a way to share feelings and allows an opportunity to checkin with others. I do also like the self care cards for our team to acknowledge their strengths with self care and acknowledge another they continue to develop at that point of time
One of my favourites is anxiety solutions. This is one we just purchased and it was such a good buy. The graphics are so appropriate for using with children and young people,but could also be used with adults. They are so vibrant and have some lovely ideas for how to use. The cards are the perfect tool for guiding a child/young person through strategies that could help release their anxiety and to do this taking small steps to achieve their desired goals. Thank you I’m excited to be able to use these cards.
My favourite card is from Stones Have feelings too! The ‘abandoned, left out, surrounded… or?’ card. The picture is so evocative, and is a way to explain an emotion that can’t quite be described in words.
I use the ‘picture this’ cards. They have been really useful in allowing students to open up about an issue, without revealing what the issue is. For instance, they will resonate with the picture of the beach, and then explain that this is because they spread a loved one’s ashes there, which will lead into that conversation. I think they are perfect for those children who steer away from direct therapeutic intervention, and want a more informal approach. Really love the cards and share them with the whole Wellbeing Team!
Hi there,
I have a range of favourite cards, including Exploring Shame, the Stones Have Feelings Too and Bear Cards being all fantastic. They help people talk about needs in an exploratory fashion, build understanding between practitioner and the person they are their to support.
The cards that are my favourite to use are the Strength Cards Unlimited edition, with the 120 new prompts to help you have even more nuanced and reflective conversations about people’s strengths, skills and resources.
Thanks.
Tim.
Anxiety Solutions for Adults are a colorful way of exploring different ways of coping.
Car cards complement very well with Choice Theory Reality Therapy practitioners.
Thank you for your plethora of resources and options for us to choose from.
I’m a fan of all the card sets – I love using the Strengths Cards with children. To acknowledge and build on their personal strengths we go through the cards placing them in one of 3 piles:
1/a strength I have
2/a strength I don’t have or see in myself
3/ a strength I am working on or would like to have.
I then highlight all the child’s strengths – from the back page in the booklet and the child gets to take away a copy of their highlighted strengths.
I can also back up the child’s strengths by choosing a strength sticker/s.
Parents who lack confidence in themselves have enjoyed this activity too.
Angels with Attitudes – witty & wacky cards. In team meetings I like to use the cards to identify how much skill and experience we have amongst ourselves.