Customer Reviews:
“Our experience with The World’s Kindest Playing Cards was great! They worked out really well for us. THIS SUMMER (2008) THE CARDS HELPED REDUCE EMOTIONAL BULLYING IN GIRLS. We use the cards for self-directed free time activities and gave them as general supplies when the girls arrived.
We use the GIANT size deck with your programming book for interest groups and CREATIVE CARD GAMES. They are learning life skills that will really help them grow and develop morals that the parents are already looking for.
DEFINITELY A 10 ... these are fabulous!”
~ Meghan S., Outdoor Program & Service Manager Camp Director
"These are wonderful. I do team building programs at our camp so what I want is new props all the time and these particular props are great because of all the different game activities you can do with them immediately. They’re large. They have great impressions. The colors are awesome so that’s going to get the point across. These are all important concepts and values that we can get across in such a simple way. I can’t wait to use them."
~ Alex T., Camp Owner/Director, New Milford CT
"In my experience, kids who played a lot of games, whether they’re board games or card games, with their families or with their friends have a really good idea of how the numbers fit together. Their number sense is more developed than other kids. I would have to give it a 10. It’s unique, it’s different and I think it will really get the kids’ attention."
~ Nicole R., Math Teacher & Camp Director, East Otis, MA
"We love this program because with this program you can use it quickly. You break out the cards and play a game of Peace and they sublimely get these messages through. You can use it as an evening activity or as a quick activity. It’s great, you can’t go wrong with this. You are always looking for new things to stretch the kids and to grow them and grow their character development. And this is such a great thing to do that. "
~ Nora, Hinsdale, MA
"When we’re hiking on the trail sometimes the kids get tired or sick of looking at bugs. We need to pause, do something else. For wholesome activities that don’t require electricity or a lot of props, good plan. It fits the bill. It’s something that doesn’t need anything but itself and a group of kids and that’s what we have."
~ Emily B., Milton, MA
"... our leadership retreat as a warm-up activity to get people to know each other and exchange ideas. I can see this maybe being something I’d use in cabins, where kids maybe aren’t getting along and we need to kind of reassess what we’re doing there and how they might treat each other better. It might give staff confidence who don’t know how to talk with kids to have a prop to deal with that issue."
~ Ellen F., Camp Director in Salisbury, VT
"I think it is amazing and you should continue your effort. Educating children is the most important thing, especially teaching them manners and how to be nicer to other children. We will definitely use it. I think this will be a wonderful idea for the kids to use these because they play cards all the time. What better than to have something to tell them the way they should behave and act?"
~ Beth Stasuk, Director, Galloway, NJ
"At our camp during our orientation process with staff, we do talk about fostering an environment where these kind of things are right up that alley: desired behavior, respect, teamwork, friendship, how to label that when we see it, how to praise it when it happens. It opens the dialog and gets kids talking about what those things mean rather than just words on a piece of paper or words on a card. Anytime you take something like this and make a game out of it, kids respond well to that. I definitely see especially the larger ones probably being used as part of an orientation with your staff. It’s large, it’s something you can put up behind you that everybody can see it."
~ Gene M., Cascade, MD
"They’re bright, they’re colorful, something fun, different and a subtle way to throw it in to everything that you’re doing. I can see us using all different sizes for different things... the large ones in large group activities."
~ Erin A., Cascade, MD
"I think sometimes we miss the important things like friendship, like learning respect, understanding how children need to get those basic really, really important messages. I think the cool thing about the cards is that they teach those messages. They give children the opportunity to learn a little more about these important fundamentals things that matter to us as human beings.
Unfortunately, too few people realize that it’s all about connecting to people, it’s all about learning about other individuals and the more that I learn about you the more I understand myself. By us understanding each other we’re able to make the world a much better place.
Children can learn these fundamental things such as manners and respect. We can teach them in way that is exciting. We can try to find ways that are creative so children are able to learn and not just try to force-feed them information but help them to learn that learning is an exciting process.."
~ Cecil C., Chevy Chase, MD
"Because of the apparent set-up of being playing cards, and the fact that you can little by little into it, you can go one card at time or two cards at a time, and you can sort of sneak the good stuff in. It makes me optimistic that this will work."
~ Andy P., Camp Director in Columbus, NJ
"I was very excited to see your program. I can’t wait to use it with my staff training and with my girls this summer. The first thing that caught my eye were the colors and then I started looking at what the meanings were on each one of the cards and I think it kind of touched me because these are things we instill in life every day but I don’t think that we really remember to do these. I like the way it’s set up. I think it’s something I can do with the staff and also carry on with the kids and I think by having fun playing cards they also get the messages that we really want them to take. I like to see children change, I like to see them have a good time and if I can make a difference in one child’s life, that’s what’s important to me. I get to share these wonderful values with them. The sharing of love, the sharing of life, wrap it all up with the outdoors—what a package!"
~ Valerie, Resident Camp Manager in Hartford, CT
"We were just looking at these cards thinking about how could we utilize them at camp and we’re thinking that they’re good with all ages so anywhere from our youngest campers up to our oldest campers can use them. And if there’s issues at camp this is a good way to get the girls talking and respecting each other.
Absolutely a 10! They’re easy to read for the younger girls which is really important and they’re colorful and would really get them involved in working in conflict resolution and different ideas like that."
~ Erin, Waltham, MA
"I’m totally excited about buying these cards because we actually run a camp every year called ‘Cards N More,’ for kids who don’t like to do all the physical outside stuff all day so we do games and activities and these are perfect for us, so I’m very excited."
~ Michele K., Camp Director, YMCA - Indianapolis, IN
The World’s Kindest Playing Cards by GivaGeta Smiles
