Positive Psychology Prompt Cards
While traditional therapies tend to focus on fixing problems and dealing with pathology, positive psychology takes a different approach. The goal of positive psychology is to build happiness and well-being. One technique used to achieve this goal is making a conscious effort to recognize the good things that happen to us.
The Positive Psychology Prompt Cards are designed to put this technique into action by prompting clients to think about positive moments from the past week. The deck consists of 24 cards, each with a simple, unique, and meaningful prompt.
This resource is appropriate for children, adolescents, and adults. Below are a few suggested uses, but feel free to develop your own.
- Give clients a take-home set of prompt cards for gratitude journaling. Ask that they choose three cards each evening, and write down their responses.
- Use the cards as a group icebreaker, where participants take turns drawing a card and responding to the prompt.
- Integrate the cards into a favorite board game. Every time the player takes a turn, they also answer a prompt.
These cards were created with color, but they are designed to still look great when printed in grayscale. For the best results, print on cardstock.
1. Bono, G., & Froh, J. (2009). Gratitude in School: Benefits to Students and Schools. In Handbook of positive psychology in schools (pp. 95-106). Routledge.
2. Froh, J. J., Bono, G., Fan, J., Emmons, R. A., Henderson, K., Harris, C., ... & Wood, A. M. (2014). Nice thinking! An educational intervention that teaches children to think gratefully. School Psychology Review, 43(2), 132.
3. Sansone, R. A., & Sansone, L. A. (2010). Gratitude and well being: The benefits of appreciation. Psychiatry (Edgmont), 7(11), 18.
4. Seligman, M. E., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). Positive psychology: An introduction. In Flow and the foundations of positive psychology (pp. 279-298). Springer, Dordrecht.
