Kids have always loved to play the popular card game, Go Fish. At Franklin Learning Systems, we've developed our own version of Go Fish to help improve social and emotional skills in the following areas: anger, friendship, feelings, character, responsibility, and conflict.

Play-2-Learn® Go Fish: Hooked on Friendship™ is designed to help children learn friendship skills while having fun. The framework of the game will teach players how to make friends, how to be a good friend and how to resolve conflict with peers. The scenario cards cover basic lessons on fairness, kindness, respect and understanding. The scenarios draw from daily interactions that take place during school, after-school activities, in the neighborhood, and at home.

The game plays like classic Go Fish. There are two decks of 50 cards in each game – one for grades K-2 and the other for grades 3-5. It differs from classic go fish in that players must answer a question before they can accept a requested card. Instead of the usual number and picture cards, the cards have fun pictures of fish and fish names. For example, a player may ask, “Do you have any Henry Herrings?”  If the player receives a Henry Herring card, the player reads the question on the card aloud and answers it. All questions are open ended. If the player did not have any Henry Herrings, the player would say, “go fish,” and then the first player would take a card from the “ocean” (extra cards in the center of the table).  A rules sheet and facilitator guidelines are included.

Grades: K – 5

• Time required:  about 20 minutes
• Players: 2 – 5

Learning Objectives

Players will understand:
1. that in order to have good friends you must be a good friend;
2. that fairness, kindness, respect, and understanding are important in the process of making and keeping friends;
3. how to deal appropriately with conflict and peer relations; and
4. how to use common strategies to enhance relationships.