Dream Boards

Hello and Happy Tuesday!


I am a HUGE fan of motivational books and tapes. I have recently started listening to very little else in my car. One of the pieces of advice that seems to resonate in all of the tapes and books is thinking about your goals and writing them down. All of the experts say that writing them down will make you more likely to achieve them. I believe that this is true. So what does this have to do with inspiring kids?

To go along with the idea of writing down your goals is to visualize yourself achieving your goals. You may have seen the idea for the “Dream Board” on Oprah or other shows. This is an idea that I am currently working on for myself and have done with some of my middle school students. It is a great motivator for pre-teen and teenage kids as well as adults.

The “Dream Board” is kind of like the collages that we used to hang in our bedrooms. Remember the days of making a board with photos of friends, family members and Kirk Cameron? (Ok..maybe I am just showing my age) The Dream Board should contain pictures, phrases, and words of things that you want to achieve in your life or career. For teenagers, they may have goals for school, college, making a sports team, or overcoming a fear.

To make the “Dream Board” you simply need the following materials:

*a poster board or large sheet of paper

*old magazines

*photos of family, friends or yourself

*markers or colored pencils

*anything else that you want to decorate with!!

To start, you should think about your goals and things that you want to accomplish. It can be anything from a trip that you hope to take, becoming a work at home mom, having a better relationship with friends or parents, to having financial freedom. For teens and pre-teens it could be getting a lead in the school musical, making the volleyball team, or getting into NYU. Then, you need to find pictures and words that will depict what you are trying to achieve. Make a collage full of all of the things that you visualize yourself achieving. Make it as wonderful and full as you can!


The most important part of this exercise is to hang the dream board some place that you will see it every day. Some suggest putting it in your bedroom where you will see it the minute you wake up. Others suggest putting it right by the door out of your house so that you see it as you leave for your day.


Another important aspect of this project is to share your board with the people you love and those who support you. Letting others know what you are striving for will help them to support you and understand why you are spending hours working on your dream. Doing this with your kids will also help you to understand them better. These boards can be great conversation starters! You may find something out about your teen or yourself that you did not know!!

I encourage you to share your dream boards with me! I will have my dream board done by the end of the week and will share with you! As an extra incentive, I am going to enter all who subscribe to this blog and share their photo of their dream boards in a raffle for a FREE Heritage Makers poster publishing credit. You can use the credit to make another dream poster or a poster with photos of yourself achieving your dreams!