Ready to Decorate™ Journal: Really Good Stuff Product Review

I have been looking for the perfect journal for individual and group counseling and I have finally found it!

Really Good Stuff Ready to Decorate™ Journals are a dream come true for individual and group counseling. The Ready to Decorate™Journals are blank on the outside and have one blank page and one lined page next to each other. The journal is 7" by 9" and has 64 pages. The Ready to Decorate™Journals are available to purchase in packs of 36 or packs of 144. They are a great price too! The Ready to Decorate™ Journals is $1.50 per student for 36 and $1.25 per student for 144 plus shipping and handling.

Students enjoy personalizing their journals and making them their own. The front of the Ready to Decorate™ Journal is blank, which makes it easy to personalize.  Students in my 8th grade girls group enjoyed decorating the front of their journals. I instructed the girls how to decoupage the front of their journals using magazine cut outs, Mod Podge, and foam paint brushes. The loved it! Other students I work with have used markers and crayons to personalize their journals.

The inside of the Ready to Decorate™ Journal has a blank page and a lined page next to each other. I love this feature because it allows for many different kinds of prompts and activities. Students can complete a drawing activity on one page and a written activity on the next page. Having everything all in one journal is great because it makes it easy to keep all of the group activities organized in one place for students (and me).

I have been using What to Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Anxiety for individual counseling with a student I work with. Since I got the journals, she has been recording all the activities we do from the book in her Ready to Decorate™ Journal. The picture to the left of your screen shows an example of an activity I did with the student from What to Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Anxiety and how I recorded it in the Ready to Decorate™ Journal. (This is my hand writing and work, not the student's).

The lined pages of the Ready to Decorate™ Journal are great for writing activities. Students can write journal entries, answer writing prompts, and make lists. The picture to the right of your screen is an example of how I used the lined page for a writing prompt. (This is my hand writing and work, not a student's).

There are endless possibilities for using the Ready to Decorate™ Journal with students in individual, group, and classroom settings. Really Good Stuff sent me 12 Ready to Decorate™ Journals in exchange for a product review. I never recommend a product I do not totally love!

The Ready to Decorate™ Journals literally flew off my shelf! I gave some of the Ready to Decorate™ Journals to students I am seeing individually, but the majority of the Ready to Decorate™ Journal went to my current 8th grade Girls In Real Life Situations (G.I.R.L.S) group.  I plan to order more Ready to Decorate™ Journals for individual counseling and groups I am facilitating.

For more product reviews by teachers, visit The Teachers' Lounge, a Really Good Stuff blog.

How would you use the Ready to Decorate™ Journals with students? Comment below, email me, tweet, or share on the School Counselor Blog Facebook Page!

Danielle is a K-12 Certified School Counselor, Nationally Certified Counselor, and blogger at School Counselor Blog, a place where school counselors share innovative ideas, creative lesson plans, and quality resources.  Contact Danielle via email, follow her on twitter, and become a fan of the School Counselor Blog Facebook Page.

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