Teaching Middle Schoolers to Accept Failure: Interactive Activities & Games
Why Teaching Failure Matters
Failure is often viewed negatively, but it’s an essential part of learning. Middle schoolers, in particular, can struggle with setbacks as they begin to face academic, social, and personal challenges. By helping students embrace failure as a stepping stone to success, we foster resilience, growth mindset, and problem-solving skills.
Interactive and engaging activities make these lessons more memorable. Here are some creative ways to teach middle schoolers that failure is just a part of the journey.
1. The “Famous Fails” Game
Objective: Show students that many successful people experienced failure before reaching success.
How to Play:
- Prepare a list of famous individuals who failed before they succeeded (e.g., Michael Jordan, J.K. Rowling, Thomas Edison).
- Read out their failures first and ask students to guess who they are.
- Reveal their identities and discuss how they persevered.
Lesson: Everyone fails at some point—what matters is how we respond to setbacks.
2. “The Marshmallow Challenge”
Objective: Teach problem-solving and resilience in the face of setbacks.
Materials:
- Uncooked spaghetti
- String
- Tape
- Marshmallows
How to Play:
- Divide students into small teams.
- Give them 20 minutes to build the tallest free-standing structure that can hold a marshmallow on top.
- Allow students to make multiple attempts and encourage them to reflect on what worked and what didn’t.
Lesson: Failure is part of innovation—testing and improving ideas leads to success.
3. “Mistake of the Day” Reflection
Objective: Normalize failure by sharing personal experiences.
How to Play:
- At the end of the day, each student writes down one mistake they made and what they learned from it.
- If comfortable, they can share with the class.
- The teacher also participates to model that making mistakes is normal.
Lesson: Learning from mistakes helps build resilience and self-awareness.
4. “Fail Forward” Journal
Objective: Encourage a growth mindset by reflecting on setbacks and progress.
How to Play:
- Give students a dedicated journal where they record moments of struggle.
- Each entry should include:
- What happened?
- How did I feel?
- What did I learn?
- How can I improve next time?
- Over time, students will see their personal growth in handling challenges.
Lesson: Growth happens through repeated efforts and learning from setbacks.
5. “What Would You Do?” Role-Playing Scenarios
Objective: Teach students how to handle failure in real-life situations.
How to Play:
- Present students with failure-related scenarios (e.g., failing a test, losing a game, making a mistake in front of classmates).
- Have them act out different ways to respond, both positive and negative.
- Discuss which responses are constructive and why.
Lesson: Students learn that their reactions to failure shape their future outcomes.
6. “Bounce Back” Balloon Toss
Objective: Show that failure doesn’t define us—it’s how we bounce back that matters.
Materials:
- Balloons
- Markers
How to Play:
- Have each student write a personal failure on a balloon.
- Then, in pairs or groups, they toss their balloons in the air and keep them from falling.
- Each time a balloon is caught, the student says something positive they learned from their failure.
Lesson: We can recover from setbacks and turn them into learning moments.
Final Thoughts
Teaching middle schoolers to accept failure through interactive activities helps build confidence, resilience, and a lifelong love for learning. By normalizing mistakes and showing how they lead to growth, educators can help students develop the mindset needed to face challenges head-on. Browse the PaloNow’s SEL resources for educators
