Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade learners need a healthy foundation of social-emotional skills in their day. Social emotional skills are truly a huge umbrella; these are the skills that help children understand how they feel, manage emotions, make friends, work well with others, solve problems, and choose good choices.
Our youngest learners are unique in that they need more engaging, interactive, and hands-on activities to teach the skills they need. The good news is that there are countless ways to integrate SEL activities into the day.
Here are some meaningful and engaging SEL activities to try with your primary learners:
1. Hold group chats
Use questions to spark meaningful SEL-focused conversations, even with your youngest learners. Start with one question a day or add however many you have time for. A few questions to start off with include:
- How can you be a good friend today?
- What are three words to describe you?
- What are some expectations at lunch?
- Why is it important to be honest?
2. Use modeling dough
Using putty and modeling dough provides a hands-on experience for children. Have students model different SEL topics with their modeling dough. For example, they can create different emotions or build their family. You can also have them build important SEL vocabulary words, such as kind, care, and think.
3. Rip and glue paper to make posters
Ripping paper builds fine motor skills, and it can also be an engaging way to talk about other SEL skills. Have students rip and glue paper to make a heart as you discuss integrity or kindness. Rip and glue paper to make a sun to discuss a positive attitude.
4. Read stories
Read alouds build a number of SEL skills from empathy to decision-making. Choose any short story in your library or grab a SEL-focused read aloud to get started.
5. Give free time
Free play time is critical to help kids put their skills into action! Take just a few minutes before free time to talk about an important SEL skill, such as kindness, problem-solving, or including others. Encourage children to put that skill to the test as they play.
6. Talk about feelings
Use situations to talk about how kids might feel and why. This activity targets understanding emotions, coping strategies, and even perspective-taking. Here are a few conversations to start:
- You miss the bus. How would you feel?
- A friend asks you to play. How would you feel?
- Your class gets extra art time. How would you feel?
7. Do art projects
Use hands-on art activities to strengthen social-emotional skills. A few ideas to start off include:
- Create a self-collage (self-awareness)
- Paint with calming colors (self-management)
- Trace and color hand prints to post together (social awareness)
8. Talk about scenarios
Talk about real-life scenarios and ask students what they might do. This provides critical problem-solving practice with situations before they actually happen. Best of all, kids often learn best from other kids around them. Use these FREE social-scenario cards for your starting point.
9. Implement a SEL Curriculum
Find a research-based curriculum to explicitly teach social-emotional skills. Learn about the Pathway 2 Success K-2 Curriculum and how to add it to your classroom.
10. Play board games
Board games provide opportunities to work on SEL skills again and again. Choose any board game in your cabinet to work on turn-taking, conversations, following directions, and sportsmanship.
11. Read affirmations
Read and repeat positive self-talk statements to build confidence. Students can even create their own list to help them manage emotions in tough times. Use these FREE positive affirmation worksheets to get yourself started.
12. Color and draw
Draw and color pictures focused on different SEL topics. A few drawing ideas to try:
- Draw a picture about a time you felt happy.
- Draw 3 different emotion words you know.
- Color a picture with calming colors.
- Draw your family.
- Draw a picture of you using a calming strategy.
13. Role-play
Have students act out scenarios with a partner or group. This provides real-life practice in working through situations and problems. For example, you might have students act out what they would do if someone asks to play with them.
14. Sing songs
Sing social-emotional songs to integrate music and arts. You can find pre-made songs on Youtube, or you can even make up your own!
15. Write stories together
Writing stories together is a great way to model writing skills. Together, come up with stories for showing perseverance, kindness, friendship, and other SEL skills. Once you have done this activity together, students can come up with their own stories too.
16. Check in with emotions
Use a daily emotions check-in to help students build self-awareness. Use these FREE emotions check-in worksheets to get started.
17. Play movement games
Integrate movement and social-emotional skills with movement games. A few games to try include:
- Freeze! – Play music and give time to dance. At one point, yell out, “Freeze!” and have students pause exactly where they are. This builds self-control.
- Would You Rather – Have students stand up. Ask a “would you rather” question, such as, “Would you rather have a cat or a dog?” Have students go to different sides of the room for their answer. This game builds decision-making skills.
18. Practice calming strategies together
All children need calming strategies to help them manage tough emotions. Practice different activities together, such as mindful breathing, exercising, positive affirmations, and stretching. Discuss what worked well and how they might use them in the future.
19. Write in a journal
Ask a SEL-focused question, discuss, and model writing in a journal to your learners. For students who can, give them free journal writing time to write on their own. It also helps to give time to draw a picture corresponding to their journal entry. Use this yearlong SEL journal set designed just for younger learners.
20. Create a vision board
A vision board is a set of pictures and words about our future aspirations. First, talk about our hopes and dreams for the future. Then, use old magazines to have students cut and glue together their own unique vision boards. Students can present their vision board to the class.
21. Write poems
Integrate writing and SEL with writing poems. Students can write a poem about something that makes them happy, where they are from, or how they are feeling. It may help to give sentence starters to help students create poems on their own.
22. Use visuals
Posters and visuals are a helpful way to teach concepts to all learners. Use pictures of different emotions to build emotional awareness.
23. Play with blocks
Use blocks to build SEL topics. For example, have students design their community, such as their street, house, school, or local park. You can also have students work collaboratively by building together (this is a great way to work on teamwork skills).
24. Use puppets or stuffed animals.
Use puppets or stuffed animals to help tell stories and share messages. These can be extra helpful when they’re aligned with stories and read alouds.
25. Integrate SEL skills throughout the day
Along with direction instruction, social-emotional skills are best acquired when they are integrated into daily activities. Talk about group work expectations before reading groups. Model what kindness looks like just before recess. Discuss emotions as you are reading a short story. The options for integrating SEL skills into the day are truly endless.
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