Social-emotional learning is a vital part of education. But, finding the right social-emotional activities for your classroom can be challenging. These 10+ activities are perfect for the K-3 classroom.
10+ Activities for Social-Emotional Learning
Unlocking our students’ potential is more than just teaching them academics. It’s about developing social and emotional skills and helping them become empathetic, resilient, and confident individuals. Social-emotional learning (SEL) has become a cornerstone of education.
As teachers, we understand the importance of providing young learners with tools to navigate the social-emotional topics they will experience. That’s where activities for social-emotional learning come in handy.
Table of Contents
- 10+ Activities for Social-Emotional Learning
- Emotional Self-Awareness
- What Do We Need to Teach Kids?
- What Skills Do They Need?
- Activities to Teach Emotional Self-Awareness
- Photos Showing Different Emotions
- Feelings Journal
- Emotions Check-In
- Children’s Books for Emotional Self-Awareness
- Find More Activities to Teach Self-Awareness
- Self-Management
- What Do We Need to Teach Kids?
- What Skills Do They Need?
- Activities to Foster Emotional Self-Management
- Brain Breaks
- Calm-Down Kit for a Calming Corner
- Children’s Books for Emotional Self-Management
- Find More Activities to Teach Self-Management
- Growth Mindset
- What Do We Need to Teach Kids?
- What Skills Do They Need?
- Activities to Foster Growth Mindset
- Act It Out Scenario Task Cards – Growth or Fixed?
- Children’s Books That Teach Growth Mindset
- Find More Activities to Teach Growth Mindset
- Relationships and Friendships
- What Do We Need to Teach Kids?
- What Skills Do They Need?
- Activities to Foster Relationships and Friendships
- Taking Turns Script
- Good vs. Bad Ways to Be a Friend Sort
- Children’s Books That Teach Relationships and Friendships
- Resources to Help Teach Social-Emotional Skills
- Social-Emotional Learning Resources
- More Social-Emotional Ideas/Activities
Emotional Self-Awareness
Emotional self-awareness is a building block of social-emotional learning (SEL). It allows children to recognize and understand their own emotions and involves being able to identify and name feelings accurately. This skill forms the base for healthy emotional development and effective peer relationships in the classroom.
What Do We Need to Teach Kids?
There are many emotions and feelings lessons for elementary students. Children need to learn how to recognize and label their emotions. This includes understanding that emotions can vary in intensity and may change rapidly.
They also need to grasp the connection between their emotions and their thoughts and behaviors. By developing emotional self-awareness, students can better regulate their emotions and respond to situations constructively.
What Skills Do They Need?
To achieve emotional self-awareness, children need skills such as identifying facial expressions, understanding body language, and recognizing their own inner workings associated with different emotions. They also can benefit from learning vocabulary to express their feelings accurately and articulately.
Activities to Teach Emotional Self-Awareness
By providing opportunities for students to explore and understand their emotions, teachers teach students valuable skills for navigating the complexities of social interaction and self-regulation.
Photos Showing Different Emotions
Introduce children to photos showing various facial expressions representing emotions, such as happiness, sadness, anger, and surprise. Discuss each emotion, allowing children to identify and name them. Encourage them to share personal experiences associated with each emotion.
Feelings Journal
Provide children with journals or notebooks designated for recording their feelings. Encourage them to write or draw about their emotions daily, reflecting on what triggered each feeling and how they responded. This activity promotes self-reflection and introspection.
Emotions Check-In
Conduct regular emotional check-ins where children have the opportunity to express how they are feeling using a feelings chart or emotion cards. Encourage them to share the reasons behind their emotions, fostering open communication and empathy within the classroom community.
Children’s Books for Emotional Self-Awareness
Bringing SEL children’s books into the classroom is a powerful way to support emotional self-awareness in young learners. Teachers create a learning environment where students can connect with characters, relate their experiences, and deepen their understanding of emotions in a meaningful and relatable way.
Children’s Books for Emotional Self-Awareness
There are plenty more books about self-awareness and emotions. Click here for a list of over 20 different titles that all focus on feelings and emotions!
Find More Activities to Teach Self-Awareness
- K-2 Emotions & Feelings Lessons, Activities & Chart
- 3-5 Self-Awareness & Feelings Lessons, Activities, & Posters
- Emotions Book Companions
Self-Management
Emotional self-management is a crucial aspect of social-emotional learning that empowers children to understand and regulate their emotions effectively. It involves recognizing one’s feelings, understanding their triggers, and employing strategies to manage them healthily.
What Do We Need to Teach Kids?
Teaching emotional self-management helps students feel equipped to navigate their emotional experiences. Children need to learn the importance of identifying their emotions, acknowledging them without judgment, and developing strategies to cope with challenging feelings constructively.
What Skills Do They Need?
To cultivate emotional self-management skills, students require a toolkit of techniques that help them regulate their emotions. These skills involve self-awareness, impulse control, stress management, and resilience, all contributing to emotional well-being.
Activities to Foster Emotional Self-Management
Here are a few self-management activities for social-emotional learning that you can add to your day to help students with self-regulation and emotions.
Brain Breaks
Introducing short, engaging daily activities can help children reset and refocus their emotions. Quick exercises, games, or even simple stretches can temporarily distract and help regulate emotions.
Ways to Calm Down – Breathing Strategies & Yoga
Teaching breathing exercises and basic yoga poses offers kids practical tools for calming their minds and bodies. These techniques promote relaxation and mindfulness, enabling them to manage stress and anxiety effectively.
Calm-Down Kit for a Calming Corner
Create a calm-down kit filled with sensory items, such as stress balls, soothing music, or fidget toys. This will provide children with tangible resources to regulate their emotions independently or in the classroom calm-down corner.
Children’s Books for Emotional Self-Management
Children’s books uniquely engage young minds, start meaningful conversations, and help students learn valuable lessons. These stories help children explore their emotions, develop coping strategies, and navigate their inner world with confidence and resilience.
Children’s Books for Emotional Self-Management
There are plenty more where these came from! Find a list of over 20+ self-management and self-regulation books here.
Find More Activities to Teach Self-Management
- K-2 Self-Management & Regulation Activities
- 3-5 Self-Management & Regulation Activities
- Self-Regulation Book Companions
Growth Mindset
Growth Mindset is a belief system emphasizing that intelligence and abilities can be developed through dedication and effort. Unlike a fixed mindset, which sees talents as innate traits, a growth mindset encourages resilience, learning from failure, and embracing challenges as opportunities for growth.
What Do We Need to Teach Kids?
When teaching kids about a growth mindset, we need to show them that their abilities can grow with effort. We want them to see challenges as chances to learn and to keep trying even when things get tough. It’s also important to teach them to accept feedback as helpful advice for getting better. By learning these things, kids can feel more confident and ready to tackle anything that comes their way.
What Skills Do They Need?
To nurture a growth mindset effectively, children must develop key skills, including self-awareness, resilience, effort, openness to feedback, and positive self-talk. This includes understanding their strengths and areas for growth, bouncing back from setbacks, recognizing the value of hard work, embracing constructive criticism, and fostering an inner dialogue that promotes self-belief and optimism.
Activities to Foster Growth Mindset
Let’s explore some engaging growth mindset activities designed to nurture a growth mindset in children.
It’s Okay to Make Mistakes – Brainstorm & Writing
Encourage students to brainstorm examples of mistakes they’ve made and the lessons learned from them. Then, have them write about a time when they faced a challenge, made a mistake, and how they overcame it, emphasizing the growth they experienced.
Act It Out Scenario Task Cards – Growth or Fixed?
Provide scenario task cards depicting situations where characters face challenges. Students act out the scenarios, discussing whether the characters demonstrate a growth or fixed mindset. This activity promotes critical thinking and perspective-taking.
Growth Mindset Quote Posters & Mantras
Create posters featuring inspirational growth mindset quotes about resilience, perseverance, and the power of yet. Encourage students to choose a mantra that resonates with them and incorporate it into their daily affirmations.
Children’s Books That Teach Growth Mindset
These children’s books are amazing tools for teaching growth mindset concepts. Through illustrations and stories, they provide lessons about perseverance, embracing challenges, and the power of believing in yourself.
Children’s Books That Teach Growth Mindset
There are a range of growth mindset picture books out there. This list has at least 20 growth mindset books your class will enjoy.
Find More Activities to Teach Growth Mindset
- Growth Mindset Lessons, Activities, and More K-2
- Growth Mindset and SMART Goal Setting 3-5
- Growth Mindset Book Companions
By teaching a growth mindset, we help kids deal with tough stuff in life with courage and hope, believing they can learn and succeed.
Relationships and Friendships
Relationships and friendships are the glue that holds the classroom (and social world) together. They’re all about our connections, where we understand, respect, and care for each other. In the primary classroom, teaching kids how to build strong relationships sets the stage for a happy and welcoming place to learn.
What Do We Need to Teach Kids?
Children must learn the importance of forming positive relationships and friendships early on. They should understand concepts like empathy, kindness, cooperation, and conflict resolution. Teaching these friendship skills enhances social interactions and improves emotional well-being and academic success.
What Skills Do They Need?
Children need a range of social-emotional skills to navigate relationships and friendships successfully. These include active listening, communication, perspective-taking, problem-solving, and self-regulation. Students can build strong connections, resolve conflicts peacefully, and thrive in various social settings by developing these abilities.
Activities to Foster Relationships and Friendships
These engaging friendship activities for social-emotional learning are designed to nurture the essential skills of relationships and friendships in the primary classroom.
How to Be a Good Listener Partner Practice & Strategy Poster
Focus on the essential skill of active listening. Pair students and give them scenarios or prompts to practice listening attentively to each other. Encourage them to summarize what their partner said and offer feedback. Additionally, create a strategy poster with tips for listening to reinforce the concept.
Taking Turns Script
Taking turns is a fundamental aspect of building friendships. Develop a script or role-play activity where students practice waiting their turn during conversations or activities. Emphasize the importance of patience and respect for others’ perspectives.
Good vs. Bad Ways to Be a Friend Sort
Engage students in a sorting activity, where they categorize behaviors as either good or bad ways to be friends. Encourage discussions about the impact of these behaviors on relationships and how they can cultivate positive friendships.
Children’s Books That Teach Relationships and Friendships
Explore these children’s books specifically written to teach essential lessons about relationships and friendships, offering stories that help young learners figure out social interactions with empathy and understanding.
Children’s Books That Teach Relationships and Friendships
Looking for more books to add to your classroom library? This list of relationship and friendship books will give you plenty of options.
Find More Activities to Teach Relationships & Friendships
- K-2 Relationships & Friendships Lessons and Activities
- 3-5 Relationships & Friendships Lessons and Activities
- Friendship Book Companions
Resources to Help Teach Social-Emotional Skills
Free emotions lessons & activities
Try some social-emotional lessons in your classroom with this FREE emotions resource!
Click the image below to grab a copy.
Social-Emotional Learning Resources
There are plenty of social-emotional learning resources from Proud to be Primary.
- K-2 Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum
- 3-5 Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum
- Morning Meeting Bundle
More Social-Emotional Ideas/Activities
Growth Mindset Quotes
Emotions and Feelings Lessons
Self-Regulation Skills
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