Social skills activities middle school

20 Evidence-Based Social Skills Activities and Games for Kids

Oct 14 2020

Positive Action Staff

•

SEL Articles

Activities and games for socialization are a great way for your child to learn how to behave around their peers, no matter if he is a toddler, preschooler or if he just started kindergarten. Games can teach skills like taking turns, managing emotions, and reading body language.

Use these evidence-based social skills activities to help your child build their social behaviors and learn how their actions affect others. With these games, they can become more independent and maintain healthy relationships throughout their lives.

1. Staring Contest

Many children have trouble maintaining eye contact in conversation. A staring contest can help kids make and keep eye contact in a way that allows them to focus on that task, rather than trying to communicate simultaneously.

If your child still feels uncomfortable, you can start smaller. Place a sticker on your forehead for them to look at and then build toward having a conversation.

2. Roll the Ball

It’s never too early to start building social skills, and a game of roll the ball suits children as young as toddlers. Kids take turns rolling a ball back and forth between them, laying the foundation for other social skills.

Kids learn to carry this skill into taking turns in conversation or when doing joint activities. They also learn self-control by aiming the ball toward their friend and rolling it hard enough to reach them yet with limited force.

3. Virtual Playtime

Sometimes, your child can’t have play dates in person, but they can still spend time together over video chat and other online spaces. Video chats help kids make eye contact by looking at their friend on the screen.

Learning to adapt to new situations becomes a valuable trait, whether with social distancing or in their future workplace. Coming up with new ways to spend time together increases problem-solving abilities, which adds to a set of vital social skills.

4. Emotion Charades

Emotion charades involves writing different emotions on strips of paper. Your child picks one out of a hat or bucket. Then, they must try to act out that emotion.

Emotion charades can help children learn to recognize emotions using facial and body cues. You can even adapt social skills activities like this to create a game similar to Pictionary, where children draw the emotion.

By depicting and acting out emotional expressions and reactions in social skills activities, children learn emotion management, which plays an important role in creating positive relationships and communicating feelings.

5. Expression Mimicking Games

When you play this game with your child, you're teaching social skills with expressions. Mimicking your expressions allows your child to understand what certain expressions mean and recognize them when others make them in real conversations.

When kids with social challenges learn to read facial expressions, they become more comfortable in situations involving them.

6. Topic Game

You can play several variations of the topic game, but the most common one involves choosing a topic and naming things that fit into that category using each letter of the alphabet. For example, if you choose animals as the topic, you might come up with:

• A: Aardvark
• B: Baboon
• C: Chicken

The topic game teaches kids to stick to one subject and follow directions until they complete the activity. It also helps them make connections and get creative with letters that have fewer options.

7. Step Into Conversation

Step Into Conversation is a card game made for children with autism. The game presents structured social skills activities, like starting a conversation and talking about specific subjects based on cards.

The game helps kids learn how to talk to others appropriately and carry a conversation with perspective and empathy. It teaches good manners and self-control by showing them how to politely enter a conversation, when to talk, and when to listen.

By using socialization games like this one, you give structure to conversations to develop the social skills necessary to handle different situations in their daily life.

8. Improvisational Stories

Many children tell stories even outside of intentional social skills activities. With improvisational stories, you add another challenge that requires them to collaborate and create a narrative without thinking about it beforehand.

For this activity, place cards with pictures or words face down. The child picks three of these cards, and they must include these objects or topics in the story they tell. The game ends when all the cards are gone, or the kids reach the end of their story.

You can use this activity as a multiplayer game where children take turns adding to the story and building on each other’s ideas, or one child can tell you their own story.

9. Name Game

With this simple game, kids roll or toss a ball to someone after they call out their name. Social skills activities like this one work well for helping even toddlers learn their peers’ names. It shows that they are attentive to others, and it’s a step toward getting to know other people.

10. Simon Says

Simon Says builds social skills for kids' self-control, listening, and impulse control as they copy their peers' movements and follow instructions. It also helps keep the attention on the game and rewards good behavior for those who follow the rules throughout the game.

11. Rhythm Games

You can incorporate rhythm games as a social skills activity both at home and in the classroom. These music-making games let your child be creative while following directions and recognizing patterns.

A 2010 study by Kirschner and Tomasello shows that joint music-making helps social behavior. In a game where children must “wake the frogs” with music, the researchers found that kids who followed the rules by making music were more likely to help others who tried waking the frogs with non-musical means.

12. Playing with Characters

These social skills activities involve tapping into your child’s natural tendency to play. Using stuffed animals or dolls, you can interact with your child through the toys.

Having conversations through toys teaches kids to recognize behaviors and communicate their feelings. They practice their social skills through the toys in an imaginary, low-risk environment, without worrying about the toys’ hurt feelings.

13. Play Pretend

Kids will typically create a scenario in which they pretend to be someone or something else. For example, they might play house and take on the roles of parents, become a doctor, veterinarian, teacher, or cashier. Each of these situations allows them to explore different social skills activities.

As they pretend to parent another child, for instance, they must learn to recognize and respond to emotions, deescalate situations, and adapt to new situations.

14. Token Stack

You can adapt token stack from board games like checkers to create social skills activities that teach children how to have a considerate conversation. Every time the child speaks and responds appropriately, they add another token to their stack.

They face the challenge of trying to stack their tokens as high as possible while taking turns speaking. This activity makes them focus on having a calm conversation and giving thoughtful responses to questions and statements.

15. Decision-Making Games

Social skills activities like decision-making games come in many forms. By using strategy games or activities as simple as sorting and matching, your child learns persistence, thoughtfulness, and cooperation with others.

These games help kids with indecision, as they ask the child to make a choice, even if it’s not right the first time. It demonstrates low-risk consequences and encourages them to try again if they make a mistake.

16. Building Game

When children work together to build something, like a tower using blocks, they must communicate, take turns, and understand each other to bring their creation to life.

Kids will work together to come up with a method to build their item. When they apply it, they learn to try again if the creation falls and celebrate each other’s unique abilities when they finish the project successfully.

17. Community Gardening

Community gardening works differently than other social skills activities in that it teaches children to nurture a living thing.

Gardening with others increases social competence by having your child take care of something and learn responsibility, as they cannot neglect their plants. This activity also gets kids outdoor and can help calm them.

18. Team Sports

Children can participate in team sports through their school, on a recreational team, or even play with friends in their backyard. Team sports show kids how to work together toward a common goal and keep their focus on the game.

They also learn to recognize emotions, like when someone gets hurt or scores a goal, and react appropriately when they win or lose.

19. Productive Debate

A productive debate works well for older kids to learn how to manage emotions and work on positive expression, even in challenging situations. They learn how to have difficult conversations calmly, without turning them into an argument or trying to insult the other person.

People who can debate and listen to their opponent develop more of the skills needed to become leaders in the classroom and workplace.

20. Scavenger Hunts

During scavenger hunts, children work together to find objects or get a prize at the end of the activity. By working toward their goal, they learn teamwork, organization, and positive decision-making. They can choose to split up, move as a group, and collaborate to reach the end of the game.

They also get rewarded for cooperating. These activities help them with creative problem-solving abilities by making up clues for other players to solve.

What’s Next?

Using evidence-based social skills activities and games helps your child build social skills while doing something they enjoy. You can adapt any of these activities to something that engages your child and allows them to get creative with their socialization.

However, activities and games can only go so far. The Positive Action social skills curriculum is designed to work in tandem with activities like these and more to help your child identify their self-concept and shift this introspection to their social interactions. We feel social skills start within.

Explore our sample lessons for even more ways to encourage your child’s social-emotional learning, or contact us to find out how our program can improve your child’s social skills and have fun doing it today!

25 SEL Activities to Build Social Skills for Different Age Groups

July 8, 2022 //  by Seda Unlucay

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is the foundation for emotional health and healthy relationships throughout students' lives.

This series of engaging and creative lesson plans can be easily adapted for distance learning and are designed to teach students responsible decision-making, mindful self-awareness, conflict resolution skills, positive self-talk, and emotional self-regulation.

Practicing yoga and meditation can help students to develop their emotional awareness through breathing and mindfulness while enhancing their body confidence and mental calm. Meditation is also a wonderful way to foster a growth mindset as it encourages students to stay in the present moment and take on challenges one step at a time.

Age Group: Elementary, Middle School

Learn More: Super Healthy Kids

This self-awareness development activity challenges students to create a list about themselves, with a different strength, talent, or quality for each letter of the alphabet.

Age Group: Elementary

Learn More: Brainwaves Instruction

Mindfulness is the capacity to pay attention to the present moment as well as one's own thoughts and emotions with acceptance and non-judgment. Thus, it's an essential skill for students to cultivate in order to learn emotional self-regulation.

Age Group: Elementary, Middle School, Highschool

Learn More: Class Dojo

Setting SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely) goals is a wonderful way to empower students to reach their personal and academic potential.

Age Group: Elementary, Middle School, High School

Learn More: Creative Educator

This fine motor emotions activity teaches students the helpful RULER acronym for cultivating emotional intelligence: Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing, and Regulating.

Age Group: Preschool, Elementary

Learn More: Forward With Fun

Practicing reading aloud helps students develop confidence in their communication and public speaking abilities, skills that will serve them well in their daily lives.

Age Group: Elementary

Learn More: The Colorful Apple

Knowing how to apologize graciously is an important emotional skill for developing positive relationships.

Age Group: Elementary, Middle School

Learn More: Pinterest

This popular book teaches kids how to deal wisely with anger instead of reverting to aggressive behavior. Why not have a whole-class discussion to reinforce student learning about this important common goal?

Age Group: Preschool, Elementary

Learn More: Amazon

This collection of resources teaches students how to self-regulate their emotions and provides them with strategies for calming down, including taking a brain break and practicing balloon breathing. Why not create a calm-down corner in your classroom to support students with these core lessons?

Age Group: Elementary

Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers

10. Create a Worry Box

A Worry Box is a place where kids can store away frustrations, challenging emotions, or fearful thoughts. It's a wonderful way to develop students' emotion management skills by helping them express their feelings and take control of stressful situations.

Age Group: Elementary

Learn More: Very Special Tales

This free Zones of Regulation printable package includes lessons on expected versus unexpected behavior, how to determine the actual size of a problem, and how students' actions can affect what zone other people are in. Learning about the four zones is an evidence-based way of practicing healthy emotional expression and building strong relationships in the classroom.

Age Group: Elementary

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Mindful coloring has been shown to reduce stress, improve sleep and develop attention skills. Try putting on some relaxing music and turn it into a class-wide activity!

Age Group: Elementary, Middle School

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Playing a game of emotional charades is a perfect cooperative learning opportunity that encourages elementary students to develop social awareness, eye contact, and social competence skills.

Age Group: Elementary

Learn More: Education

Learning to forgive is an important social-emotional skill that will serve children throughout their entire lives. This video, song, and drawing activity helps young learners develop healthy decision-making skills when faced with social conflicts.

Age Group: Elementary

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By replicating the emotions on these vibrant mats with playdough, students can develop emotional learning skills that will serve them well in skillfully expressing their feelings throughout the school day.

Age Group: Preschool, Elementary

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This curated collection of videos comes with Thoughts and Feelings Cards, which offer concrete and visual anchors for students to identify their own feelings.

Age Group: Elementary

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This engaging list of social skills activities helps familiarize students with the qualities of a good friend, features a friend scavenger hunt for them to get to know their classmates, and challenges students to perform acts of kindness for others.

Age Group: Elementary

Learn More: Proud To Be Primary

What better way to learn about emotions than with a fun board game? This s'mores-themed game also promotes social development, listening skills, and a deeper discussion about emotional wellbeing.

Age Group: Elementary

Learn More: Life Over CS

By associating colors with emotions, this internationally best-selling book helps students to identify them more easily. It's also an excellent way to develop active listening skills and features a whole host of extension activities for preschoolers.

Age Group: Preschool

Learn More: Virtual Book Club For Kids

Kids can learn to interpret emotions by paying careful attention to the body language and gestures of the characters in this short animated film. Why not challenge them to see how many different feelings they can identify?

Age Group: Elementary

Learn More: Ahmed Elshraby

By teaching kids about anti-bullying, conflict resolution, and positive self-talk, this series of task cards encourage kids to be more mindful of their behavior at school and at home.

Age Group: Elementary

Learn More: Whimsy Workshop Teaching

This beautifully illustrated story is told through the whimsical eyes of a child and teaches kids how to verbalize their feelings by describing how they feel physically.

Age Group: Preschool, Elementary

Learn More: Amazon

Why not encourage kids to become school leaders by guiding them to participate in one of these community service projects? Ranging from writing Thank You notes, and reading to seniors to packing lunches, there are a variety of excellent ideas for making empathy and service an engaging part of your classroom curriculum.

Age Group: Preschool, Elementary, Middle School, Highschool

Learn More: Sign-up Genius

This collection of journal prompts features questions o to encourage students to express their feelings and ideas while building their self-confidence.

Age Group: Elementary, Middle School

Learn More: Journal Buddies

Positive self-talk is a critical skill for developing healthy self-esteem. This series of activities encourage students to have a deeper discussion about ways to be kinder to themselves.

Age Group: Elementary, Middle School

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Category: Classroom Ideas

Development of social skills in preschool children through theatrical activities. (Seminar) | Article (middle group) on the topic:

. "Development of social and communicative abilities of preschoolers through theatrical activities"

Slide №1

Modern society places ever higher demands on the communicative activity of the individual.

A person without communication cannot live among people, develop and create. The optimal age period for preparing a person for communication is preschool age, since it is during this period that children more easily acquire, retain and retain the formed skills and abilities for a long time. nine0003

Preschool age and the attitude towards it as a unique period of personality development determine the task of expanding the capabilities of each child in establishing a variety of relationships with people. Their success is determined by their personal focus on another person, awareness of the rules of communication.

Slide #2

COMMUNICATION
INCLUDES:

- DESIRE TO CONTACT WITH OTHERS.

- ABILITY TO ORGANIZE COMMUNICATION: LISTEN, EMOTIONALLY COMPETE, SOLVE CONFLICT SITUATIONS

- KNOWLEDGE OF THE NORMS AND RULES TO BE FOLLOWED WHEN COMMUNICATING WITH OTHERS.

At present, the communicative development of children causes serious concern, so there is a need to optimize the pedagogical conditions for the more effective formation of the communicative abilities of children.

Slide №3

Theater for a child is always a holiday, bright unforgettable impressions. After all, theatrical activity is the most common type of children's creativity. Toddlers are very fond of theatrical performances, especially if they take part in them on their own. nine0003

Involving children in theatrical activities contributes to the development of the world of human feelings, communication skills, and the development of the ability to empathize.

Children get acquainted with the first theatrical actions very early in the process of various fun games, round dances, while listening to expressive reading of poems and fairy tales by adults.

This kind of children's activity, like theatricalization, creates the most favorable conditions for the development of communicative and speech activity in children of primary preschool age and lays the foundation for the formation of the necessary communicative abilities. nine0003

Theatrical games help children consolidate communication skills, develop attention, speech, memory, and creative imagination. It is very important from an early age to show children examples of friendship, truthfulness, responsiveness, resourcefulness, courage.

Slide №4

To achieve the goal, the following tasks are solved:

- TEACHING CHILDREN TO UNDERSTAND YOURSELF - I AND I.
- EDUCATION OF INTEREST IN PEOPLE AROUND ME AND OTHERS.
- DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS WITH PEI, ADULTS. nine0015 - FORMATION OF SKILLS AND SKILLS OF PRACTICAL POSSESSION OF EXPRESSIVE MEANS: INTONATION, MIMICS, GESTURES.
- DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-CONTROL IN REGARD TO THE MANIFESTATION OF YOUR EMOTIONAL STATE.
- TEACHING CHILDREN IN SPEECH MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.
- CORRECTION OF NEGATIVE CHARACTER TRAITS.

Slide №5

Theatrical game is also good for the development of the child's emotional sphere. Staging a familiar plot, he splashes out emotions, trying to fulfill his role as expressively as possible. At the same time, the baby becomes bolder, more self-confident, liberated. Theater has a positive effect on any children: overly active ones become calmer, more self-possessed, and shy ones learn to interact with others using the example of theater heroes. nine0003

Slide №6

Children's finger theater contributes to the development of speech not only indirectly, but also directly, because the kid pronounces phrases for the characters of the performance. In addition, the game develops memory, since the child must first remember the role of his theatrical hero.

Slide №7,8,9,10

My group uses the following types of theaters:0073

Slide №11

• Tantamaresque Theatre.

Tantamaresque (from the French "doll" and "stand") is a full-length figure or poster with cutouts for arms, legs and face.

Slide №12

There are several types of Tantamareski theater. The simplest is the finger theatre, also called the walking theatre. There are holes in them where the puppeteer inserts fingers to revive the figures by making legs.

Slide №13

Narrative taetre of tantamareski.

A banner depicting the plot of a fairy tale is used, on which the characters' faces are cut out. This is a full canvas image that matches your theme.

Slide №14

Large and small, children's

Tantamares can be large (Thematic screens) and stable, or there can be "light" versions that can be held in hands and photographed with such a fun "props".

The Tantamaresque Theater promotes the development of imagination, communication and creativity in preschoolers. Children learn to improvise, build a dialogue. nine0003

Slide №15

Master class on making a theater of tantamaresques.

"lightweight" which can be held in hands.

This type of theater is easy to do on your own, which we will do now. I suggest you make the simplest kind of theater of tantamares from a large sheet of cardboard, with a hole cut out in advance for the head.

1. We will draw on this sheet the muzzles of the heroes of the fairy tale "Zayushkina's hut", Let's remember the fairy tale itself. What are the heroes in this fairy tale? (hare, rooster, dog, bear, wolf, fox. ) We distribute among ourselves who will draw which hero. We draw a mask like this (I show a sample). Before you gouache, jars of water, brushes. Let's get to work, you need to spend 5-7 minutes on it. nine0003

2. The next task, I suggest you play the fairy tale in front of the audience.

(theatricalization of a fairy tale - tantamaresque theatre).

3. What social and communicative skills are reflected in this fairy tale? What is the main idea of ​​the tale? (answers)

.

Article 66. Primary general, basic general and secondary general education \ ConsultantPlus

Article 66. Primary general, basic general and secondary general education

1. Primary general education is aimed at forming the personality of the student, developing his individual abilities, positive motivation and skills in educational activities (mastery of reading, writing, counting, basic skills of educational activities, elements of theoretical thinking, the simplest skills of self-control, a culture of behavior and speech, the basics of personal hygiene and a healthy lifestyle). nine0003

2. Basic general education is aimed at the formation and formation of the personality of the student (the formation of moral convictions, aesthetic taste and a healthy lifestyle, a high culture of interpersonal and interethnic communication, mastering the basics of science, the state language of the Russian Federation, skills of mental and physical labor, development of inclinations , interests, ability to social self-determination). 90 003 90 002 choice, continuation of education and the beginning of professional activity. nine0003

4. The organization of educational activities in educational programs of primary general, basic general and secondary general education may provide for an in-depth study of individual subjects, subject areas of the relevant educational program (professional education), taking into account the educational needs and interests of students.

(Part 4 as amended by the Federal Law of September 24, 2022 N 371-FZ)

(see the text in the previous edition)

5. Primary general education, basic general education, secondary general education are compulsory levels of education. Students who have not mastered the basic educational program of primary general and (or) basic general education are not allowed to study at the next levels of general education. The requirement of obligatory secondary general education in relation to a particular student remains in force until he reaches the age of eighteen years, if the corresponding education was not received by the student earlier. nine0003

6. With the consent of the parents (legal representatives) of a minor student, the commission for minors and the protection of their rights and the local self-government body in charge of education, a student who has reached the age of fifteen may leave a general education organization before receiving basic general education. The Commission on Juvenile Affairs and the Protection of Their Rights, together with the parents (legal representatives) of a minor who left a general educational organization before receiving basic general education, and the local self-government body in charge of education, no later than one month, takes measures to continue mastering the educational programs of basic general education in a different form of education and with his consent for employment. nine0003

7. In an educational organization that implements educational programs of primary general, basic general and secondary general education, conditions may be created for students to live in a boarding school, as well as for supervision and care of children in extended day groups.

7.1. The decision to open an extended day group and the mode of stay of children in it is made by an educational organization that implements educational programs of primary general, basic general and secondary general education, taking into account the opinion of the parents (legal representatives) of students in the manner determined by the charter of the educational organization. In the extended day group, children are supervised and cared for, they are educated and prepared for training sessions, and sports, recreational and cultural events can also be held. nine0003

(Part 7.1 was introduced by Federal Law No. 301-FZ of July 14, 2022)

hygiene, school supplies, games and toys, household equipment, food and the organization of their household services, as well as for the supervision and care of children in after-school groups, the founder of an educational organization has the right to establish a fee charged from parents (legal representatives) minor students, and its size, unless otherwise provided by this Federal Law. The founder has the right to reduce the amount of the specified fee or not to collect it from certain categories of parents (legal representatives) of minor students in cases and in the manner determined by him. nine0003

9. It is not allowed to include expenses for the implementation of the educational program of primary general, basic general and (or) secondary general education, as well as expenses for the maintenance of real estate of state and municipal educational organizations in the parental payment for the maintenance of children in an educational organization that has a boarding school, for the supervision and care of the child in extended day groups in such organizations.

Consultant Plus: note. nine0003

Order of the Ministry of Health of Russia dated June 30, 2016 N 436n approved the List of diseases, the presence of which gives the right to study in basic general education programs at home.

10. For students in need of long-term treatment, disabled children who, for health reasons, cannot attend educational organizations, education in educational programs of primary general, basic general and secondary general education is organized at home or in medical organizations.

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