Social Emotional Learning Activities Elementary Made Fun

Social-emotional learning activities that are meaningful yet so much fun!

Social emotional learning activities elementary are simple, yet incredibly meaningful! No matter what your standards and objectives are during the school year, first and foremost, you have to focus on social emotional learning ... this year more than ever. To begin, our elementary kids need a lot of love, whether they are learning online or in-person this school year. Overall, these social emotional learning activities for elementary will help your kids have a strong year, helping them to build a positive mindset and good character.

Providing social-emotional support in the classroom is so important. Our students need us now more than ever. Many of our students experience harsh living conditions, and school is their safe place. Use your classroom and school as an opportunity to strengthen students' emotional health and teach them how to deal with and process emotions and build healthy relationships. Building relationships with students is so very important. Take these social-emotional learning activities elementary and start implementing right away!

Social Emotional Learning Activities Elementary
Daily Check-ins

Social-emotional learning and mindfulness are crucial to include in every single classroom.

Student check-ins are EVERYTHING! Please, please check in with students. I started implementing this during the pandemic, and it was a total game-changer. Our students are dealing with so much, and sometimes they just need someone to check on them. However, most do not know how to ask or may even be embarrassed to ask. This is a great way to check on students and hopefully knock down the barriers that are negatively impacting student achievement.

One of my favorite social emotional learning activities elementary students that I recommend for any age is a daily check-in. This is especially important for distance learners who aren’t seeing in-person. A daily check-in can absolutely be done digitally! These activities for social-emotional learning can be delivered within your students’ social-emotional learning journal. On the daily journal slides, students can indicate their current emotional temperature. This is a great, easy option when looking for social-emotional learning activities.

Your students let you know how they are feeling that day and if they need additional support by choosing one of the following statements:

I am GREAT

I am OK

I am M-E-H

I am SAD or MAD

Check on me; I need to talk

These options are all valid feelings and may vary from day to day. Give your kids a chance to let you know when they need some extra help with this daily social-emotional activity. I don't know about you, but this would have made an impact on me as a student. Offer this to students and make a difference!

Social Emotional Learning in the Classroom

Activities for social-emotional learning are essential for every classroom.

Another social emotional learning activity within the daily journal helps students understand what different emotions look like and how to express them properly.

The digital journal includes slides for the following emotions:

Happy

Excited

Self-Control

Angry

Worry

Sad

Scared

Stress

Teach your students how to identify the different emotions on the slides and reflect within their journal space. This is one of my favorite for social emotional learning activities elementary.

The Importance of a Calm Down Corner

Learn how to create a calm down corner in classroom to benefit students.

Next, give your students a social-emotional learning activity that will help them navigate and define their own emotions when things get tough. Welcome to the "Chill Spot." Having a calm-down corner or a "chill spot" in your classroom gives your students a chance to think about the consequences of their actions before reacting in anger.

The calm-down corner is also a place to take a break. Even as adults, our emotions can get the best of us. It's OK to say, "I need a break." This is a key component to social emotional learning in the classroom.

This calm-down corner bundle comes with all the materials you need to help your students manage their emotions and get back to learning. Honestly, I can think back when I was a student in school, and if the Chill Spot was available at my school, I know it would have made a difference. This is a great feature in your classroom that can make a huge impact on students.

Social Emotional Learning Activity Challenges

Daily social-emotional learning activities can also come with calls to action! Challenge your students to do something positive each day. For example, these social-emotional learning journal slides include challenges for students to do something that makes them happy or makes someone else happy! These social-emotional learning activities for elementary students are simple, yet highly effective!

Take it another step and ask your students to participate in random acts of kindness. Truly, doing something for someone else without expecting anything in return will not only make someone else feel good, but it will make YOU feel great too! Something as simple as leaving a positive note for a teacher or classmate or holding the door for someone can make a huge impact.

Social-emotional learning activities for elementary students are not just the latest trend. Using social-emotional learning activities to support elementary students is the right thing to do every year. Helping our students understand what they are feeling and own their own emotions not only improves mental health, but it also helps them be ready to learn academic content in the classroom!

Include a calm down corner in your classroom.

Learn more about CALM DOWN CORNER from my blog.

Kindness in Action
Role Play Activity

Kindness in Action Role Play is a powerful way to help elementary students practice empathy and positive social skills in a safe, supportive setting. Begin by talking with students about what kindness looks like, sounds like, and feels like in the classroom. Model a short scenario, such as helping a classmate who dropped their supplies or inviting someone to join a game, and demonstrate a kind response. Next, place students into small groups and give each group a simple scenario to act out. As students role-play, they learn how their words and actions can impact others. End the activity with a class discussion where students reflect on how showing kindness made them feel and why it matters in building a strong classroom community.

Compliment Circle is a simple yet meaningful kindness activity that encourages students to recognize the positive qualities in others. Have students sit in a circle and explain that compliments should be kind, specific, and genuine. Model a compliment first so students understand what appropriate praise sounds like. Then, allow students to take turns giving a compliment to a classmate. This activity helps boost confidence, strengthens peer relationships, and creates a culture of respect in the classroom. Over time, students become more comfortable expressing kindness and appreciation toward one another.

SEL Activity

Students will practice showing kindness and empathy in real-life situations.

Scenario cards (sharing, teasing, helping, including others). Click here to download for free.

Discuss (5 min) - Talk about what kindness looks and sounds like.
Model (5 min) - Act out a short scenario and model a kind response.
Group Role Play (7–10 min) - Students work in small groups to act out scenarios.
Reflect (5 min) - Discuss how the kind actions made others feel.

Students demonstrate positive social responses during role play.

How teachers can use it