15 Fun SEL Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten
1. Emotion Matching: Provide a variety of pictures showing different emotions, and have the children match the faces with the corresponding emotion words.
2. Feelings Charades: Let the children act out different emotions without speaking, and have the others guess what emotion they are portraying.
3. Friendship Bracelets: Teach the children how to make friendship bracelets using colorful strings. Encourage them to give the bracelets to their friends as a symbol of friendship.
4. Mindfulness Meditation: Guide the children through a simple mindfulness meditation exercise, focusing on their breath and bringing awareness to the present moment.
5. Emotion Cards: Make flashcards with different emotion words and pictures. Have the children pick a card and act out the emotion while others guess what it is.
6. Random Acts of Kindness: Create a list of kind acts and have the children choose one to perform each day. Encourage them to reflect on how it made them feel.
7. Empathy Walk: Take the children on a walk outside and encourage them to observe and talk about their surroundings. Discuss how others might be feeling in different situations.
8. Self-Reflection Journals: Provide each child with a journal and encourage them to write or draw about their feelings and experiences. Help them understand and express their emotions.
9. Building Empathy Collage: Provide magazines, scissors, and glue. Have the children cut out pictures that represent empathy and create a collage together.
10. Gratitude Jar: Have the children decorate a jar and provide slips of paper. Each day, they can write down something they are grateful for and put it in the jar.
11. Role-Playing Scenarios: Create scenarios that involve different emotions and have the children act them out. Discuss how they could handle the situations with empathy.
12. Feeling Faces Game: Print out pictures of different facial expressions and dice with emotions written on each side. The children roll the dice and discuss how they would feel in that situation.
13. Emotion Walk: Play different types of music and have the children walk around the room, expressing the emotions they feel in response to the music.
14. Collaborative Art: Provide a large piece of paper and art supplies. Have the children work together to create a piece of art that represents emotions and friendship.
15. Storytelling: Encourage the children to take turns telling stories about different emotions and their experiences with them. This helps develop empathy and understanding.
These fun activities will not only help preschool and kindergarten children develop their social-emotional skills but also foster empathy, kindness, and self-awareness.