Use the newness of spring to foster emotional growth and well-being for your elementary students! Focus on five foundational SEL topics including feelings, friendship, empathy, mindfulness, and kindness to promote a more positive and supportive learning environment this season. With these counseling and SEL ideas for spring, there's no reason to stress!
Counseling and SEL Ideas for Spring
Teach these 5 important SEL topics this spring with confidence and ease!
- Feelings
- Friendship
- Empathy
- Mindfulness
- Kindness
Use a done-for-you activity and children’s book to help learning be meaningful and memorable for students as you teach each of these topics.
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Feelings
First up is feelings– understanding and managing emotions is fundamental for a child’s well-being. Teaching them to recognize and express their feelings helps create a safe space for social and emotional growth.
Activity
Use this Color the Feelings Valentine’s Day activity to help teach students more about their feelings. This resource explores 5 common emotions (happy, sad, worried, scared, happy) and teaches kids how to cope with them.
With this resource, you’ll receive a detailed lesson plan including ASCA standards and SEL competencies, a Google Slides version, coloring pages, fun Valentine characters, and SO MUCH MORE!
Book
Read How to Help a Cupid by Sue Fliess as a fun way to reinforce feelings to your students. In this book, kids learn that they can help Cupid spread love and happiness if they’re caring and thoughtful.
Will they spot a Cupid this Valentine's Day? If they do, will they be ready to help him spread love and kindness? By being observant, helpful, and friendly, kids can lend Cupid a hand and together can make special cards and gifts to show all their favorite people how much they really mean!
Friendship
Next up is friendship! Building healthy friendships is truly a cornerstone of a child’s social development. Friendship is so much more than just liking the same things as someone else or knowing a person for the longest time.
Help your students understand what makes a good friend and learn to examine if they present the qualities others will look for in a positive friendship too.
Give students many opportunities to work together to develop these important interpersonal skills.
Activity
With the Build a Spring Friend activity, students learn positive friendship qualities and “build” a spring friend that they would want to have. This activity is perfect to help little ones understand how to make and keep friends.
It can be done in small groups with the print option or as a large group using Google Slides.
Book
Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms by Julia Rawlinson is the perfect spring book to use to teach friendship skills! This children’s book captures the essence of change, anticipation, and the arrival of spring.
The story revolves around a young fox named Fletcher who notices that the snow is melting and believes that the falling petals from the trees are snowflakes left over from winter. As he interacts with his woodland friends, he becomes increasingly concerned that something is wrong with the trees. Through his journey, Fletcher discovers the magic and beauty of springtime blossoms and learns to embrace change.
Empathy
Empathy is another very important social skill to teach to elementary students. It enables them not only to understand someone else’s feelings but to share in them as well.
Discuss the ways students can use empathy in the classroom and share how you use empathy, even as an adult. By developing empathy, students gain a deeper understanding of different perspectives. This is so important when building an inclusive community at school!
Activity
Use this Walk in my Leprechaun Shoes activity to teach students all about empathy.
It focuses on perspective-taking and empathy. This St. Patrick's Day-themed activity includes a digital version for use with Google Slides, and the finished product makes the most festive bulletin board for your classroom or hallway!
Students practice reading the given scenarios and answer the questions while attempting to put themselves “in a leprechaun's shoes”. This activity is great for students who are struggling to make and keep friends.
Book
Read How to Catch a Leprechaun by Adam Wallace along with the St. Patrick’s Day empathy activity. This engaging children's book combines humor, adventure, and a touch of magic to capture the excitement of trying to catch a leprechaun. The story follows a group of children who set out to catch a mischievous leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day. Using clever traps and creative tactics, the children devise various schemes to outsmart the elusive leprechaun and capture him to claim his pot of gold. Each attempt to catch the leprechaun is met with playful tricks and escapes, leading to humorous and entertaining scenarios.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is being aware of one’s thoughts and emotions. As the season changes from winter to spring, incorporating mindfulness practices into students’ daily routines can have a positive and lasting impact on their focus and emotional well-being.
Activity
Teach students about mindfulness with this FREE St. Patrick’s Day Breathing resource. These cards feature 8 different versions of breathing exercises to help students with relaxation and reduce stress and anxiety.
Book
Bunny Breaths by Kira Willey emphasizes the importance of mindful breathing. The book creatively introduces the concept of deep breathing using playful imagery related to bunnies, guiding children through exercises that promote calmness and relaxation. The breathing techniques are presented in a clear and accessible way, making it easy for kids to follow along and practice on their own!
Kindness
Finally, don’t forget about kindness! Being kind is really the most foundational characteristic you can teach children. When kids are kind, they contribute to a positive and inclusive school culture and are better equipped to become good citizens for life.
Model kindness in your classroom and point out when you see kind actions from students throughout the day! Children respond so well to positive reinforcement.
Activity
Teach students about kindness with this Positive Words activity. Highlight the power words have, spreading kindness, and increasing self-esteem in the classroom with this done-for-you resource.
It’s perfect to use school-wide during “No Name Calling Week” or “Anti-Bullying Week”.
This activity takes about 30 minutes to complete with a small or large group. The goal is for students to get a self-esteem boost and to recognize positive traits in themselves and others.
Book
Reinforce kindness by reading Kindness Grows by Britta Teckentrup. This book shows the contrast between the powers of being unkind and those of being kind. Choosing to be unkind can create a crack that grows larger and larger, resulting in separation from others. Choosing kindness can help turn a crack into a tree and allow something beautiful to grow. Being honest with others about how we feel can lead to forgiveness and unity in a community.
Spring is a season of growth and renewal, making it the ideal time for you to focus on nurturing your students’ emotional well-being. Incorporating interactive and engaging activities and children’s books can make teaching SEL topics easy for you and fun for your students!
You might also be interested in reading:
Teaching Social Skills in the Classroom
7 EASY Tips to Encourage Positive Behavior in the Classroom
Teaching Making Good Choices in the Classroom
You might also be interested in these products:
Social Skills Small Group Counseling Curriculum
Lemons into Lemonade - Resilience Activity
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