Social Emotional Learning Activities – Social and Emotional development is a crucial part of childhood and adulthood alike, yet it is not given the attention it deserves. So much emphasis is given to academic success that emotional and mental health is often overlooked.
This, in turn, impacts the psychological and physical health of the younger generation very poorly. But, by starting early and consistently encouraging SEL – Social Emotional Learning Activities throughout the critical childhood years, we can help students advance socially, behaviorally, and academically while also preparing them for high school and college.
What is SEL?
Social emotional learning (SEL) is a process of emotional intelligence training to help children learn necessary life skills. These skills can be divided into five core domains, namely.
- Self-awareness – understanding of who we are as a person
- Self-management – efficient management of our thoughts, behaviors, and emotions
- Social awareness – knowledge of the social world and customs around us
- Relationships – developing genuine connections with other
- Decision-making – learning to make responsible choices independently
Honing these social-emotional skills is essential for the mental well-being of anyone, no matter their age. However, it is particularly advantageous for students as it improves their academic and extracurricular skills as well.
However, since SEL isn’t a designated subject, teachers often have to get creative when weaving it into the school day in an impactful way.
You can do this by dedicating a short amount of time to emotional intelligence training in the morning or by teaching it in homeroom. Nevertheless, the more time dedicated to growing a child’s SEL, the more advantageous it is for society as a whole.
Benefits of SEL activities
There are many benefits to doing SEL activities with middle school students. Both children and adults who devote time to social and emotional development show clear signs of high self-awareness, academic achievement, and positive behaviors in all aspects of their lives. A deeper dive into the benefits of SEL – Social Emotional Learning Activities reveals,
Great Academic Success
Research shows that SEL – Social Emotional Learning Activities improves achievement in students by 11 percentage points. This includes elevated performance on standardized tests, higher school attendance statistics, assignment completion, and higher grades. This can be attributed to the fact that when students are not riddled with anxiety and frustration, it is easier for them to focus on their studies and retain what they learn in school.
Related Blog: 22 Social Emotional Learning Activities for Toddlers
Bridged Equity Gaps
SEL must be consciously taught and learned – very few children, if any, can intuitively know and practice core life skills without any external influence. But, not everyone can gain social and emotional development at home. For example, students with backgrounds of lower social and economic standing experience high stress without the proper guidance and help from the adults in their lives. By doing SEL – Social Emotional Learning Activities in school, we can give less privileged students the appropriate advice, regardless of their situation at home.
Fewer emotional outbursts
By doing SEL – Social Emotional Learning Activities and emotional intelligence training regularly, kids are given a safe space to express themselves and understand the impact of actions before they occur. Thus, kids are prone to become less aggressive and disruptive in school long after entering society as adults. Simultaneously, other students and adults will also find it easier to focus on their work without being concerned by the possibility of being a victim of bullying or violence.
Overall improved mental health
Due to overexposure to social media and other socioeconomic factors that are beyond the control of children, we are faced with an alarmingly high rate of suicides among teens. Thus, the discourse has thankfully revolved around the need for mental health awareness. As part of this conversation, implementing SEL – Social Emotional Learning Activities in the classroom has proven to be effective in reducing depression, anxiety, stress, and overall social withdrawal. Rather, such social and emotional development improves students’ cognitive behavior and boosts confidence and optimism.
Financial Benefits for Schools
While the benefits of SEL for students are clear, it also has a tremendous financial benefit for schools implementing SEL education within their curricula. Investing more money in SEL and improving young children’s social and emotional development significantly reduces the costs of intervention services and behavioral correction. As stated before, promoting SEL simultaneously curbs student attendance and performance losses.
SEL Activities for Middle School
SEL cannot be taught and parroted – it must be incorporated into everyday life, regardless of your age. Thankfully, there is no end to how teachers can implement social and emotional development in their middle school classrooms in fun and light ways. Here are just a few SEL activities that can be easily integrated into the school day effectively.
Meaningful group discussions
Having meaningful group discussions with all your students in attendance is a great way to build meaningful relationships while talking about important topics. It also boosts confidence in middle school children while cultivating empathy and listening skills. To kickstart each session, you can present a relationship-building question and encourage students to either show their individual views or even build on what others say. You can also use these discussions to broach topics of significant events that happen outside the classroom (in a kid-friendly manner, of course)
Kindness Share
This fun activity would surely lift any child’s spirits and recognize their self-worth. To do the activity,
- Give each student a piece of paper and instruct them to write their name on top.
- Instruct the students to give their papers to the person next to them
- On the paper, have students write a kind thing about their classmate
- Exchange the paper until everyone has had a turn to compliment all their classmates.
By the end of the exercise, your students will have a paper full of kind messages and compliments from their classmates that are sure to brighten up their day.
Journal Writing
Journal writing has long been praised for having wondrous effects on anyone’s mental health. Encouraging this habit in middle school will give students a healthy outlet for their emotions that can be carried well into adulthood. To do this,
- Give each student a journal to maintain for the school year.
- Every morning, give students 5 minutes to write in their journals. You can even provide SEL journal prompts that promote empathy, conflict resolution, or self-reflection
- Encourage students to share at least one thing that they wrote with the class.
Design a “Myself” collage.
This SEL – Social Emotional Learning is a great way to promote self-discovery and, thus, self-love. Have all your students create a collage about themselves to share with the class. This project can highlight anything that they deem important about themselves, including things like their family, friends, hobbies, favorite objects, aspirations or even fun little facts about themselves. Encourage complete artistic freedom and allow themselves to get creative when sourcing pictures and decor. You can also use this activity as an opportunity to teach them how to use resources around them, like old magazines and newspapers, and reduce waste.
Feelings check-in worksheets
In middle school, you can use this Social Emotional Learning Activities (SEL) to allow children to pause and identify their feelings. This promotes self-awareness and emotional management in a fun, stress-free manner. You can hand these emotion check-in sheets (available on the internet) whenever a student approaches you with emotional turmoil, or do it at the end of each school day to make sure any issues are resolved within the school.
Maintain a gratitude jar
Practicing gratitude is a great way to maintain optimism or cope with negativity. Encourage this habit by instructing your students to maintain a gratitude jar or list at their desks or home. Ask students to write what they are grateful for in their lives and keep this list somewhere that can be seen frequently. If you are maintaining a jar, encourage students to write about any positive experience that they are grateful for and put it in the jar. Students can revisit these slips of paper at the end of the year or whenever they feel down.
SEL read aloud
Books are always a great way to promote empathy and problem-solving skills, making SEL read-aloud a surefire way to boost social and emotional development in a middle school classroom. To do this activity,
- Choose a meaningful picture book – you can borrow one from the library or encourage a student to bring one.
- As you read the emotional intelligence book to the whole class, stop and discuss the characters, their emotions, the situations they are in, and the actions each character takes
- You can take it a step further and encourage students to tell what they would do if they were the character instead.
This SEL activity is an efficient way to boost emotional intelligence while also promoting reading.
Play Social Emotional Learning Activities (SEL) board games
Board games are a great way to boost social and emotional development as they teach essential skills such as problem-solving, sportsmanship, patience, turn-taking, and interacting with other people in a light-hearted manner. While any game would do, the best board games for an SEL activity time include,
- Chess
- Monopoly
- Pictionary
- Guess Who?
- Scrabble
And much more!
Design a calm-down corner – Social Emotional Learning
No matter how many precautions you take, things will get heated occasionally in a middle school classroom full of tweens. Instead of hastily punishing the guilty parties, send them into a calm-down corner designed to help children cope with their emotions. You can set up this calm-down corner with tools like
- An emotions check-in sheet
- Mindful breathing boards to guide children through their breathing
- Mindful coloring pages
- A worksheet to vent their emotions
Practice mindful breathing
Mindful breathing is a proven way to gain control over emotions and practice optimism and calm in the face of chaos. It is a valuable skill for middle school students to learn, as they are prone to emotional outbursts and aggression. Take 2 minutes to breathe, and be mindful every morning as a class. Use techniques such as “cool off the pizza” or “smell the flowers” to make the activity more manageable for the young students
“What would you do scenarios?” – Social Emotional Learning
Another SEL activity that promotes social and emotional development via empathy is creating and discussing hypothetical scenarios to allow students to consider what they might do in such a dilemma. You can use social skill scenario cards for this activity, which often asks, “What would you do?” when you are being inconvenienced by someone else.
Organize activities to help other classrooms
What better way to make room for a child’s personal growth and social and emotional development than by encouraging students to help others in need? Organize activities around the school where students get to help a staff member or other students. This can be done by volunteering to clean parts of the school, helping out teachers with repetitive activities, or assisting in teaching a younger classroom.
Write “I am” positive statements
Positive affirmations are essential for the social and emotional development of a child. In this activity, you must give each student a piece of paper to fill up with positive statements about themselves, starting with “I am”. This can include any statement as long as it genuinely praises their personalities and abilities. You can then pin these papers in the classroom where the students can see them. This SEL activity is a great way to raise self-awareness and boost self-confidence.
How can SEL be incorporated into a school curriculum?
Teachers can’t always set aside the time and resources to do special SEL activities to improve their students’ emotional and mental well-being. However, there are ways to incorporate social and emotional development into school lessons and curricula. For example, encouraging group projects that allow students to contribute equally to making and presenting a project enables children to build teamwork, responsibility, and patience skills. However, for maximum effectiveness, setting a time apart for SEL activities is best for students and teachers alike.
Final Thoughts
Overall, using SEL activities to equip middle school students with essential life skills should be a priority for all educators. Doing so helps children grow into successful and poised adults who can weather any storms with reason. By integrating SEL into both the classroom and home environment, we can boost these children’s social and emotional development and ensure a good upbringing for the future generation.
