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Social emotional learning activities are short, planned routines in which students practice one social or emotional competency, such as naming a feeling, using a calming strategy, seeing another person’s point of view or weighing a choice, while an adult models the skill, prompts it and gives feedback. They are the practice side of social and emotional learning (SEL). This guide organizes activities by the five CASEL competencies and by grade band, then explains how to adapt them for students with disabilities, how they connect to IEP goals, how to choose an evidence-based program and how to measure progress.
Table of contents
Executive Summary
SEL programs improve outcomes for students in general. A 2023 meta-analysis of 424 studies from 53 countries, involving 575,361 students in kindergarten through grade 12, found that students in universal school-based SEL interventions showed significantly improved skills, attitudes, behaviors, school climate and safety, peer relationships, school functioning and academic achievement compared with control groups (Cipriano et al., 2023).
The evidence is much thinner for students with disabilities. Of 166 universal SEL studies in middle and high schools, only 19 explicitly mentioned including students with disabilities and 5 analyzed them as a subgroup (Daley and McCarthy, 2021). A 2023 review of 269 elementary studies found 11 that explicitly excluded them. Classwide activities are a start; adapting them and measuring each student’s progress is the special education team’s job.
Key Takeaways
- Organize activities by the CASEL 5: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making.
- Make every activity SAFE: sequenced, active, focused and explicit, the four elements CASEL uses to describe high-quality SEL instruction.
- Use the same frame every time: an inclusive welcome, engaging practice and an intentional close.
- Adapt, do not exclude: visual supports, self-management and video modeling fit most SEL activities.
- An activity is not an IEP goal. It is the practice that helps a student reach one.
- Measure where the skill is needed, not only during the SEL lesson.
What Are Social Emotional Learning Activities?
A social emotional learning activity is a planned, repeatable routine that gives students several chances to use one named social or emotional skill, with modeling, practice and feedback.
CASEL, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, defines SEL as “the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.” It adds that SEL is most effective when “woven into all students’ educational experiences,” not limited to one lesson.
Activities built around peer interaction at each age, such as joining a game or keeping a conversation going, are in our guide to social skills activities.
The CASEL 5: What Each Competency Covers
| Competency | CASEL definition | What students practice |
|---|---|---|
| Self-awareness | “The abilities to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts” | Naming feelings, recognizing strengths, linking feelings and actions |
| Self-management | “The abilities to manage one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations” | Calming strategies, setting goals, planning and organizing |
| Social awareness | “The abilities to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts” | Reading others’ feelings, taking perspectives, expressing gratitude |
| Relationship skills | “The abilities to establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups” | Communicating, cooperating, resolving conflicts, asking for help |
| Responsible decision-making | “The abilities to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations” | Identifying problems, weighing options, predicting consequences |
Definitions come from CASEL’s What Is SEL? page (October 2026), which adds that the competencies “can be taught and applied at various developmental stages from childhood to adulthood.”
What Makes an SEL Activity Effective: SAFE
CASEL describes high-quality SEL instruction with four elements, SAFE: Sequenced (“a coordinated set of training approaches”), Active (“active forms of learning to help students practice and master new skills”), Focused (curriculum that “intentionally emphasizes the development of SEL competencies”) and Explicit (“defining and targeting specific skills, attitudes, and knowledge”). It names three classroom approaches: explicit instruction, teaching practices such as cooperative learning and project-based learning, and integration of SEL with subjects such as language arts, math, science and social studies. Activities supply the “active” part.
How to Run an SEL Activity: Welcome, Practice, Close
CASEL’s SEL 3 Signature Practices Playbook gives a frame meant to be used “throughout the day, every day,” in lessons and meetings; it fits a small group in a resource room as well as a full class:
- Inclusive welcome: open with a short routine that “builds community, and connects to the work ahead,” such as a feelings check-in.
- Engaging strategies: plan a balance of “interactive and reflective experiences” in which every student practices the skill, not only talks about it.
- Intentional close: end in a way that “builds a bridge to a next step,” for example naming where the skill will be used today.
The activities in this guide are original examples; adapt each one to the student’s present levels and communication mode (speech, sign, pictures or a device). Example: a fourth-grade class opens with a one-word check-in, watches the teacher model a calm-down routine (stop, three slow breaths, choose a tool), rehearses it in pairs with scenario cards and closes by naming when to use it today.
Social Emotional Learning Activities by CASEL Competency
Each table lists activities for one competency. Grade bands are suggestions; choose by the student’s skills.
Self-Awareness Activities
| Activity | How it runs | Grades |
|---|---|---|
| Feelings check-in board | At arrival, students tap or move a marker to one of four pictured feelings; the adult names the feeling back and asks what might help | Pre-K to 2 |
| Strengths and stretch card | Students list two things they do well and one they are learning; a partner adds a strength they have noticed | 3 to 8 |
| My learning profile | Students write or record a one-page profile: what helps them learn, what gets in the way, what they want teachers to know | 6 to 12 |
Self-Management Activities
| Activity | How it runs | Grades |
|---|---|---|
| Calm-down routine rehearsal | Students practice a short routine while calm, with a picture card for each step, so it is familiar before it is needed | K to 5 |
| Daily goal and self-rating | The student picks one goal, rates it 0 to 2 at set times and compares the rating with the adult’s | 2 to 12 |
| Break card practice | Students rehearse asking for a break with a card or a device; at first, the adult honors every correct request | All |
| Planner start | In the first minutes of class, students copy the tasks, estimate the time each will take and check them off at the end | 6 to 12 |
Social Awareness Activities
| Activity | How it runs | Grades |
|---|---|---|
| Feelings detective | The teacher pauses a short video or picture book and asks what the character feels and which clue shows it | K to 5 |
| Gratitude note | Students write, dictate or record a thank-you note to a classmate or staff member, naming what the person did | 2 to 12 |
| The other side of the story | Students retell a conflict from a book, a game or a school event from the other person’s point of view | 6 to 12 |
Relationship Skills Activities
| Activity | How it runs | Grades |
|---|---|---|
| Partner interview | With three question cards, partners ask, listen and report one thing they learned about each other | 2 to 12 |
| One-set cooperative build | A group builds one structure from a single set of materials, with roles that rotate every few minutes | K to 8 |
| Repair script practice | Students rehearse a three-part repair (name the feeling, name what happened, propose a fix), then role-play it with a partner | 3 to 12 |
Responsible Decision-Making Activities
| Activity | How it runs | Grades |
|---|---|---|
| Stop, think, choose cards | Students read or hear a short scenario, list two or three options and predict what happens next for each | K to 5 |
| Class meeting problem-solving | A real class problem goes on the agenda; students brainstorm, choose one solution and review it a week later | 3 to 8 |
| Real-choice decision grid | Students weigh options for a real decision, such as an elective or a job, on a grid of pros, cons and who is affected | 9 to 12 |
Social Emotional Learning Activities by Grade Band
Social Emotional Learning Activities for Preschool
For ages 3 to 5, the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (2015, reaffirmed by the Office of Head Start in a September 2026 letter) groups social and emotional development into four sub-domains: relationships with adults, relationships with other children, emotional functioning, and sense of identity and belonging. One of its preschool goals reads: “Child manages emotions with increasing independence.” Activities at this age are short, concrete and built into routines.
Social Emotional Learning Activities for Elementary Students
From kindergarten to grade 5, keep lessons short and continue the practice in academic work: a partner interview before writing, a cooperative build in science, a class meeting on Fridays.
Social Emotional Learning Activities for Middle and High School
For adolescents, connect activities to their own goals: a planner routine, a decision grid for a real choice, a learning profile they present themselves. The profile has a direct use in special education: when an IEP meeting will consider postsecondary goals and transition services, the district must invite the student (34 CFR 300.321(b)(1)). See transition IEP goals.
Emotion Identification Activities by Grade Band
Emotion identification activities teach students to notice, name and explain feelings, first their own and then other people’s; CASEL lists “identifying one’s emotions” under self-awareness. Expectations grow with age. The Head Start framework expects that by 60 months a child “recognizes and labels basic emotions in books or photographs” and uses words for their own and others’ feelings, starting with words such as happy, sad or mad, then noticing subtler feelings such as embarrassed or worried. The Illinois SEL standards that apply from 2026-27 then ask students in kindergarten to grade 2 to name others’ basic emotions “using facial expressions, tone of voice, and context clues,” in grades 3 to 5 to identify “increasingly complex emotions and possible causes,” in grades 6 to 8 to relate physical changes, thoughts, feelings and behaviors, and in grades 9 and 10 to analyze patterns in their emotional responses. The activities below are original examples.
| Activity | How it runs | Grades |
|---|---|---|
| Puppet feelings show | A puppet shows a feeling with face, voice and a short situation (“My tower fell”); children name it or point to its picture, then make the face | Pre-K |
| Feelings in the story | During a read-aloud, the adult pauses on a picture, names one clue (“Look at her eyebrows”) and asks how the character feels | Pre-K to K |
| Feelings photo sort | Children sort photos of faces into happy, sad, mad and scared, then say what might have happened to each person | K |
| Same event, different feelings | The class hears one event, such as a fire drill or a new seat, and each student picks the feeling it would bring them | K to 2 |
| Feelings thermometer | Students order related words (annoyed, frustrated, furious) on a scale and write one cause for each | 3 to 5 |
| Body signal map | Students mark on an outline where they notice stress or worry, then match each signal to a thought and an action | 6 to 8 |
| Emotion pattern log | For a week, students note a strong feeling, what came before it and what they did, then look for a pattern and plan one change | 9 to 12 |
The Head Start framework notes that developmental delays can affect a child’s ability to regulate emotions and engage in back-and-forth interactions, and suggests puppets to teach how to show different emotions. When a student needs more than classroom practice, emotion identification can become an IEP goal; examples are in social emotional IEP goals.
Adapting SEL Activities for Students With Disabilities
Universal SEL research rarely reports results for students with disabilities, so a classwide lesson cannot be assumed to reach every student. The 2020 report of the National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice (NCAEP) identifies 28 evidence-based practices for autistic learners from birth to 22, several of which fit SEL activities. The IEP team, with the school psychologist, counselor, speech-language pathologist (SLP) or behavior analyst where involved, decides what each student needs.
| Barrier | Adaptation | Practice (NCAEP 2020) |
|---|---|---|
| Feeling words are abstract | Pictured feelings scale, photos of real school situations | Visual supports |
| New or changing situations | A short first-person story that previews the activity | Social narratives |
| Forgets to use the strategy | Self-rating card checked at set times, with adult support faded | Self-management |
| Strong feelings such as anger or anxiety | A step-by-step strategy taught and rehearsed while calm | Cognitive behavioral/instructional strategies |
| Learns best by watching | A short clip of a peer using the skill | Video modeling |
| Limited speech | Feelings and requests added to the student’s communication system | Augmentative and alternative communication |
In self-management, learners are taught to monitor and record their own behavior and reward themselves; the AFIRM self-management brief (updated 2025) has adults fade their prompts until the learner self-records accurately.
SEL activities are instruction, not mental health treatment. When a student’s needs go beyond classroom practice, the IEP team considers related services such as counseling services, provided by “qualified social workers, psychologists, guidance counselors, or other qualified personnel” (34 CFR 300.34(c)(2)). For autistic students, IEP goals for autism helps set priorities.
How SEL Activities Connect to IEP Goals
CASEL suggests integrating SEL goals and practices “with universal, targeted, and intensive academic and behavioral supports.” For a student with an IEP, the individualized part is written into the IEP: measurable annual goals, “including academic and functional goals,” designed to meet the needs that result from the disability (34 CFR 300.320(a)(2)). When behavior impedes learning, the team must consider positive behavioral interventions and supports (34 CFR 300.324(a)(2)(i)).
- Start from the present levels: which competency, in which setting, with how much support.
- Write or review the goal. Examples by skill area are in social emotional IEP goals.
- Pair one classwide activity with one more intensive practice that targets the exact skill in the goal.
- Plan where the skill will be used outside the lesson, with whom and with what prompt.
- Decide who records data and how often.
Example: Lena, a second grader, leaves the room when frustrated; her goal targets asking for a break with a card. She joins the class feelings check-in, rehearses the request twice a week with her special education teacher and uses a self-rating card during math, where most incidents happen. For goals that reduce a behavior, see behavior IEP goals.
Choosing an Evidence-Based SEL Program
Activities supply daily practice; a program supplies the sequence. The CASEL Program Guide reviews programs that are universal, delivered during the regular school day and designed for pre-K to grade 12, with “at least one high-quality evaluation study with a comparison group.” It listed 110 programs in October 2026, each with one designation:
| Designation | What it means |
|---|---|
| SELect | Evidence of effectiveness at the highest level, all five competencies, opportunities for practice, multi-year programming and high-quality training and implementation supports |
| Promising | Evidence of effectiveness on student or teacher outcomes, with support for at least two competencies |
| SEL-Supportive | Meets the SELect or Promising evidence criteria but not all program design criteria |
Disability is not among the student characteristics the guide filters by, so ask each provider how its materials support students with IEPs.
Measuring Progress on SEL Activities
The IEP must describe how progress toward each goal will be measured and when it will be reported (34 CFR 300.320(a)(3)). Kentucky Department of Education guidance on types of data defines event recording and duration, among other data types; self-ratings add the student’s view.
| What to measure | Data type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| How often the student uses the skill | Event recording | Break requests per math block |
| How long the skill lasts | Duration | Minutes back at work after a calm-down routine |
| The student’s own view | Self-rating compared with an adult rating | Daily 0 to 2 rating on the goal |
Probe in the setting where the skill is needed, record the prompt level and graph the results each week; templates are in IEP data collection sheets. If the data show a lack of expected progress, the team must revise the IEP, as appropriate (34 CFR 300.324(b)(1)(ii)(A)).
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Activities with no named skill. A feelings poster is decoration until someone teaches and prompts its use.
- Talking about feelings instead of practicing strategies.
- Teaching a calming strategy during a crisis. Practice it when the student is calm.
- One lesson a week and nothing in between.
- Leaving students with IEPs out of classwide SEL instead of adapting it.
- Treating SEL activities as mental health treatment.
- Measuring only with yearly surveys. IEP goals need data from the target setting.
Recommended Actions
- Map SEL by campus: which competencies, which program, how often and in which settings.
- Adopt one activity frame (welcome, practice, close) across general and special education.
- Check programs against the CASEL Program Guide and ask providers about students with IEPs.
- Train special educators and paraprofessionals on visual supports and self-management with the free AFIRM modules.
- Link each social emotional IEP goal to a named activity and a target setting.
- Review SEL goal data at every progress report, not only at the annual review.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some social emotional learning activities?
Common examples are a feelings check-in at arrival, a calm-down routine rehearsed while calm, a daily goal with a self-rating, gratitude notes, partner interviews, cooperative builds, conflict repair role-plays and problem-solving class meetings. Each practices one CASEL competency: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills or responsible decision-making.
What are social emotional learning activities for preschool?
At ages 3 to 5, activities are short and built into routines: a pictured feelings check-in at circle time, a puppet who needs help waiting for a turn, a choice board of calming tools and play centers where two children share one set of materials. Each targets one of the Head Start framework’s sub-domains, such as emotional functioning or relationships with other children.
How do you teach students to identify emotions?
Start with a few basic feelings and concrete pictures, a puppet or real photos, and name feelings as they happen during the day. Point to the clue each time: the face, the voice or the situation. Practice when the student is calm, then add more precise words and causes as students grow, following a sequence such as the Head Start framework for ages 3 to 5 and state SEL standards from kindergarten on.
Where can teachers find free social emotional learning activities?
CASEL publishes its SEL 3 Signature Practices Playbook online, with examples of inclusive welcomes, engaging strategies and intentional closes, and offers a free self-paced introductory course. For students with disabilities, the AFIRM modules from the University of North Carolina, including self-management, visual supports and video modeling, are now freely available.
How do you adapt social emotional learning activities for students with autism?
Keep the skill and change the access: pictured feelings scales, a short first-person story that previews the activity, a video of a peer using the skill, a self-rating card with adult support faded over time, and feelings words on the student’s communication system. These match practices NCAEP identified as evidence-based in 2020; the IEP team chooses among them.
Can AI help plan social emotional learning activities?
An AI tool can draft scenario cards for a problem-solving activity, a story that previews a new routine or questions for a picture book, which the teacher then reviews for accuracy and fit. Describe only the skill and grade: leave out names, diagnoses and behavior incidents, and use district-approved tools. Our ChatGPT for teachers guide explains safe prompting.
Related Resources
- Social Skills Activities by Age
- Conversation Skills for K-12 Students
- Social Emotional IEP Goals
- Behavior IEP Goals
- IEP Goals for Autism
- IEP Data Collection Sheets
Conclusion
Social emotional learning activities work when each one names a CASEL competency, follows a SAFE sequence, gives every student practice turns and ends with a plan to use the skill elsewhere. For students with disabilities, schools add evidence-based supports, tie activities to IEP goals and measure progress where the skill is needed.
Sources: CASEL, What Is SEL? (CASEL 5 definitions and SAFE); CASEL Program Guide, Connect Your Criteria and Program Designations; CASEL, SEL 3 Signature Practices Playbook; Cipriano et al., The State of Evidence for Social and Emotional Learning: A Contemporary Meta-Analysis of Universal School-Based SEL Interventions, Child Development (2023); Daley and McCarthy, Students with Disabilities in Social and Emotional Learning Interventions: A Systematic Review, Remedial and Special Education (2021); Cipriano et al., A Systematic Review of Student Disability and Race Representation in Universal School-Based SEL Interventions for Elementary School Students, Review of Educational Research (2023); Steinbrenner et al., Evidence-Based Practices for Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Autism, NCAEP (2020); AFIRM, Self-Management Brief Packet (updated 2025); Office of Head Start, Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Ages Birth to Five (2015); Illinois State Board of Education, Social and Emotional Learning Standards (July 2026); Kentucky Department of Education, Method of Measurement and Type of Data (2021). Sections of 34 CFR Part 300 are linked where they are cited.
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