Social Skills Lessons for Empathy and Perspective-Taking - SEL Activities

Use these lessons to teach critical social skills of empathy and perspective-taking to older kids, including understanding perspectives, accepting different perspectives, flexible thinking, understanding social cues, developing empathy, using perspectives to resolve conflicts, and more. This resource includes 10 core lessons, each with several activities for extended practice. A total of 42 activities are included! The entire unit focuses on how to help kids and young adults learn perspectives and empathy.

Digital Version

Update: I've added a digital version for each lesson using Google Drive. You can access the entire unit (student pages only) and each individual lesson using Google Drive. Please note that educator plans are included separately.

Table of Contents

Introduction Materials

• Educator Guide

• Pre-Assessment

Lesson 1 Understanding Perspectives

• Activity 1: Understanding Perspectives

• Activity 2: Our Opinions and Thoughts

• Activity 3: Our Core Values

• Activity 4: What's Your Perspective?

• Activity 5: More Than One Perspective

Lesson 2 Accepting Different Perspectives

• Activity 1: Different Perspectives Help Us Grow

• Activity 2: More Than One Right Way

• Activity 3: Understanding and Accepting Views

• Activity 4: Seeing the Other Side

• Activity 5: Respectfully Disagreeing

• Activity 6: Interview a Different Perspective

Lesson 3 Flexible Thinking

• Activity 1: Having a Flexible Mind

• Activity 2: Changing Your Own Thinking

• Activity 3: Staying Open-Minded

• Activity 4: Flexible Thinking Practice

Lesson 4 Understanding Social Cues

• Activity 1: Being a Social Detective

• Activity 2: Reading Facial Expressions

• Activity 3: Understanding Body Language

• Activity 4: Social Cues Task Cards

• Activity 5: Listening to Tone of Voice

Lesson 5 Considering Thoughts and Motives

• Activity 1: What Thoughts and Motives Tell Us

• Activity 2: Getting Inside Their Head

• Activity 3: Make a Prediction

Lesson 6 Developing Empathy

• Activity 1: Understanding Empathy

• Activity 2: In Their Shoes

• Activity 3: Emotions Cards

• Activity 4: How Might They Feel?

• Activity 5: How Might They Feel? Cards

• Activity 6: Showing Empathy to Others

Lesson 7 Being a Perspective Detective

• Activity 1: More Than One Perspective

• Activity 2: Let's Perspective Take

• Activity 3: Being a Perspective Detective Cards

• Activity 4: Perspective Detective Investigation

Lesson 8 Using Perspectives to Resolve Conflicts

• Activity 1: The Power of Perspective-Taking

• Activity 2: Considering the Other Side

• Activity 3: Compromising

Lesson 9 Thinking of Others

• Activity 1: Thinking of Others

• Activity 2: Sensitive to Each Other

• Activity 3: Using Self-Control

Lesson 10 Treating Others with Kindness

• Activity 1: Bringing Out the Positive

• Activity 2: Show Your Kindness Slips

• Activity 3: Acts of Kindness

Note that both color and black/white options are included and clearly listed in the table of contents.

Why Teach Social Skills

Social skills are the abilities and competencies we use to navigate the social world. These skills tell us how to act and what to say in particular social situations. With strong social skills, kids and young adults can more easily build friendships, get along with others, work collaboratively in groups, handle frustrations, and have an overall improved quality of life.

While some kids and young adults learn social skills just from observing and interacting with those around them, many do not. These kids might struggle to develop friendships, have difficulty working in partners or groups, experience challenges in following directions, act in ways perceived as rude or mean, or misread the social cues of others. To these youngsters, the social world is confusing and challenging. Some students who may struggle with social skills specifically include those with autism, ADHD, ODD, intellectual disabilities, and a variety of other needs.

How to Use

These lessons and activities would be an asset to educators who want to teach social skills to young adults. This resource includes 10 lessons, each with several activities for extended practice. A total of 42 activities are included! Depending on the time of your class or sessions, you may choose to split up the lessons into several days. Alternatively, you can select which activities best suit the needs of your students. It is helpful to first start by giving the pre-assessment. Then, go through each lesson in order to build on critical social skills. After all social skills lessons are completed, give the post-assessment to show students their growth in learning new skills!

Save Over 20% with the Bundle!

{ Social Skills Lessons for Older Kids BUNDLE }

Use these lessons to teach critical social skills to older learners. Units teach about basic interactions, managing emotions, and empathy and perspective-taking. Just some of the lessons target being respectful, following directions, accepting criticism, working with others, understanding emotions, dealing with anger, understanding perspectives, accepting different perspectives, flexible thinking, understanding social cues, developing empathy, using perspectives to resolve conflicts, and MUCH more. This resource includes 3 core units with 30 lessons, each with several activities for extended practice. A total of 142 activities are included!

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Terms of Use:

© Pathway 2 Success. One license is for the classroom/personal use for one educator and their students. Materials may not be shared with other educators without the purchase of extra licenses. Materials may not be posted on the Internet where they can be publicly accessed. Personal and classroom use only. Please see full terms of use for more information.

Disclaimer: These resources are for supplementary support/education purposes and are not a replacement for education or other necessary supports. Educators, parents, and others who utilize these materials are encouraged to seek out additional support, as needed.