Social Skills Lessons for Managing Emotions - Feelings, Coping Strategies & SEL

Use these lessons to teach critical social skills of managing emotions older kids, including understanding your emotions, using self-control, dealing with anger, dealing with disappointments, expressing yourself, how actions impact others, and more. This resource includes 10 core lessons, each with several activities for extended practice. A total of 50 activities are included! The entire unit focuses on how to help kids and young adults manage their emotions and behaviors.

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 Your Emotions

• Activity 1: Emotional Awareness

• Activity 2: Multiple Emotions

• Activity 3: A Time You Felt…

• Activity 4: Emotion Check-in

• Activity 5: How Might You Feel

• Activity 6: How Might You Feel Task Cards

Lesson 2 The Choice We Make

• Activity 1: Emotions Drive Behaviors

• Activity 2: The Choices We Make

• Activity 3: What Would You Do?

• Activity 4: Positive Choices

Lesson 3 How Actions Impact Others

• Activity 1: Understanding Consequences

• Activity 2: How Actions Impact Others

• Activity 3: Considering Others

Lesson 4 Expressing Yourself

• Activity 1: Healthy Self-Expression

• Activity 2: Using I Statements

• Activity 3: Making I Statements

• Activity 4: Fill-in the I Statement

• Activity 5: Keeping a Journal

Lesson 5 Dealing with Disappointments

• Activity 1: Dealing with Disappointments

• Activity 2: Handling Let Downs

• Activity 3: Disappointments Help Us Grow

• Activity 4: Dealing with Disappointments Task Cards

• Activity 5: Being a Good Sport

Lesson 6 Adapting to Change

• Activity 1: Adapting to Change

• Activity 2: Change Helps Us Grow

• Activity 3: Being Flexible

• Activity 4: Being Flexible Task Cards

Lesson 7 Dealing with Anger

• Activity 1: Dealing with Anger

• Activity 2: Understanding Triggers

• Activity 3: Physical Effects of Anger

• Activity 4: Hitting the Pause Button

• Activity 5: Like a Volcano

• Activity 6: Anger Journal

Lesson 8 Dealing with Worry

• Activity 1: Dealing with Worry

• Activity 2: Physical Effects of Worrying

• Activity 3: Conquering Fears

• Activity 4: Reframing Negative Thoughts

• Activity 5: Dealing with Worry Slips

Lesson 9 Using Self-Control

• Activity 1: Using Self-Control

• Activity 2: Building Your Self-Control

• Activity 3: Don’t Blurt It Out

• Activity 4: My Responsibilities

• Activity 5: Stop and Think

Lesson 10 Coping Strategies and Mindfulness

• Activity 1: Using Coping Strategies

• Activity 2: Positive Self-Talk

• Activity 3: Positive Affirmations

• Activity 4: Practicing Mindfulness

• Activity 5: Deep Breathing

• Activity 6: Mindful Coloring

• Activity 7: Guided Relaxation

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.

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 50 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!

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

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{ Social Skills Lessons for Older Kids }

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.