Knowing how to navigate life’s ups and downs, trusting ourselves, and self-reflecting are skills that help us shape our future. So, how can we help our kids learn these skills so they thrive, not just in the classroom but in every aspect of their lives?
We believe social-emotional learning (SEL) is a big part of setting kids up for a life they love. The skills developed through SEL influence everything from academic success to healthy relationships and fulfilling careers.
The best part is that SEL can be easily practised and cultivated through everyday activities, and by seeing it in action through parents and teachers. Start with these eight engaging SEL worksheets to make emotional growth a natural part of learning.
What is social-emotional learning?
Social-emotional learning is when children develop skills and attitudes to help them manage their feelings, build meaningful friendships, and make responsible choices. It teaches children to value and appreciate themselves, learn more about who they are, and bring positivity into their lives and, therefore, to others.
Education is about so much more than just school and academics, and SEL offers an important dynamic that makes the overall learning experience more well-rounded and fulfilling. It nurtures key skills that children carry into future personal and social experiences, such as better self-awareness and relationship skills.
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has found that social-emotional learning lessons make a big difference in helping children succeed in school and life. SEL teaches them to better handle adverse experiences, trust themselves, and feel secure.
Why developing social-emotional skills is important for kids
Social and emotional skills shape not only children’s school years but also their entire lives.
Better academic performance
It might surprise you, but social-emotional learning can boost academic performance. Studies show that students who engage in SEL programs see an 11-percentile-point gain in academic achievement.
But why? Well, when kids build emotional awareness and learn to regulate their emotions, they gain the tools to navigate challenges, connect with others, and stay grounded in their learning. Emotional growth nurtures curiosity and creativity, and it turns the classroom into a safe space where every kid’s voice belongs.
With these skills, children feel braver, safe to express themselves, and ready to try new things, leading to deeper learning, meaningful collaboration, and exciting discoveries.
SEL also cultivates a growth mindset, empowering children to embrace learning. In fact, developing a growth mindset and self-management skills can boost test scores by the equivalent of an extra eight to 45 days of learning.
Even more importantly, children learn to view challenges as opportunities for growth, which builds resilience and strengthens their ability to overcome setbacks.
Stronger social relationships
Relationships are a big and beautiful part of growing up. The ability to connect with friends and loved ones is arguably one of life's most valuable skills.
Through SEL, children learn empathy, which helps them understand and respond to not only their own emotions but also other people’s. Organisations like the Committee for Children even believe that SEL is a bullying prevention tactic.
But it goes beyond just building relationships. SEL teaches kids to work in groups and appreciate different perspectives, which are crucial skills to have in the real world. As they learn better communication, conflict resolution, and social skills, they can naturally build deeper bonds.
Improved emotional maturity and success
We've probably all experienced a time when something goes wrong, and we just want to break down. But kids with SEL can better cope with the stress and challenges that life throws their way.
Recent research shows that SEL builds self-efficacy, self-esteem, perseverance, and a positive mindset. Kids learn to manage their emotions and see challenges through to the end, which helps them navigate tough situations.
Learning these skills has positive long-term outcomes, too, such as becoming engaged community members, having strong mental health, and achieving work success as adults.
Greater self-trust and self-love
It’s so important that children learn to trust and love themselves. Instead of searching for validation and acceptance from external sources, they learn to find it within.
SEL helps kids develop this inner strength by teaching them to value and embrace themselves — their uniqueness, their quirks, their strengths and even their weaknesses. This fosters a sense of self-acceptance and empowers them to believe in their worth.
When children cultivate a strong sense of self-acceptance, they become more secure in who they are, more confident in their abilities, and more capable of facing challenges.
Five core social-emotional learning competencies
The SEL framework has five core competencies that guide children's social, emotional, and personal development:
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is the ability to understand your own emotions, thoughts, what's important to you, and how all of that affects what you do.
SEL empowers kids to recognise their own emotions, triggers, and reactions. It also means helping them see their strengths and where they may need support.
How it works in practice:
Lisa is feeling really frustrated while trying to solve a difficult math problem, but she understands that this may cause her to make accidental mistakes. So she decides to take a short break to clear her head, and once she’s calmed down, she asks her teacher for help to understand the problem better.
Self-management
Even as adults, it can be tough to control our impulses and stay focused — imagine how challenging it is for kids.
Self-management is about learning to regulate your emotions, thoughts, and behaviours in different situations. This includes teaching kids to manage stress, control impulses, and set and achieve goals.
How it works in practice:
Derek is overwhelmed with a big project that’s due next week and is tempted to procrastinate on his tablet. Instead, he decides to create a schedule and set daily goals to help him manage his workload and avoid putting it off.
Responsible decision-making
How do you make a decision when faced with a tough choice? Responsible decision-making means being able to make ethical and constructive choices about personal and social interactions.
Through SEL, kids learn to think before acting. They consider possible outcomes and safety concerns, weigh different options, and evaluate the consequences of their actions before making a decision. It also means they take responsibility for their choices and reflect on what they can do differently next time.
How it works in practice:
Lena is invited to play video games late on a school night. She really wants to join, but she knows she has a big test tomorrow morning. After thinking about the consequences, she decides to log off early so she can get enough sleep and do her best on the test.
Social awareness
Social awareness is the ability to step into someone else's shoes and see the world from their point of view. It’s about understanding different perspectives and empathising with those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts.
With greater social awareness, kids become better at taking different opinions, showing empathy and compassion, and recognising and appreciating diversity.
How it works in practice:
Rashid understands that Nina might be feeling lonely because she is new to the school, so he decides to sit with her at lunch to keep her company.
Relationship skills
Relationship skills are the social glue that holds us together. They help us build and maintain healthy connections and navigate experiences with diverse individuals and groups.
When children have strong relationship skills, they can communicate clearly, listen actively, collaborate well, and resolve conflicts with understanding.
How it works in practice:
Maya and Alex disagree on how to complete a group project. Instead of arguing, Maya actively listens to Alex's ideas and then expresses her own. They work together to find a compromise.
Eight helpful social-emotional learning worksheets for kids
Social-emotional learning takes practice — but it can be fun and engaging for kids. SEL lesson plans can be integrated into a child’s day with these eight social-emotional worksheets:
Emotional awareness and regulation
1. Feelings faces and feeling tracker
Happy, sad, angry, scared, or surprised? A feelings faces worksheet and feeling tracker can help children understand and label their emotions. It’s a simple daily exercise for kids to communicate their emotions, especially those struggling with verbal expression.
This emotions worksheet first prompts students to draw faces representing different emotions, helping them connect facial expressions to each. Then, they’ll reflect on their own feelings and jot down what they do when they feel that way, who they talk to, and even the colour that emotion feels like.
At the end, there’s a fun parent-child teamwork activity. Together, parents and children track how they both feel throughout the week and use discussion questions to reflect on how emotions change every day — and that’s okay!
2. My feelings care plan
It's okay to have big feelings! But it's also important to know how to manage them. My feelings care plan is a parent-child teamwork worksheet to help children discover practical tools to navigate those big and strong emotions with confidence.
It includes five fun activities:
-
1. Learn the benefits of breathing
-
2. Practice handling big feelings with STOP (Stop, Take a breath, Observe, Proceed)
-
3. Four breathing techniques to try together
-
4. A personalised feelings care plan that links emotions to calming strategies
-
5. A guided meditation
By doing these activities together, you’re creating a loving and supportive environment to understand and manage emotions effectively.
Empathy and social awareness
-
3. Imagine: Empathy in action
An empathy map helps kids develop empathy and the ability to accept different perspectives. It's a fantastic tool for building compassion and understanding in our world.
Start by having them read a short story about a child, and have them step into the character’s shoes to imagine what they might be feeling, thinking, saying, and doing. Then, on the second page, flip the role and have them imagine that same situation from their perspective. This activity helps them understand their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.
End with a parent-child activity where you share an experience of when you felt scared or sad when you were little. And, they can draw a picture to match.
-
4. Growing my brain: Growth mindset
This worksheet focuses on building a growth mindset and introduces the wonderful idea of positive self-talk, and just how important it really is.
First, kids will think about challenges they’ve experienced at home and school and discuss with their parents. Then, they will complete an activity to change fixed-mindset phrases into growth-mindset phrases! This helps reinforce positive self-talk and recognise negative self-talk.
Lastly, there are two parent-child teamwork activities: pick out and practise a growth mindset mantra daily together, and create a neuron to learn about what happens to the brain when learning.
Problem-solving and conflict resolution
-
5. Compromise comic
Sometimes we need to compromise to find the best solution that works for everyone. This compromise comic helps children understand the concept of compromising when problems happen.
The first page includes the idea and asks them to reflect with an adult. Then they’ll read a scenario and draw out a comic of two people compromising to solve their problem.
Finish strong with a child-parent activity that asks you to reflect on a time you had a disagreement and how you solved the problem. And your kid will write down your story. This helps children see that even grown-ups face disagreements and that compromise is a valuable skill we use throughout our lives.
-
6. What would you do? Solving problems!
A “What would you do?” worksheet sparks conversations about dealing with difficult situations with kindness. These scenarios can cover all sorts of things, such as fighting over toys and cutting the line.
Guide your kiddo to look through each picture scenario and draw or write what they would do to solve this in a kind and friendly way.
You can include little hints that offer different perspectives or problem-solving ideas. A scenario might show a friend being upset because they weren't invited to a party. The hint could be something like, "Listening and showing you care is a great way to start.”
Now, on the second page, give your child a moment to reflect on a time they were kind — have them draw it and share it with you. Open up the opportunity for children and caregivers to connect, share ideas, and work together to find solutions.
Kindness and gratitude
-
7. The kindness flip
Unkind actions happen when big feelings take over. Everyone makes mistakes— but it's important to recognise when our actions weren't kind, to say sorry if we've hurt someone, and to keep practising kindness. It’s a muscle that becomes stronger the more we use it. So, help kids develop this muscle with the kindness flip worksheet.
Prepare unkind situations and have them flip them into kind ones. Then, draw out the kindness situation. After the activity, sit down with your child and discuss all the different ways we can show kindness to other people and to ourselves. Have them fill out the table with ideas and use discussion questions to reflect.
This activity helps kids recognise the impact of kindness and that they are capable of making a positive impact in the world!
-
8. Gratitude journal
Did you know that taking just five minutes each day to journal about what we're grateful for can increase our long-term happiness by 10%?
Keeping a gratitude journal, which even many adults do, can help kids reflect and focus on the positive things in life. It's a way to train their brains to see the good and find joy in everyday moments, which helps them stay optimistic even when they have a bad day.
This journal offers thoughtful prompts to help students reflect on all the amazing things in their lives and about themselves. It beautifully concludes with a meditation activity for children and their grown-ups to enjoy together.
How bina supports SEL in a global online classroom
As a strong advocate for social-emotional learning, we’ve built SEL into a quarter of our curriculum. We’ve created a supportive online space where children feel secure expressing their emotions and building positive connections.
At bina, our kiddos learn how to navigate conflicts, use their voices, approach tough decisions, and act with empathy across cultures. They also gain the tools and knowledge to support their own mental well-being.
Learn more about bina’s unique approach to social-emotional learning.
Download our SEL worksheet and explore the fun of social-emotional learning with your kiddo!
Preliminary worksheets (we’ll discuss the design this week):
Comments