Introduction

Teaching young children the social skills they need to navigate everyday interactions is crucial for their emotional and social development. One such skill is the art of saying goodbye. In this blog post, we’ll explore the importance of teaching PreK students how to say goodbye properly, present a no-prep activity to practice this skill, offer discussion questions to stimulate further learning, and suggest related skills to enhance their social-emotional learning journey.

No-Prep Activity: The Goodbye Game

The Goodbye Game is a simple, no-prep activity that requires no materials and can be easily incorporated into your daily routine. This activity will help students practice the essential components of saying goodbye, such as facing the person they are saying goodbye to, making eye contact, and waiting for a response before walking away.

1. Ask your students to stand in a circle.
2. Explain that they will practice saying goodbye by taking turns saying “Bye” to the person on their right.
3. Model the appropriate way to say goodbye by demonstrating the following steps:
   • Face your body towards the person you are saying goodbye to.
   • Look at them with your eyes.
   • Say “Bye!”
   • Wait for them to say “Bye” back before turning away.
4. Encourage each student to practice these steps as they take turns saying goodbye to their neighbor.
5. Once everyone has had a turn, debrief the activity by discussing how it felt to practice saying goodbye and what they learned from the experience.

Discussion Questions

After completing the Goodbye Game, use these discussion questions to further explore the skill of saying goodbye and how it relates to broader social-emotional learning concepts:

1. Why is it important to face the person we are saying goodbye to and make eye contact?
2. How does waiting for a response before walking away show respect and consideration for the other person’s feelings?
3. What other situations might require us to say goodbye, and how can we adapt our goodbye to fit those situations?
4. How does practicing saying goodbye help us build positive relationships with others?
5. Can you think of a time when someone said goodbye to you in a way that made you feel good? What was it about their goodbye that made it special?

Related Skills

In addition to teaching PreK students the art of saying goodbye, consider incorporating these related social-emotional skills into your curriculum to help them build a strong foundation for positive interactions and relationships:

• Greeting others: Teach students the importance of greeting others with a friendly “Hello” and making eye contact to show they are engaged and interested in the interaction.
• Listening attentively: Help students develop active listening skills by teaching them to make eye contact, nod their head, and respond appropriately when someone is speaking to them.
• Expressing gratitude: Encourage students to say “Thank you” when someone does something kind or helpful for them, and to acknowledge the effort the other person has made.
• Apologizing: Teach students how to recognize when they have made a mistake or hurt someone’s feelings and how to offer a sincere apology to make amends.

Next Steps

Now that you have a better understanding of how to teach the art of saying goodbye to PreK students, take the next step in supporting their social-emotional learning journey by signing up for free samples of this skill and others. Everyday Speech offers a wealth of resources for educators to help students develop essential social skills for a lifetime of positive interactions and relationships. Don’t miss out on these valuable tools – sign up for your free samples today!