Introduction

As educators, we understand the importance of teaching social skills to kindergarten students. One of the essential skills for young children is learning how to ask to play with peers. This skill promotes positive interactions, builds friendships, and fosters a sense of belonging. In this blog post, we will discuss a simple, no-prep activity to help students learn how to approach and ask others to play. We will also provide discussion questions to further explore this important skill and suggest related skills for students to develop.

No-Prep Activity

For this activity, you will guide your students through a role-playing exercise that demonstrates the proper way to ask someone to play. You can use the following steps:

1. Explain the goal of the activity, which is to practice asking others to play.
2. Ask for two volunteers to act out a scenario where one student wants to play with the other. Use the provided dialogue as an example:

Josh: Hey, Matt. Want to play Legos with me?
Matt: Sure! What should we build?
Josh: I was thinking a skyscraper.
Matt: Nice!

3. After the role-play, discuss the key steps the students took to ask to play. In this example, Josh got near Matt, looked at him, greeted him, and asked him to play, while also bringing the toy with him.
4. Encourage the rest of the class to practice the skill in pairs, using their choice of activity and toy.
5. Observe the students as they practice and provide feedback to help them improve their interactions.

Discussion Questions

After completing the activity, use these questions to stimulate further discussion about the importance of asking to play and the steps involved in doing so:

1. Why is it important to know how to ask someone to play?
2. How did you feel when you were practicing asking to play? Were you nervous, excited, or something else?
3. What are some other ways you can ask someone to play? Are there different ways to ask depending on the situation or the person?
4. What might happen if you don’t ask someone to play the right way? How could this affect your friendships or interactions with others?
5. How can we help others feel more comfortable when asking to play?

Related Skills

Asking to play is just one of many social skills that kindergarten students should develop. Here are a few other related skills that can help students build strong social-emotional foundations:

• Taking turns and sharing
• Listening and following directions
• Expressing feelings and emotions in a healthy way
• Respecting personal boundaries and personal space
• Problem-solving and conflict resolution

Next Steps

Now that you have learned about this simple, no-prep activity for teaching kindergarten students how to ask to play, it’s time to put it into practice in your classroom. To further support your students’ social-emotional development, sign up for free samples of various social skills materials at Everyday Speech. These resources can help you create a positive, inclusive, and supportive learning environment for your students.