Friendships are an essential aspect of students’ lives, providing them with a sense of belonging, trust, and support. Educators play a crucial role in fostering these connections and teaching students the skills they need to develop and maintain healthy friendships. This blog post will explore the importance of friendship skills, provide a no-prep activity for educators to use in the classroom, and offer discussion questions to stimulate further conversations about friendship.
Introduction
Friendship skills are vital for students to develop, as they form the foundation for building and maintaining healthy relationships. These skills include having common interests, making time for each other, putting equal effort into the friendship, and trusting one another. To initiate a friendship, students should make an effort to spend time with the other person, learn about them, and share about themselves. Asking general questions about the other person’s family, hobbies, and likes/dislikes is an excellent way to start getting to know them. Remembering the facts about each other and using this information in conversations or when making plans to hang out demonstrates care and interest in the friendship. Additionally, it is crucial for friends to put equal effort into the relationship, ensuring that both parties feel valued and supported.
No-Prep Activity: Common Interests Bingo
This activity is designed to help students learn about their classmates’ interests and identify commonalities, fostering a sense of connection and understanding. The activity requires no preparation or materials from the educator.
- Ask students to stand up and find a partner.
- Each pair should take turns asking each other questions about their interests, hobbies, and likes/dislikes. Encourage students to listen carefully to their partner’s responses and find at least one common interest.
- Once a common interest is identified, the pair should celebrate with a high-five or a friendly handshake.
- After celebrating, students should find a new partner and repeat the process until they have talked to at least five different classmates.
By the end of the activity, students will have discovered several common interests with their classmates, providing a foundation for building friendships based on shared experiences and preferences.
Discussion Questions
- Why is it important to have common interests with your friends? How do these shared interests strengthen your friendship?
- What strategies can you use to ensure that both friends are putting equal effort into the relationship? How can you tell if the effort is not balanced?
- How can trust be built and maintained in a friendship? What actions or behaviors demonstrate trustworthiness?
- What are some challenges that might arise in a friendship, and how can you work together to overcome them?
- How can educators support students in developing and maintaining healthy friendships?
Related Skills
Alongside friendship skills, students should also develop other essential social-emotional competencies, such as:
- Empathy: Understanding and sharing the feelings of others.
- Active listening: Paying full attention to what the other person is saying and responding thoughtfully.
- Conflict resolution: Addressing disagreements in a constructive and respectful manner.
- Assertiveness: Expressing one’s thoughts and feelings honestly and respectfully.
Next Steps
If you’re interested in exploring more activities and resources to help students develop friendship skills and other essential social-emotional competencies, consider signing up for free sample materials from Everyday Speech. These resources can provide valuable support for educators in fostering a positive and supportive classroom environment where students can thrive and build lasting friendships.
