Friendships play a crucial role in the social-emotional development of students. As educators, we can help our students form meaningful connections by teaching them essential skills for building friendships. This blog post will provide an overview of these skills, a no-prep activity, discussion questions, and related skills for educators working with students in Special Education.

Introduction

Building friendships is a vital part of a student’s social-emotional growth. A friend is someone who cares about your feelings, makes you feel comfortable, and is someone you can trust. We can make friends by learning about others and telling them about ourselves. Friends have common interests, or like the same things, and like to spend time together. A good friend makes us feel happy. It takes time to build close friendships with others. The more time we spend with our friends during or after school, the closer we get to them. We become better friends with others the more we share and get to know them. As we build friendships with others, remember that a close friend cares about your feelings and you care about theirs. That means you both do things to be kind, like sharing your thoughts and feelings or inviting each other to spend time together.

No-Prep Activity

Here’s a simple, no-prep activity you can use in your classroom to help students practice building friendships:

Friendship Bingo

Divide the class into pairs. Instruct each pair to take turns asking each other questions to get to know one another better. Provide a list of suggested questions, such as:

• What do you like to do for fun?
• How many siblings do you have?
• What is your favorite subject in school?
• What is your favorite food?

After each student has had a chance to ask and answer questions, have them switch partners and repeat the process. Encourage students to share their own interests and hobbies as well. This activity allows students to practice listening, asking questions, and sharing about themselves with others.

Discussion Questions

Use these discussion questions to stimulate further conversation about building friendships:

1. Why is it important to ask questions and listen when trying to make friends?
2. How can we show kindness and care for our friends’ feelings?
3. What are some ways we can spend time with our friends to strengthen our friendships?
4. How can having friends make us feel good about ourselves and help us grow?
5. What challenges might we face when trying to make new friends, and how can we overcome them?

Related Skills

Building friendships involves several related skills that students can develop and practice:

• Empathy: Understanding and sharing the feelings of others.
• Active listening: Paying close attention to what someone is saying and responding appropriately.
• Communication: Effectively expressing thoughts, feelings, and ideas to others.
• Conflict resolution: Resolving disagreements in a respectful and constructive way.

Next Steps

Now that you have some ideas for teaching students about building friendships, take the next step and sign up for free samples of skill-building materials at Everyday Speech. These resources can help you further support your students’ social-emotional development and foster a positive learning environment.