Introduction

Teaching young children to think about others’ feelings is an essential part of their social-emotional development. When students learn to consider the emotions of their peers, they are better equipped to build strong friendships and navigate challenging situations. This blog post will provide educators with a no-prep activity, discussion questions, and related skills to help PreK students explore the concept of thinking about others’ feelings.

No-Prep Activity: Acting Out Emotions

This activity requires no preparation or materials, making it a perfect option for busy educators. In this game, students will take turns acting out different emotions while their classmates guess the feeling being portrayed.

1. Have students sit in a circle, with one student volunteering to go first.
2. The student in the center will choose an emotion to act out and silently portray that feeling through facial expressions and body language.
3. The other students will take turns guessing the emotion being acted out. Encourage them to think about how the person might be feeling based on their body language and facial expressions.
4. Once the correct emotion has been guessed, another student will take their turn in the center of the circle.
5. Continue the activity until each student has had a chance to act out an emotion.

This activity helps students develop empathy by encouraging them to consider the feelings of others. It also provides an opportunity for students to practice identifying emotions in their peers.

Discussion Questions

1. Why is it important to think about others’ feelings?
2. How can we tell how someone is feeling? What clues can we look for?
3. What can we do if we notice someone is feeling sad or upset?
4. How does it feel when someone considers your feelings? How does it feel when they don’t?
5. Can you think of a time when you thought about someone else’s feelings and it helped you both?

Related Skills

In addition to thinking about others’ feelings, there are several other related skills that can help students develop strong social-emotional competencies. These skills include:

• Active listening: Encouraging students to listen and respond thoughtfully to their peers.
• Empathy: Developing the ability to understand and share the feelings of others.
• Self-awareness: Helping students recognize and understand their own emotions.
• Conflict resolution: Teaching students how to navigate challenging situations and resolve disagreements.

Next Steps

If you’re interested in exploring more activities and resources to help your PreK students develop social-emotional skills, be sure to sign up for free sample materials from Everyday Speech. These materials cover a wide range of topics and can be easily incorporated into your lesson plans to help your students grow and thrive in their social-emotional development.