Friendship is a fundamental aspect of childhood that greatly impacts a student’s sense of belonging, wellbeing, and academic success in elementary school. For many students, making and keeping friends does not always come naturally and requires explicit instruction and practice. The Being a Friend Packet provides a structured, engaging way to teach and reinforce the essential skills children need to develop positive and lasting friendships.

What Are Friendship Skills?

Friendship skills encompass a set of learnable behaviors and attitudes that allow children to initiate, build, and maintain positive peer relationships. These skills go beyond simple social exchanges and include more nuanced abilities such as showing empathy, managing disagreements, sharing, cooperating, and communicating in ways that foster trust and respect. Friendship skills are foundational for classroom harmony, teamwork, and a supportive school climate.

For many elementary students, especially those with social communication challenges or difficulties navigating social situations, friendship skills must be explicitly taught, modeled, and rehearsed. Without structured opportunities to learn and practice these behaviors, children may struggle with loneliness, misunderstandings, or interpersonal conflict.

Why Teach Friendship Skills?

Direct instruction on friendship skills helps all students grow socially and emotionally, and is especially crucial for those who need extra practice to succeed with peers. Focusing on these skills in elementary school can:

• Support children who find it difficult to make or keep friends
• Reduce incidences of conflict, exclusion, and bullying
• Improve the overall classroom community and collaborative learning
• Increase students’ empathy and perspective-taking abilities
• Build resilience by giving students tools to repair friendships after disagreements
• Encourage positive peer modeling and group problem-solving
• Empower students to seek help when friendship challenges arise

When students feel confident in their ability to approach peers, start conversations, resolve conflicts, and show care, they are better equipped to succeed both socially and academically.

Lesson Plan: Using Being a Friend Packet

The Being a Friend Packet was created to offer a no-prep, engaging tool for teaching and practicing friendship skills.

The resource features a printable board game designed to prompt discussion, encourage role-playing, and reinforce key friendship behaviors.

Step 1: Preparing Materials and Setting Expectations

Download and print the Being a Friend Packet. Laminate the game board and cards for durability, if desired. Review the included instructions and become familiar with the prompt cards and spaces on the board. Prepare tokens or game pieces for each player and a die to advance spaces.

Introduce the activity by explaining that the class will practice skills that help everyone make and keep friends. Establish ground rules for respectful discussions, active listening, and give each student a chance to participate.

Step 2: Reviewing and Teaching Key Friendship Skills

Before starting the board game, set the stage by explicitly reviewing key friendship skills highlighted in the packet. Briefly discuss ideas such as:

• Introducing yourself and starting conversations
• Inviting others to join in
• Sharing and taking turns
• Listening attentively
• Giving compliments
• Apologizing and repairing mistakes
• Respecting differences and including everyone

This quick primer helps anchor the skills students will practice during the board game and prepares them for more meaningful participation.

Step 3: Playing the Friendship Board Game

Divide students into small groups, ideally with 3-5 players per game board. Each player selects a game piece and places it at the start. Players take turns rolling the die and moving their piece along the path. When a player lands on a space, they draw a card from the matching pile and answer the question or complete the task.

Spaces and cards prompt students to:

• Identify ways to be a good friend
• Problem-solve challenging friendship scenarios
• Demonstrate friendship skills through role-play
• Reflect on previous experiences with friends
• Practice conversation starters and positive responses
• Share their feelings about friendship

Facilitators can encourage elaboration, offer gentle coaching, and ensure that every group member participates. For students who are less verbal or need extra support, prompts can be read aloud, and answers can be modeled or given choices.

Step 4: Facilitating Group Discussion and Reflection

After the board game, gather the class for a group reflection. Use some of the discussion questions from the packet or create your own based on the scenarios students encountered during the game. Possible prompts include:

• What is one thing you learned about being a good friend?
• Which friendship skills were easy for you? Which were harder?
• Can anyone share about a time when using a friendship skill really helped them with a friend?
• How can you include classmates who are shy or new?

Encourage students to build on each other’s responses and highlight the positive moments they observed during the activity. This reflection cements learning and allows students to internalize the importance of the skills practiced.

Supporting Friendship Skills After the Activity

Reinforcing friendship skills outside of a structured lesson ensures that learning transfers to daily classroom interactions. Clinicians, teachers, and other support staff can help students generalize these skills by:

• Observing peer interactions and providing in-the-moment coaching
• Creating visual reminders or posters that summarize key friendship skills
• Developing a classroom recognition system that celebrates acts of kindness, inclusion, or helpfulness
• Prompting students to use conversation starters or positive feedback in natural settings, such as recess, lunch, or group work
• Collaborating with families to encourage skill practice at home and share language used in the activity
• Modeling friendship skills during read-alouds, group instruction, or assemblies
• Using social stories and additional role-plays for students who require more support

Regularly returning to the language and strategies introduced in the Being a Friend Packet keeps friendship skills top-of-mind and helps all students build confidence navigating the complex world of peer relationships.

Wrapping Up: Fostering Friendships for Lifelong Success

Helping children develop strong friendship skills is an investment in both their immediate happiness and long-term social wellbeing. The Being a Friend Packet makes it simple for clinicians and educators to cultivate a classroom climate where kindness, empathy, and positive peer interactions flourish. By combining explicit instruction, meaningful practice, and ongoing reinforcement, adults can support every child in building relationships that last.

For those interested in using the Being a Friend Packet, it can be downloaded here:

Being a Friend Packet Download Link

With consistent use, the skills practiced through this activity will become part of a child’s everyday toolkit, providing invaluable support both in and out of the classroom.