Social-Emotional Learning
Getting Started | Self-Care | SEL and Distant/Virtual Learning | Home Activities | Other Ideas
Social-Emotional Learning can help students with things like their emotional states, especially when they encounter high-stress situations. Does your student sometimes act inappropriately? Maybe we should work on “Self-Management,” “Self-Awareness,” or “Social Awareness.” Does your student struggle with making choices and getting along with others? Maybe we should work on “Responsible Decision-Making” or “Relationship Skills.”
The resources on this page are designed to help with these kinds of things. Please also visit this page with 10 Social-Emotional Learning Fact Sheets.
Getting Started
This video clip explains the definition of what Social Emotional Learning is:
If the embedded video above does not appear, try this direct link.
Establishing a Routine and Structure – This is an informational guide for the adults in the home on how to establish a routine and structure in the home.
Is this behavior normal/Warning Signs? – A tip-sheet for families on what is normal behavior, when to worry, and warning signs. It is broken down by age range also.
Motivational Video – Teaching our children to be socially and emotionally strong by example. This is a motivational video for parents and caregivers.
Social and Emotional Learning Explained by Kids – SEL explained by kids (Competencies such as: Self Awareness, Self- Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Responsible Decision Making)
Self-Care
In our daily lives, when and how do we fit time in for self-care? What does that even mean? In common sense terms, self-care is doing at least one daily activity to take care of ourselves. We want to be the example of well-being in our homes and like Brene Brown said, “Talk to yourself like you would someone you love.” Below are tips through recordings and articles to help us with that.
Great List of Activities for Ourselves as Caregivers – Still looking for some tips or activities on self-care? This list will help!
Practical Video on Self-Care – This video takes less than a minute to watch, yet has useful information on how we can reset and recharge with a few activities each day.
Self-Care for Caregivers of Young Children – Here is another article with tips for parents and caregivers. What are things we can do when we have young children in our home? This shows us some ways.
Taking Care of Ourselves – We can take care of others after taking care of ourselves. This article lists ways we can and also how to help start a discussion with loved ones in our home.
SEL and Distant/Virtual Learning
10 Ways Parents can Bring Social-Emotional Learning Home – For parents unsure how to navigate through these uncertain times, this link lists 10 tips that families can follow while being remote to improve their emotional skills.
Digital Well-Being Guidelines for Parents During the COVID-19 Pandemic – This page includes tips on how parents/caregivers can teach their children to be responsible on social media platforms.
Resources for Families and Parents – This link provides a detailed list of SEL and Self Care resources for parents related to distant learning due to COVID. Some of these include free workshops/activities, E-learning tools, and educational apps to help your kid stay focused.
SEL and COVID – To develop new strategies for keeping parents and their communities healthy, this resource has a list of suggestions that address things such as how to acknowledge children during this time, how to use appropriate conversations, and how to provide consistent routines.
Social-Emotional Learning Fact-Sheets – This link features 10 one-page fact-sheets designed to provide tips for a variety of social and emotional learning needs.
Supporting Mental Health at Home with SEL – This page provides a great list of remote learning resources that can improve mental health such as activities, worksheets, resources for families, and positive feeling prompts/tutorials.
Home Activities for All Ages
Connecting with family members is an important step in a child’s social-emotional learning. These are simple activities that can help change the course of a life. Don’t try and do them all at once. Take them step-by-step to watch your family transform.
Acts of Service – How good does it feel to do things for others? This is a free site that will give you ideas on how to do even small things for others. Make a commitment to do one a week, or one a month! Start small!
Book club with your own kids – One way to get to know the kids in your home is to find out what they like reading. Take a step back and let them pick the book. Everyone takes turns reading and talking about it! Enjoy getting to know them, and you may end up liking the book as well!
Cooking together – Cooking together can be a great activity if you are looking for something to do at home. Follow this link for a short video on beginning cooking.
Daily Gratitude Journal – Gratitude is a powerful human emotion. Writing down even three things that we are thankful for every day helps us stay positive. Do this with your family each day and you can even make it a tradition. When someone is having a rough day, read over the things you have all written down as reminders.
Journaling – This activity is great for boosting the social-emotional learning skills of any child in your home. Here is a link for a site to store the journal.
Listen! – This short video talks about how to be an active listener! We are all tired, exhausted, and stressed out. Truly listening can make all the difference to a child.
Take a Nature Walk – Free and Fun! Taking a walk is so great for our moods and health. Pretty much guaranteed to brighten even the sourest teenager’s mood! Also, this will tire kids out and help them sleep better. We all know kids need good sleep!
Traditions – The first activity we have is on creating traditions in the home. This can be something as simple as having spaghetti every Thursday! Traditions create bonds and those are so important in the life of any child or adult.
Other Ideas
- Make a Tik Tok with your teen! Have fun!
- Play video games with the kids. Yes, you may be terrible but doing the things they love with them shows that you care about connecting!
- Chore Chart – It might not fit with the other “fun” activities, but it’s essential to the growth of our social-emotional health! Here is a list of age-appropriate chores! Good luck!