Social Awareness Teaching Resources
Help your students build social awareness skills with activities and printables, social skills worksheets and more SEL teaching resources created by teachers specifically for elementary and middle school students.
This collection is full of digital and printable activities created by the expert teachers of the Teach Starter team to help teachers as they work with students on being more socially aware, recognize social cues, understand social dynamics and treat the people around them with kindness and courtesy.
Each teaching resource in this social awareness teaching resource collection has undergone rigorous review by the Teach Starter team to ensure it's ready for the classroom ... and your students!
Curious about teaching social awareness and wondering how to build students' social skills? Read on for some tips from our expert teachers!
What Is Social Awareness? A Kid-Friendly Definition
Being socially aware is not something that comes naturally to every child, and explaining what social awareness means can be tough. Our teacher team has created this kid-friendly definition to help!
Social awareness is understanding how other people feel and what they need. When we are socially aware, we notice how others are doing, and we make an effort to be kind and helpful to them.
Social awareness also means paying attention to the rules and ways people behave in different situations.
Being socially aware means we are more sensitive to the feelings of people around us, and we can then use our social skills — such as the ability to be kind, to listen and to cooperate – to work with others. It means we can empathize with others, understand diverse perspectives and navigate social interactions effectively.
Social Awareness Examples for Kids
Now that you've explained the social awareness meaning, it helps to explore what it actually looks like when you put it into practice. Many of your students may have at least some skills already at hand — depending on the individual student and grade level.
A kindergartner, for example, may show empathy by giving a crying friend a hug or sharing a toy, but they're typically not yet able to understand that people have different perspectives.
So how can your students show they're socially aware? Let's look at some kid-friendly social awareness examples!
- Taking turns on the playground or at the water fountain.
- Sharing crayons or gluesticks with classmates.
- Making eye contact with friends when they're speaking.
- Paying attention when a teacher is speaking and not interrupting.
- Collaborating with classmates to complete a group assignment.
- Using conflict resolution skills to address issues with a friend.
- Offering to help the gym teacher put away the basketballs or helping the school librarian shelve the books that have been left out by other students.
What Is the Difference Between Self Awareness and Social Awareness?
We teach students both self awareness and social awareness in elementary and middle school, and the two relate to one another as important aspects of emotional intelligence.
But where social awareness is focused outward on the emotions, perspectives and needs of others, self awareness focuses inward on recognizing those concepts in oneself.
Social Awareness and Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is an umbrella term that involves a number of the core components of a social emotional learning curriculum — including self awareness, self management and relationship management, as well as social awareness.
So how does social awareness specifically tie back to emotional intelligence? Being emotionally intelligent involves not just recognizing emotions in one's self but in others — the basic component of social awareness for our students.
Take social dynamics, for example. Understanding the social dynamics at play in a particular situation is a big part of being socially aware. Recognizing group norms, cultural differences and power dynamics all help our students to avoid causing offense or discomfort in others. It's a great example of having the emotional intelligence required to navigate a situation!
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Kindness Mini-Book (10 Reasons to be Kind)
Explore all of the reasons to be kind with your students using this mini-book template.
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Empathy Word Search
Introduce or review vocabulary terms related to empathy with this free word search worksheet.
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Kind or Unkind Cut-and-Paste Worksheet
Explore kind and unkind scenarios with your students using this engaging cut-and-paste worksheet.
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Listening to Others – Discussion Task Cards and Poster
Give students the opportunity to work on their listening skills and learn what it means to be a good listener with this set of 42 discussion cards and classroom poster.
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Showing Empathy Mini-Book
Empower young minds and hearts with the gift of empathy! Download this free SEL mini-book designed for primary students.
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Calming Down Mini-Book
Help your students to keep calm when they are experiencing heightened emotions with this social story mini-book.
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ABC's of Gratefulness - A to Z Gratitude List
Make a list of things to be grateful for with a printable A to Z gratitude list template.
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Nature-Inspired Gratitude Writing Prompt Sheets
A set of 5 nature-inspired gratitude prompt sheets.
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Negativity Free Zone Sign
Negativity Free Zone Sign.
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Sprinkle Kindness - Bulletin Board Set
Get your students reflecting on ways to show kindness with this interactive bulletin board!
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Our Kindness Rock Garden Poster
Poster to display when creating a classroom kindness rock garden.
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Let's Be Grateful! - Thanksgiving Game for Kids
Roll, write, and share what youre thankful this year with a printable Thanksgiving game for kids.
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Kindness Word Search
Download a printable word search about kindness for elementary school to explore this important aspect of social awareness with your students.
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Being a Good Friend – Mini-Book
Learn how to be a good friend and maintain relationships with this printable social skills book.
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Examining Female Gender Stereotypes PowerPoint
A 14 slide editable PowerPoint template to use when examining female gender stereotypes with your students.
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Random Acts of Kindness Paper Fortune Teller
Choosing random acts of kindness couldn't be more fun than with this paper fortune teller template!
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Staying on Task Mini-Book
Review different strategies for on-task behavior with this printable mini-book.
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Circle of Kindness Affirmations for Kids Templates
Promote kindness and boost morale with individual affirmations for kids with our Circle of Kindness affirmation activity.
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Making Good Choices Mini-Book
Help your students develop strategies for making good choices with this printable social story mini-book.
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Words of Gratitude-Thanksgiving Message Cards
Help your students words of gratitude for teachers with set of printable thankful message cards.
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A Walk in My Shoes – Empathy Task Cards
Use these empathy scenario cards with your students when teaching them about social awareness.
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Everyday Empathy Interactive Game
Download this interactive game and help your students practice identifying emotions and understanding how others feel.
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Cooperation Social Stories - Interactive Activity
Help your students differentiate between uncooperative and cooperative behavior in social situations with an interactive activity.
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Sprinkle Kindness Activity Book Template
Encourage students to write about ways to be kind to people and the planet with a printable sprinkle kindness activity book.
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Kindness Words - Word Wall
Print a set of kindness word cards to use during your social-emotional learning lessons.
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Kindness Tracker Jar
Track kindness in the classroom with this kindness jar ready to be colored in with random acts of kindness.
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Kindness Word Scramble
Use this Kindness Word Scramble worksheet to talk about the different words associated with being kind
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World Kindness Day Craft Activity - Bee Kind Template
Build a beautiful World Kindness Day Bee with a writing and craft template.
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World Kindness Day Craft - Stick with Kindness
Discuss the importance of kindness and explore why we should ‘stick with kindness’ with this writing and craft activity.
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Kindness Hat Template
Use this printable kindness hat to celebrate Random Acts of Kindness Day or World Kindness Day in the classroom!
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Choose KINDNESS - Bulletin Board Display
Remind your students to choose KINDNESS with this interactive bulletin board display.
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Kindness Award for Students Pack
Reward kindness in the classroom with four styles of printable kindness certificates that celebrate thoughtful acts among your students and the environment.
- Social Awareness Templates
- Social Awareness Posters
- Social Awareness Worksheets
- Social Awareness for Pre-K
- Social Awareness for Kindergarten
- Social Awareness for 1st Grade
- Social Awareness for 2nd Grade
- Social Awareness for 3rd Grade
- Social Awareness for 4th Grade
- Social Awareness for 5th Grade
- Social Awareness for 6th Grade