Social Cues Teaching Resources

Teach your students how to read social cues with SEL activities worksheets, printables and more for elementary and middle school teachers.

This collection of social awareness resources was developed by teachers, for teachers, with a focus on saving you time on your lesson plans! Explore teaching resources created to help your students pick up on both verbal and non-verbal cues, interpret them and react appropriately.

Looking for tips on teaching students how to pick up on social cues? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!

What Are Social Cues? A Kid-Friendly Definition

Not sure how to explain the meaning of "social cues" to your students? Here's a kid-friendly definition from our teacher team!

Social cues are special signals that people give to each other without using words that can help us understand how they are feeling or what they want.

You can see social cues in things like how someone's face looks and how they move their body or even in how they talk. They let us know when we need to be kind, when we need to listen and when to give someone space.

Paying attention to these cues is important because they can help us be better friends and understand others better.

Social Cues Examples for Kids

Sharing examples of social cues with your students can help make this intangible concept a bit more concrete, so here are a few good examples to share with your class:

1. When someone is smiling, it's a cue that they are probably happy.
2. When someone is frowning, it lets us know they are sad.
3. When someone is feeling shy or nervous, they might avoid making eye contact with other people.
4. Giving a thumbs up is a social cue that lets us know someone approves.
5. When someone speaks softly, it is a cue that they share a secret we know we should not share.
6. If someone is tapping their foot, it can be a cue that they're impatient.

Teaching Kids How to Read Social Cues

Reading social cues is easier for some people than it is for others, but by around preschool age, many students can pick up on basic social cues.

Around age 3 to 5, many kids can recognize simple facial expressions like happiness, sadness and anger. At this stage, many kids also start to notice and respond to others' body language and gestures.

Building on those basic social cue reading skills is something that you can work on in your social and emotional lessons by teaching kids to identify and understand various social cues — such as facial expressions, body language and tone of voice — and working with them to understand how to abide by social norms like waiting your turn on the playground or honoring their classmates' personal space.

As kids approach upper elementary and middle school, many will be better able to understand more complex social cues, including sarcasm, irony and non-literal language.