Relationship Skills Teaching Resources
Help students build their relationship skills this school year with activities, games and more for your SEL lesson plans.
This collection of primary school teaching resources was created by the expert teachers of Teach Starter for teachers like you to help students build the skills they need to manage relationships with classmates and school staff, as well as those important friendships, family bonds and more out in the real world.
Set your students up for success with team-building activities that promote collaboration and provide opportunities for your students to work together, communicate effectively and solve problems as a team. Explore friendship activities that explore how to be a good friend. Browse printable games that teach students how to resolve conflicts with friends and teammates and a whole lot more.
Are you new to teaching relationship skills, or maybe you're just looking for fresh ideas to help your students manage relationships in your classroom and their lives? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
What Are Relationship Skills?
We're going to start simple here, but bear with us! When it comes to teaching anything, it helps to step back and look at what's at the heart of the topic.
Relationship skills are the abilities and behaviours that enable our students (and ourselves!) to interact effectively with others, build and maintain positive relationships and navigate social situations successfully.
Simple enough, right? Like much of the SEL curriculum, there are a variety of 'skills' that are intertwined here, but these are the core concepts our teacher team considers part of relationship skills:
- Communication
- Friendship
- Empathy
- Cooperation
- Conflict resolution
- Problem-solving
Of course, these will tie back to other topics within SEL. For example, it takes social awareness to show empathy, and it takes decision-making skills to resolve conflict.
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Recess Rules: True Friends – Worksheet
Learn about being a good friend while also brushing up on those reading comprehension skills with this comic strip activity.
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Cooperation Puzzles - Teamwork Activity
Explore the benefits of cooperation with a tangram-style team-building activity.
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Race to 50: Cooperation Challenges
Explore the benefits of cooperation with a set of team-building number race activities.
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Team Building Games for Upper Grades
Encourage communication and cooperation with a set of 10 team building games.
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Find a Friend Who…Worksheet
Encourage students to engage with different classmates and learn about others with this whole-class activity.
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How To Be a Good Friend – Teaching Slides
Learn how to form healthy and long-lasting friendships with this set of teaching slides.
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How to Be a Good Friend – Mini-Book
Encourage students to build relationships by learning how to be a good friend with this printable mini-book.
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Whole Body Listening – Poster and Worksheet
Use this poster and accompanying worksheet to teach your students about whole body listening.
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Conflict Resolution Template
Manage classroom and playground conflicts positively and proactively with this conflict resolution template.
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Cooperation Paper Chain
Work as a team to create a paper chain to serve as a reminder of the importance of cooperation.
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G.R.O.U.P.S - Group Work Expectations Poster
Encourage cooperative behaviour during group work activities with a printable group work mnemonic poster.
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What Good Friends Do – Differentiated Friendship Worksheets
Sort verbs according to if they are friendly or unfriendly interactions with this friendship worksheet.
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Being a Good Friend – Mini-Book
A social story to develop social skills for being a good friend.
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Bullying Role Play Cards
Equip students with anti-bullying strategies with printable role play cards that will help them recognise and respond to different types of bullying.
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We Can Cooperate Mini Book
Read to learn about cooperative behaviour with a printable one-page foldable mini book.
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Friendship Fun! – Board Game
Discuss characteristics of healthy friendships as well as how to repair relationships with a fun and engaging board game.
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Cooperation Tessellation Art Project
Engage your students in practising the art of cooperation by having them create a collaborative tessellation project.
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How to Be a Good Friend Poster
Use this poster to teach your students how to be a good friend to others.
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Cooperation Social Stories - Interactive Activity
Help your students differentiate between uncooperative and cooperative behaviour in social situations with an interactive activity.
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Social Skills Lessons - Cooperation Worksheets
Teach social skills lessons on cooperation with a set of printable SEL worksheets.
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What is Cooperation? - Social Emotional Writing Prompts
Teach your students about cooperative and non-cooperative behaviours with a set of ten writing prompt worksheets.
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Cooperation Word Search
Review vocabulary and boost your students’ cooperative interaction skills with a word search worksheet.
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Forgiving Friends – Social Emotional Learning Activities
Use these social emotional learning activities to encourage students to maintain and repair friendships by forgiving others.
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Conflict Resolution Tips Poster
Display some top tips for solving playground conflicts with this colourful and informative classroom poster.
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Grow a Friendship Garden – Friendship Activities
Encourage students to make a friendship garden grow with this activity bundle that includes friendship worksheets, writing templates, craft templates and scenario cards.
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Friendship Writing Prompts
Encourage positive relationships by using our friendship writing prompts in your classroom.
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Asking My Friends to Play Mini-Book
Learn about appropriate social skills when asking friends to play with this printable mini-book.
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Being a Good Listener Mini-Book
Develop and reinforce appropriate listening skills with this printable social skills mini-book.
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Good Listener Posters
Use this poster to teach your students how to be good listeners.
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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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Sharing with My Friends – Mini-Book
Develop skills and strategies for sharing with others with this printable mini-book.
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Picture Puzzles - Team Building Activity
Build classroom community with a set of team-building puzzles for primary students.