Personal Space and Setting Boundaries

Helping children navigate personal space, when they feel comfortable or uncomfortable and what to do when they feel uncomfortable or unsafe is a tricky concept to teach. This activity bundle has a collection of materials that will support a social and emotional unit plan. This activity bundle includes the following materials:

• Personal space scenario cards for kids.
• Student cards with ‘I feel comfortable’ or ‘I feel uncomfortable’ for them to hold up for each scenario card.
• A page of teacher-directed questions relating to personal space, respect, boundaries, etc.
• A recording sheet for students to complete.
• Vocabulary + definition cards for the following words; boundary, personal space, respect, comfortable, uncomfortable and classmate.
• Sorting mat for students to sort each scenario card into ‘this is okay’ or ‘this is not okay.’

The variety of resources in this download opens up differentiation within the classroom. You may like to do it as a whole class activity, small group activity, or an individual activity.

More Personal Space Activity Ideas

1. Circle time discussion – use the scenario cards in this resource and encourage children to share their thoughts and experiences related to personal space.
2. Storybooks – there are some fantastic storybooks about Personal Space, including ‘Personal Space Camp’ by Julia Cook and ‘The Invisible Boy’ by Trudy Ludwig. After reading one of these books, facilitate discussion about the characters’ experiences and how they handled personal space issues.
3. Role-play – engage children in role-playing scenarios to help them practise asserting their boundaries and responding to uncomfortable situations. You may like to use the scenario cards from this resource for this.
4. Safety Plan activity – guide children in creating a safety plan that outlines what to do when they feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

Download Personal Space Activity Today

Use the dropdown menu to choose between the PDF or editable Google Slide version of this resource.

This resource was created by Lisamarie Del Valle, a Teach Starter Collaborator.

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Social Stories - Personal Space

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