Relationship Skills Teaching Resources
Help students build their relationship skills this school year with activities, games and more resources designed to support the CASEL framework and your lesson plans.
This collection of elementary and middle 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 behaviors 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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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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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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Whole Body Listening Poster Pack
Print a Whole Body Listening Poster Pack to highlight the characteristics of a good listener.
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Find a Friend - Intermediate Back to School Activity
Play a back-to-school find-a-friend game for students to get to know their classmates.
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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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Social Skills Lessons - Cooperation Worksheets
Teach your students how to show cooperation with a set of printable SEL worksheets.
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What is Cooperation?- Tessellation Art Project
Engage your students in practicing the art of cooperation by having them create a collaborative tessellation project.
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What is Cooperation? Cut and Paste Worksheet
Explore the difference between cooperative and non-cooperative behavior with this cut and paste worksheet.
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Friendship Writing Prompts
Encourage positive relationships by using our friendship writing prompts in your classroom.
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Having a Conversation Social Story
Build confidence in your students by using this Conversation Skills Social Story printable booklet.
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Printable Bracelets – Celebrate Diversity!
Celebrate diversity with your students by creating and coloring printable bracelets that feature meaningful diversity words and promote inclusivity and friendship.
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Big Problem or Little Problem? – Sorting Activity
Use our Big Problem vs. Little Problem activity cards and worksheets to help your students learn to manage peer relationships in the classroom.
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Best Friend Wanted Poster Template
Use our Best Friend Wanted Poster Template to spark new friendships at the beginning of the year.
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How to Make Friends Social Story
Learn the different ways you can make friends with this how to make friends social story.
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Oral Language Activities
Share these oral language activities with your students to help them practice listening to others, expressing opinions, receiving instructions, and more!
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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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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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Good Listener Anchor Charts
Use these anchor charts to teach your students how to be good listeners.
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Printable Anti-Bullying Posters
Decorate your classroom and school during National Bullying Prevention Month with printable Anti-Bullying Posters!
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Cooperation Puzzles - Team-Building Activity
Explore the benefits of cooperation with a tangram-style team-building activity.
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Mini Classroom Mailbox Template
Use this mini classroom mailbox template in a variety of ways.
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Buddy Program Activity Task Cards
Encourage cooperation and inspire new friendships with a set of printable task cards for buddy activities.
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Interview Shuffle — Classroom Community Building Interactive Slides
Help your students get to know each other with a Back to School Interview Shuffle icebreaker activity.
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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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Cooperation Paper Chain
Work as a team to create a paper chain to serve as a reminder of the effects of cooperation.
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Team Building Games – Upper Grades
Encourage communication and cooperation with this set of 10 team-building games.
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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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Find Someone Who Bingo Boards - Grades 1-2
Play our Find Someone Who Bingo Game for K-2 students to get to know their classmates.
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I Can Be Cooperative Sort
Practice personal and social skills to cooperate and interact respectfully with others with an engaging sorting activity.
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My Cooperation Sticker Chart - Printable
Promote and reward cooperative behavior with a pack of printable cooperation sticker charts.
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We Can Cooperate Mini Book
Read to learn about cooperative behavior with a printable one-page foldable mini book.
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Is It Cooperative? Social Skills Activity
Explore the difference between cooperative and non-cooperative behavior with a sorting activity.