What Are Social Cues?

Social cues are nonverbal and verbal cues that people use to communicate with others and convey their emotions, intentions, and attitudes. Social cues are nonverbal and verbal cues that people use to communicate with others and convey their emotions, intentions, and attitudes. Some examples of social cues include:

• Facial expressions
• Body language
• Tone of voice
• Hand signs

When children understand how to “read” different social cues, this can provide important information about how someone is feeling or what they are thinking. This indirect form of communication can help students determine how to interact with others in order to build and maintain healthy relationships.

Social Cues – Examples for Kids

Teach Starter has created a simple poster and worksheet you can use with the students in your classroom when discussing different ways people express their feelings. With this resource, students will complete the writing worksheet by looking at each image and using social cues they learned from the poster. They are to write the emotion they think the child is feeling and reasons why they think by pointing out social cues they notice.

This resource aims to help students learn about social cues and apply what is taught through the social cues poster.

Tips for Differentiation + Scaffolding 

A team of dedicated, experienced educators created this resource to support your social emotional lessons. 

If you have a mixture of above and below-level learners, check out these suggestions for keeping students on track with the concepts: 

🆘 Support Struggling Students

Allow students to work in pairs and write only one reason for each emotion. Allow the student to write the emotion the child is feeling and circle parts of the image that give them clues as to their emotion.

➕ Challenge Fast Finishers

Allow students to work independently and write multiple reasons for each written response. Allow students to create and act out a scenario for each emotion displayed on the page.

Easily Prepare This Resource for Your Students

Use the dropdown icon on the Download button to choose between the PDF or editable Google Slides version of this resource.

Print the poster on cardstock for added durability and longevity.

This resource was created by Lisamarie Del Valle, a teacher in Florida and a Teach Starter Collaborator.