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Relationship Skills

Skills like communicating clearly, listening, cooperation, resisting negative pressure, resolving conflicts, supporting one another

 

As we all settle into new routines – learning from home, working from home (thank you essential workers!), and spending endless hours together in shared spaces – we have a sneaking suspicion you’re experiencing a full range of emotions. We are, too! This is normal, healthy, and expected. So, what better time to intentionally practice – and grow – our social emotional skills?

We’ve put together a list of resources for you and your kids, broken down by grade level. Below you will find a book to read with follow-up questions, discussion prompts for family mealtime, and a hands-on activity – all centered on relationship skills.

We hope these social emotional resources find a place in your new routine and allow you and your family to have fun while checking-in with each other’s emotional health. #We’reAllInThisTogether


For Grades K-2


💡 book to read

 The Crayon Box That Talked by Shane Derolf and Michael Letzig | Read-aloud version

Four Follow-up Questions:

  1. What does the crayon box need to work on in order to be a better team?
  2. What did the crayon box get better at by the end of the story?
  3. What are some ways the crayons could be more kind and caring to one another?
  4. What teams have you been on? What did you do to be a good teammate?

💡Table talk & dinner prompts

Use mealtime intentionally as a check-in time 

  • What is one thing you can do to be a good teammate?
  • What is a compliment you could give to someone else?
  • What is one thing you can do to help out around the house?

💡ACTIVITY

Move It, Move It

Goal: To practice working together, even when it’s tough
Supplies: Miscellaneous items around the house
Instructions:

  1. Explain to your child that you two must work together to get an object from one side of the room to the other.
  2. The trick is that you both can only use one finger to carry the object.
  3. Anything around the house will work as the object but some ideas include a ball, book, or water bottle, etc.
  4. To make this more challenging, you can incorporate obstacles along the way, a bench you have to step over, a towel you have to hop over, a rope to walk on, etc.

For Grades 3-5


💡CLIp to watch

Count on Me by Bruno Mars | Clip here

Four Questions for Follow-Up:

  1. How did this video make you feel?
  2. How do you show your friends that they can count on you?
  3. What are some things you look for in a good friend?
  4. What was the last kind thing a friend did for you?

💡Table talk & dinner prompts

Use mealtime intentionally as a check-in time 

  • What has your best friend done to earn your trust?
  • Give praise to someone else at the table for something they’ve done this past week.
  • Think of a time you were on a team. Tell me something you did to help your team succeed.

💡 ACTIVITY

Thank You Card

Goal: To practice showing gratitude for others
Supplies: Art supplies like paper, markers, crayons, etc.
Instructions:

  1. Help your child think of people they would like to thank and have them write them a thank you card.
  2. This could be a friend or family member; it could also be the helpers during this difficult time, like medical professionals, grocery store workers, or farmers.
  3. Encourage them to include positive feedback in their card that includes what the person did or is doing and how that made them feel.
  4. Help them address the envelope and mail it to the person or take a picture and email it to them.