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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Team Building Games for Upper Grades
Encourage communication and cooperation with a set of 10 team building games.
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Cooperation Puzzles - Teamwork Activity
Explore the benefits of cooperation with a tangram-style team-building activity.
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Picture Puzzles - Team Building Activity
Build classroom community with a set of team-building puzzles for primary students.
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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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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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Race to 50: Cooperation Challenges
Explore the benefits of cooperation with a set of team-building number race activities.
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Good Choice or Bad Choice? Worksheet
Help your students differentiate between good and bad behaviour choices with a cut-and-paste worksheet.
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I Can Be Cooperative - Social Skills Sort
Practise personal and social skills to cooperate and interact respectfully with others with an engaging sorting activity.
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My Cooperation Sticker Chart
Promote and reward cooperative behaviour with a pack of printable cooperation sticker charts.
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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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Is It Cooperative? Sorting Activity
Explore the difference between cooperative and non-cooperative behaviour with a sorting activity.
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Cooperation Task Cards - Social Skills Activity
Build problem-solving skills and boost cooperative behaviour in the classroom with printable discussion cards and writing prompts.
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I Can Show Cooperation Mini Workbook
Help your students understand ways to show cooperation with a printable mini workbook.
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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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Cooperation Cartoons - Social Skills Activity
Encourage cooperation and collaboration in your classroom with a collaborative drawing activity.
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Cooperation Quilt Template
Promote cooperative behaviour amongst your students by engaging them in creating a collaborative Cooperation Quilt project.
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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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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 is Cooperation? SEL Accordion Book
Engage your students in identifying cooperative and non-cooperative behaviours with a printable social-emotional learning accordion 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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Looks Like, Sounds Like, Feels Like - Cooperation Anchor Charts
Teach your students what cooperation looks, feels, and sounds like with a set of printable posters.
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Cooperation Station - SEL & Character Education Craft
Make your classroom a better “space” with cooperative learning and a fun Cooperation Station craft!
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Ways to Show Cooperation Poster and Worksheet
Learn ways to show cooperation with a printable poster and accompanying worksheet pack.
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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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Five Finger Forgiveness – Poster and Writing Activity
Teach your students how to forgive others in order to keep and maintain relationships with this poster and writing prompt.
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Cooperation Cause and Effect Worksheet
Discover the effects of uncooperative behaviour with a cause-and-effect worksheet.
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Cooperation Word Splash and Acrostic Poem
Discuss cooperation with your students and write an acrostic poem wih a printable word splash worksheet and poem template.
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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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What is Cooperation? Cut and Paste Worksheet
Explore the difference between cooperative and non-cooperative behaviour with this cut-and-paste worksheet.
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Cooperation Certificate - Good Character Award Template
Celebrate your students' cooperative behaviour by awarding them a personalized Cooperation Award.
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Cooperation Word Search
Review vocabulary and boost your students’ cooperative interaction skills with a word search worksheet.