Social skills worksheets
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Social skills worksheets can be helpful tools that therapists can use to support clients in strengthening their communication skills.
This guide to social skills includes examples of activities to strengthen social skills and information about the importance of developing these social awareness skills.
It also includes tips for using the social skills worksheet that you can download at the top of this article.
Importance of social skills
Social skills are the acquired behaviors and abilities to interact effectively with others and understand social situations, which is why using social skills worksheets for young clients can be helpful.
An important aspect of early childhood development, social skills enable children to:
Learn effective communication
Social skills help children develop language skills to interact with others, relate to them, and respond appropriately.
For example, they learn to read and process verbal and nonverbal messages, enabling them to understand others' emotions, feelings, and behaviors, and anticipate specific responses.
Make friends and build strong relationships
Children with developed social skills are better able to make friends and learn other essential social skills, such as empathy, kindness, the importance of sharing, and setting and respecting boundaries.
Achieve academic success
Children with strong social skills may have better educational outcomes and future opportunities.
Problem solve
Social skills can help children learn the language to resolve differences and conflicts with their friends.
Understand social norms
Social abilities help children understand and respond to social standards, such as dressing and behaving appropriately in different environments or situations and maintaining appropriate interpersonal distance.
Develop self-esteem and confidence
Positive social experiences can enhance self-esteem, provide a sense of belonging, and help children feel valued and accepted.
These positive social experiences can also boost self-confidence, which may lead to taking social risks, such as initiating new friendships and joining new groups.
Improve mental health outcomes
Social competence is helpful for communicating effectively, expressing and meeting social needs, and feeling social connectedness.
Deficits in social skills earlier in life are linked to mental health issues and developmental disorders.
Social skills activities
The social skills activities worksheets include tips to build this skill for both children and adults.
Here are a few examples of activities in the social skills worksheets:
Social awareness worksheets
The activity in this social skills worksheet can help children recognize different feelings and read non-verbal cues.
Using an emotion faces chart, ask the child to link the appropriate feeling to the facial expression.
Activity for toddlers
This activity included in the social skills worksheets involves teaching young children how to get someone’s attention appropriately, taking turns, sharing, and using names to address others:
- Have children sit in a circle.
- One child picks another by saying their name and passing the ball/toy.
- Continue until all children have had a turn.
Activity for adults
This activity is for practicing small talk:
- Go to a community or work networking event.
- Approach participants at a networking event.
- Use these prompts to guide the conversation:
- Introduce yourself with your name.
- Ask open-ended questions (e.g., “What brings you to this event?” and “What do you enjoy about your work?”).
- Practice active listening by reflecting on what you’ve heard.
- Rotate partners and repeat the activity to practice with different individuals.
Activity for teens
This activity involves taking a social quiz to strengthen social bonds, build rapport, and develop active listening skills:
- In a group setting, ask each participant to write down three facts about themselves on a slip of paper, including one unique fact.
- Collect the information and draw one slip randomly.
- Read a fact and have the group guess who it belongs to. If they’re unsure, provide additional clues.
Social cues worksheets
Help children recognize and respond appropriately to different social cues with the following activity:
- Present the following scenarios and ask participants to interpret the social cues:
- A teacher frowns while handing back a graded assignment.
- Someone yawns during a conversation.
- A friend rolls their eyes after hearing a joke.
- Discuss appropriate responses for each situation, asking the child:
- What might the person be feeling?
- How would you respond in this situation?
Using the social skills worksheets
You can download and use the social skills worksheets in several ways.
Therapists can use the social skills worksheet in family sessions to demonstrate skills that the family might practice at home. Or, you could use the handout when working with an adult struggling with their social skills.
The social skills worksheets also provide prompts to help clients understand social strengths and deficits.
Sources
- American Psychological Association. (2018). Social skills. APA Dictionary of Psychology.
- Dall, M., Fellinger, J., & Holzinger, D. (2022). The link between social communication and mental health from childhood to young adulthood: A systematic review.
- Dewar, G. (2024). Evidence-based social skills activities for children and teens.
- Salavera, C., & Usán, P. (2021). Relationship between Social Skills and Happiness: Differences by Gender. International journal of environmental research and public health.
- Soto-Icaza, P., Aboitiz, F., & Billeke, P. (2015). Development of social skills in children: neural and behavioral evidence for the elaboration of cognitive models.
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