Friendship Lessons for Elementary Students

Discover fun and engaging friendship lessons for elementary students.

Teaching friendship and social skills in K-2 classrooms is crucial for fostering kind, confident children who feel connected and supported. I truly believe that these foundational years are a golden opportunity to model empathy, cooperation, and respect. Skills, I’m sure you would agree, will last a lifetime.

5 Essential Friendship Lessons

1. What Makes a Good Friend?

In the same way, we as adults can easily decipher kindness in others, so can our students. They can easily recognize positive qualities in friends (kindness, honesty, listening, helping).

Have conversations with your students by asking them: “What do you think makes someone a good friend?”

Invite responses like:

shares with me or others,
plays nicely,
says sorry,
helps me when I’m sad.
kindness

List these on a chart under headings, such as for example:

qualities of a good friend,
a true friend
a kind friend

Read-Aloud:

Another great way to discuss a good friend is through read-alouds.

You can opt in to read a picture book such as:

Pause to spotlight kindness, caring, and emotional awareness.

After your story, return to your chart and ask your students:

“Which action is most important?” or
“How does it feel when someone listens?”

Through these questions, your students will learn to internalize qualities like empathy and cooperation.

Friendship Portrait Collage

For a hands-on approach, you can direct your students to create a friendship portrait collage.

Each student draws themselves in the center of a paper plate.
Around the edges, they paste words from provided cutouts or draw symbols representing the qualities of a good friend. Perhaps hearts for love, hands for helping, ears for listening, etc.
Once your students are done, they can showcase their work to their friends.

2. Listening & Including Others

Have your students practice active listening and inclusive behavior.

You can play a simple listening game where one child whispers a message in one ear, passes it around, and compares the final statement to the original. Then talk about how messages, like feelings, can change if we don’t listen carefully.

Listening Pairs

Pair up your students. Instruct one of them to share a brief story (favorite game, pet, weekend fun).
The listener practices active listening, then shares back what they heard.
Kids switch roles and reflect: “How did it feel when someone really listened to you?”

Inclusion Circle

Sit in a circle. One child stands in the middle and says, “One thing I like is playing tag.”
Others who also like tag step in and say, “Me, me!”
The student in the middle invites someone new to join their group, emphasizing inclusion.

3. Caring Through Kindness

SHOP THESE WORKSHEETS ON TPT

Students perform intentional acts of kindness and reflect on the impact.

You can read aloud Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson to showcase caring and empathy in action.

Once you’re done, ask your students questions such as: -“What could you do to make someone feel better when they’re sad?” You can also list ideas for them if they are struggling to come up with their own.

Here are a few suggestions.”

“Ask them if they are OK?”,
Offer a friend a seat.
Share crayons, books, etc with them.
Give a kind note or drawing.
Tell them a joke to make them smile.
Include them in the game you are playing.

Kindness worksheets and certification

You can consider using these kindness worksheets, activities, and certification with your students as part of your lesson as well. They are perfect for building social-emotional skills during morning meetings, in small group counseling sessions, or as part of a classroom SEL routine.

4. Resolving Conflict Peacefully

Help your students learn to solve disagreements respectfully, using words, calm voices.

You can teach this by asking your students, “What should we do if someone takes our crayon?”

Guide responses toward talking it out. How about we ask them or tell them:

“Can I borrow that, please?”

or “It’s upsetting when you…”

Role-Play Activity

Provide conflict cards (“She cut in line,” “He won’t share the toy,” etc.)
In pairs, children act out the scenario, practicing the four steps.
Rotate roles so each child tries being both upset and a calmer conversationalist.

5. Celebrating Friendship: Certificates & Reflections

Have your students reflect on their growth and celebrate caring, loving friendships.

Certificate Ceremony

Use your friendship activity pack to celebrate your students for being good friends. And don’t forget to pair this certificate with applause and high-fives.

Reflection Journals

This activity pack includes journaling prompts, drawing, and coloring activities to help students distinguish what makes a good friend and what makes a “not so good friend.”

These worksheets are ideal for your friendship lesson plans, building your classroom community, or social-emotional learning lessons.

SHOP THESE FRIENDSHIP ACTIVITIES ON TPT

Bringing Lessons Across the Week

Here’s a little lesson plan map for the week that you can consider implementing:

Monday:
Introduce Lesson 1 + create Friendship Portraits.

Tuesday:
Revisit friendship qualities, read, and listen in pairs.

Wednesday:
Focus on kindness: story, kindness worksheets, and kindness cards.

Thursday:
Conflict resolution + role plays.

Friday:
Friendship worksheets, certificates, and a friendly celebration.

Why Friendship Lessons Matter in K-2?

Emotional Development – Kids learn to identify and express feelings: empathy, joy, and frustration very early on in life.

Social Skills & School Climate – When students know how to listen, resolve conflict, and include others, overall respect and belonging flourish.

Academic Benefits – Research has linked strong social skills with better focus, improved academic performance, and long-term success.

Empowerment – Friendship certificates and positive recognition build confidence and motivation. Our Kids want to continue being good friends!

Classroom Tips & Adaptations

For younger students (K) – Use stick figures and symbol-based words in journals; role-play more than writing.

For older students (2nd grade) – Encourage writing three-sentence reflections; include real conflict examples (“It’s hard when my friend…”) and problem-solving steps.

Differentiation – Some children may need visual cues or adult scaffolding. Promote peer mentoring, older buddies guide younger ones in activities.

Classroom Posters – Display “Friendship Rules.” Kind words, hands to help, solve conflicts with words, and include others for daily visual reminders.

School-Wide Extension – Encourage other teachers to work on friendship building simultaneously. A whole-school Friendship Week builds community!

Friendship Lessons For Elementary Students

Friendship lessons aren’t extras!

They’re a classroom cornerstone.

By teaching kindness, empathy, inclusion, listening, and conflict resolution, we equip students not just academically, but socially and emotionally.

Whether your students are building a friendship collage, delivering a kindness card, acting out a conflict, or proudly holding their “Good Friend” certificate.

I assure you that every moment is teaching them to foster trust, empathy, and joy in relationships.

It all starts small: a smile, a listening ear, a helping hand, and quickly grows into a ripple effect that shapes a child’s life profoundly.

Let’s Help Children Grow Together!

Grab the friendship activities pack for ready-to-use lessons.
Celebrate each child’s kindness with certificates and peer applause.
Share stories from your classroom with parents, families, and colleagues.

Together, we can teach kindness and give children the tools they need to make friends, solve problems, and carry compassion into the future.

Pin These Friendship Activities For K-2

Make sure to save these friendship activities for elementary students to your Pinterest account so that you can easily find them when needed. And while on Pinterest, please consider following me. I would absolutely appreciate it!

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