Social skills needed for peer relationships are not always
taught, and children with special needs do not always pick up these skills on
their own. Understanding emotions
is important for an individual and for learning how to interact in peer
groups. Focus on some activities
for special needs children that focus on social and emotional skills.
Emotions Color Wheel
Print out or create an emotions color wheel, which provides
a visual representation of emotions.
Different emotional types, such as “happy” are grouped within a color,
and different variations and saturations of that color show ranges of emotions
from mild to extreme. For example,
“angry” is a saturated red while “aggravated” is paler in color. Extreme emotions like despair, enraged,
hysterical, or exuberant are found in the center of the wheel. Choose an “emotion of the day” and
discuss a definition of that emotion and situations where that emotion might be
experienced; you can even model the emotion through a role-play scenario, which
facilitates social and emotional understanding. To close out the activity, allow each student to draw what
the emotion looks like to them, and it can be concrete or abstract.
Purchase or make a deck of cards that have pictures of
facial expressions and the word of an emotion that fits the expression. You might also want to have a poster
with different emotions and their words.
Do a role-playing guessing game in which a student acts out emotions,
and other students must guess what emotions are being represented. You can also have a child place a
marker or circle an emotion on the poster that explains how they are
feeling. If the emotion is one of
sadness or anger, you might want to express ways of changing those emotions. These activities for special needs
children help match emotions with social cues like facial expressions.
Create a checklist that students can complete about their
school stressors. Use pictures
that correspond with emotions, and students can select from five emotions that
they feel during a given situation.
These activities for special needs children help students discover
social and emotional connections and how certain scenarios might trigger an
emotional response. It also helps
make children aware of their triggers, and you can add lessons to help provide
appropriate responses to triggers, so students can learn coping strategies. Have students complete emotions check
in and check out worksheets in which they write “I feel…” with an emotion and
they write why they feel that way.
After an activity or coping strategy practice, complete the “check out”
portion in which the student writes how they feel and why. The goal of this practice is to see a potential
change in emotions, such as going from feelings of frustration to calm.