Social Emotional Learning Centers Games: Kind or Unkind Sorts

Inside: Use these kind or unkind sorts as social emotional learning centers games perfect to help kids understand what is kind and what is not.

When I taught elementary school, every day was all about the centers. It was my students’ favorite part of their day when they could independently work on games or activities.

Their favorite centers were always the games that were themed to the holiday or season.

And while our centers focused on reading and writing, what we really needed to focus on was character education, social emotional learning and kindness.

So I created what I wished I had when I was a teacher: social emotional learning centers games that connect to each holiday and season that my students would have loved to have played.

And we’ve put them all together for you in this Kind or Unkind Sort Mega Bundle with 31 themed kind or unkind sorts.

What’s included in the Kind or Unkind Sort Mega Bundle:

31 Kind or Unkind Sort Social Emotional Learning Centers Games Themes to Use Year Round:

Apple sort
Bee sort
Bunny Peeps sort
Candy Sort
Christmas sort
Cookie sort
Dog sort
Flowers sort
Gingerbread cookie sort
Gumball sort
Hanukkah sort
Hearts sort
Hot cocoa sort
Ice Cream sort
Kites sort
Leaves sort
Lemonade sort
Mittens sort
Pirate Treasure sort
Popcorn sort
Popsicles sort
Pumpkin sort
Rain sort
Shamrock sort
Shark sort
Snowmen sort
Sports sort
Sun sort
Turkey sort
Water splashes sort
Watermelon sort

Each kind or unkind sort comes with:

24 kind and unkind sorting cards in color
24 kind and unkind sorting cards in black and white
Kind or Unkind mats in color
Kind or Unkind mats in black and white
Worksheet to show mastery
Two writing prompts

These are perfect to use year-round through the seasons and holidays to connect social emotional learning to high interest themes students already love:

September: apples

October: pumpkins

November: turkeys and leaves

December: Christmas trees and dreidels and gingerbread cookies

January: mittens and snowmen and hot cocoa

February: hearts

March: shamrocks and kites

April: bunny peeps and rain

May: flowers and bees

June: suns and watermelon

July: popsicles and sharks and lemonade

August: water splashes and ice cream

Year-round/anytime: dogs, sports, popcorn, pirate treasure, gum, candy, cookies

How to use the Kind or Unkind Sort Social Emotional Learning Centers Games:

1. Purchase the Kind or Unkind Sort Mega Bunde and choose which sort you want to start with, depending on what season you’re in.

2.Print and laminate the action cards and the Kind or Not Kind Mats. If you print them in black and white, you can color in the cards first.

Offer kids skin color crayons so the clipart has diverse kiddos.

3. Cut apart the cards.

4. Go over the pictures on the cards to ensure children understand what the picture depicts. You can use these as discussion starters before or after the activity.

5. The students will sort the cards by kind actions or unkind actions by placing the cards near the correct mat.

They can work in small groups in centers, independently, or as a whole group with a pocket chart.

6. To follow up on the activity, students can complete the worksheet to show their understanding.

7. To connect to writing and language arts studies, draw a picture/write how they will choose to be kind this season. Prewriters can dictate their answers and then draw a picture.