Winter SEL Bundles of Activities to Teach Character Education

Inside: Use this Winter SEL Bundle to teach social-emotional learning and character education during the winter months.

We used to live in a part of the country where there was really only one season. So when we taught the seasons to students, we really had to read a lot of books and bring in realia to really help them understand the concepts of things like snow and changing of the seasons.

But teaching about the seasons and the changes each one brings not only helps students understand weather patterns and the passage of time, they also help them understand the world around them.

And each seasonal theme makes learning in our classrooms more fun and engaging. When we can use these themes to teach harder subjects in fun, hands-on ways, our kids don’t even realize they’re learning.

And when we can theme our activities and our centers and our homework with high-interest themes for each month, our students will be more engaged and ready to learn.

So to teach social emotional learning (SEL) and character education in a fun, hands-on way through December, January and February, you will love this Winter SEL Bundle, perfect for helping kids decide what is kind and what is not kind as the days move to freezing and snow starts to fall.

Why It’s Important to Teach Social Emotional Learning

Teaching Social Emotional Learning is an essential part of any curriculum because if we’re teaching the whole student, we can’t just focus on reading, writing, and math.

We have to focus on turn taking, and fair play, kindness, and being includers.

But social-emotional learning has so many more benefits than simply teaching about kindness.

It also improves our students’ self-confidence, self esteem, problem-solving skills, emotional intelligence and encourages kids to be more helpful, compassionate, generous, and grateful.

There are tons of ways to teach Social Emotional Learning and make it fun.

To connect SEL to reading skills, we can use this Emergent Reader Bundle.

To connect SEL to the alphabet and letter recognition we can use this Kindness Zoo Bundle.

To connect SEL to gross motor skills we can play these Kindness Games.

And to connect SEL to the seasons, we can use this Winter SEL Bundle.

What’s Included in the Winter SEL Bundle:

This Winter Bundle includes 6 Kindness Activities:

Snowmen Kind Or Unkind Sort
Kindness Snowmen Craft and Creative Writing
Hot Cocoa Kind Or Unkind Sort
Kindness Hot Cocoa Craft and Creative Writing
Mittens Kind Or Unkind Sort
Kindness Mittens Craft and Creative Writing

Resources Included in the Seasonal SEL Bundle for Winter:

24 snowmen with kindness or unkindness clipart in color
24 snowmen with kindness or unkindness clipart in black and white
24 mittens with kindness or unkindness clipart in color
24 mittens with kindness or unkindness clipart in black and white
24 hot cocoa mugs with kindness or unkindness clipart in color
24 hot cocoa mugs with kindness or unkindness clipart in black and white
Kind and Unkind sorting mats in color and black and white for the activity
3 Kindness worksheets to help kids show what they know and determine what is kind and what is not kind in color and black and white
21 writing sheets: 3 for early writers/prewriters and 3 for writers, themed for winter.
small snowmen in color to draw on
small snowmen in color to write on
small snowmen in black and white to draw on
large snowman in black and white to draw on
large snowman in black and white to write on
small mittens in color to draw on
small mittens in color to write on
small mittens in black and white to draw on
large mitten in black and white to draw on
large mitten in black and white to write on
small hot cocoa mugs in color to draw on
small hot cocoa mugs in color to write on
small hot cocoa mugs in black and white to draw on
large hot cocoa mugs in black and white to draw on
large hot cocoa mugs in black and white to write on
ideas to display kindness crafts, publish writing, and connect to listening and speaking skills

How to Use the Resources in the Winter SEL Bundle:

For Each of the Kind or Unkind Sorts:

1. Purchase and print out the version you wish to use: color or black and white.

2. If you use the black and white version, color the cards using these skin color crayons so the kids on the characters are as diverse as your students.

3. Cut apart the cards (snowmen, hot cocoa mugs, mittens) and laminate them for durability.

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 item (coats, fireplaces, snowy scene).

They can do this in small groups during centers, independently, or you can do it as a whole group in a pocket chart.

If there are too many cards, you can only give students half the cards at once so they are more successful.

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

Students will cross off or circle the actions on the worksheet. If you use black and white version, students can color in the images that are kind and x off the images that are unkind.

7. To connect this sel curriculum to writing skills, students can draw a picture/write how they will choose to be kind this summer. If

students are prewriters, they can dictate their answer and draw a picture.

For the Craft and Prints:

1. Print out the version you wish to use: color or black and white on construction paper or cardstock. If you print in black and white, encourage kids to color.

2. Students can get one or more of the smaller items (mittens, snowmen, hot cocoa mugs) to cut and color.

Encourage them to write or draw or dictate how they can show more kindness. As a group, you can brainstorm ideas ahead of time.

3. Display the kindness crafts in your class:

make a winter scene on your bulletin board out of construction paper and attach their crafts to it.
punch two holes at the top of each snowman, hot cocoa mug, and mitten and place string through both holes to make a garland that can be hung up on a wall or across a room.
bind the large snowmen, hot cocoa mugs, and mittens into a classroom book to put in your classroom library.
use them as a table or desk decoration for your Winter Holiday Party.
laminate them onto placemats for snacktime/lunch.

4. To connect with writing skills even further, students can write or draw on the creative writing journal pages. These can also be added to a classroom book.

5. To connect with listening and speaking skills, students can “present” and share their kindness snowmen, mittens, and hot cocoa mugs writing with their peers.