Social skills are essential for children to build positive relationships, understand social cues, and interact effectively with others. In OT, social skills development focuses on helping children learn foundational communication skills, such as taking turns, making eye contact, recognizing emotions, and listening actively. We also work on perspective-taking to learn how to think about what others are thinking, which is a critical skill. The most fun way to work on social skills in therapy is by playing with others, so we do a lot of games, collaborative projects, and large group activities to help work on social skills in a naturally occurring way. If a child joins a group activity with their peers, their individual therapist is right there to provide the just right level of support to help them learn the skills to be successful in a group. Through these activities, children develop better emotional awareness, impulse control, and problem-solving abilities, which can help them feel more confident and connected in social situations. Programs like The Zones of Regulation and Social Thinking may be used in therapy to help children understand and manage their emotions, as well as learn appropriate social responses. 

Activities to Complete at Home: 

1. Board Games – Play games that require taking turns and following rules, like Candy Land or Uno. Model how to respond appropriately to loss or disappointment.  As your child builds skills in this area, make sure you don’t always let them win so they can practice how to respond to disappointment in a safe environment at home.
2. Emotion Charades – Act out different emotions and have your child guess them, then talk about times they might feel that way.
3. Conversation Starters – Use cards or questions to practice starting conversations and taking turns speaking.
4. Role-Playing Scenarios – Act out social situations, such as introducing yourself, asking for help, or handling disappointment.
5. Playdates or Family Gatherings – Set up small, guided social interactions where your child can practice conversation and play skills.
6. Listening Games – Play games like Simon Says or Red Light, Green Light to encourage listening and following directions.
7. Puppet Shows – Create short puppet skits to model social skills like sharing or apologizing, and let your child act out their own.
8. Make a Social Story Book – Create a book with stories about handling situations like sharing, meeting new people, or playing fairly.
9. Compliment Circle – Take turns giving each other compliments to encourage kindness and positive interactions.
10. Cooking Together – Work together to follow a recipe, take turns, and communicate about who will do which steps.
11. “I Spy” Emotional Cues – Practice reading facial expressions by “spying” different emotions in people around you or in photos.
12. Storytelling Prompts – Take turns adding sentences to a story to encourage creativity, cooperation, and taking turns.
13. Emotion Check-Ins – Have daily conversations about feelings and discuss different ways to handle emotions.
14. Help a Family Member – Assign your child a helpful task, like setting the table or helping a sibling, to build empathy and cooperation.
15. Build Together – Use building toys like blocks or LEGO to work on collaborative play, sharing ideas, and problem-solving together.
16. Play “20 Questions” – Take turns asking questions and guessing answers to encourage listening and curiosity about others.
17. Practicing Greetings and Goodbyes – Role-play greeting friends, introducing oneself, and saying goodbye politely.
18. Create “People Files” – For different friends or peers, create fun decorated pages with information about that person such as their likes or dislikes, their family, or other fun things you know about them.  This encourages social “wondering” about others, and helps store information in your “People File” so that you can make connections and ask questions about things that matter to that friend.
19. Draw and Describe – Draw or paint pictures and take turns describing what you created to practice expressing ideas and listening.
20. Scavenger Hunt in Pairs – Pair up for a scavenger hunt at home or outside, encouraging teamwork, communication, and turn-taking.