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Friendship Detectives

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Lesson Plan

Friendship Detectives

Students will learn to identify and respond to peers’ emotions by observing facial expressions, body language, and vocal tone. They will practice empathetic responses and record their observations in their detective journals.

Developing social awareness and empathy at an early age fosters positive peer interactions and a supportive classroom community. This lesson empowers students to notice and respond kindly to friends’ emotions, building interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence.

Audience

Kindergarten Students

Time

30 minutes

Approach

Interactive games, guided discussion, and reflective journal activity.

Materials

Prep

Materials Preparation

5 minutes

Step 1

Hook: Become Friendship Detectives

3 minutes

  • Display badges and ask: “What does a detective do?” Relate to noticing friends’ feelings.
  • Hand out badge printouts; let students color and wear them.
  • Introduce today’s mission: Spot and help friends’ emotions.

Step 2

Game: Emotion Charades

8 minutes

  • Place Emotion Charades Cards face down.
  • Volunteers pick a card and act out the emotion without words.
  • Class guesses the emotion and discusses facial cues and body language.
  • Repeat with several students to practice noticing different feelings.

Step 3

Discussion: Feeling Detective Chat

5 minutes

  • Use Feeling Detective Discussion Slides to show photos of children expressing emotions.
  • Ask: “What do you notice? How is this child feeling? What clues helped you know?”
  • Discuss kind ways to respond to each emotion.

Step 4

Activity: Detective Journals

10 minutes

  • Distribute Detective Journal Template to each student.
  • Ask students to draw a friend (real or imagined) showing an emotion and note the clues they used.
  • Have them write or dictate how they could help that friend.
  • Teachers circulate to support emotion vocabulary and response ideas.

Step 5

Share & Reflect

4 minutes

  • Invite a few students to share their journal pages with the class.
  • Highlight strong detective work: noticing clues and suggesting kind responses.
  • Summarize key lesson: noticing friends’ feelings helps us be better friends.
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Slide Deck

Feeling Detective Chat

Today, we’ll look at mystery photos of friends. Use your detective eyes to find clues about how they’re feeling!

Welcome detectives! Introduce today’s Feeling Detective Chat. Explain: “We’re going to look at some photos of our friends. Use your detective eyes to find clues about how they’re feeling.”

Photo #1: Happy Friend

Image: A child giving a big smile and open posture.

Questions:
• What do you notice about this child?
• How is the child feeling?
• What clues helped you know?

Show the photo of a child smiling cheerfully. Ask students to point out what they notice: the mouth, eyes, posture. Guide them to the idea of happiness.

Photo #2: Sad Friend

Image: A child with a frown and teary eyes.

Questions:
• What do you see here?
• How might this child be feeling?
• What clues help you know?

Display a photo of a child looking downcast with teary eyes. Encourage answers about drooping mouth, tears, slumped shoulders. Reinforce the word “sad.”

Photo #3: Angry Friend

Image: A child with furrowed brows and tight lips.

Questions:
• What do you notice?
• How is this child feeling?
• What clues helped you know?

Show a photo of a child with furrowed brows and clenched jaw or fists. Prompt them to describe tight lips, tense posture. Introduce “angry.”

Photo #4: Surprised Friend

Image: A child with wide eyes and open mouth.

Questions:
• What do you see?
• How might this child be feeling?
• What clues help you know?

Present an image of a child with wide eyes and open mouth. Ask them to notice eyebrows, mouth shape. Talk about being surprised.

Photo #5: Worried Friend

Image: A child biting their lip or looking uneasy.

Questions:
• What do you notice?
• How is this child feeling?
• What clues helped you know?

Display a photo of a child with hands near face or biting lip. Encourage descriptions like worried or nervous. Emphasize the clue words: lip biting, furrowed brow.

Kind Detective Responses

When a friend feels these emotions, you can help by:
• Happy: “I’m glad you’re happy! Let’s celebrate.”
• Sad: “I’m sorry you’re sad. Would you like a hug or to talk?”
• Angry: “I see you’re upset. Can I help you calm down?”
• Surprised: “That is surprising! Do you want to share what happened?”
• Worried: “It’s okay to worry. How can I help?”

Read each emotion and ask students to suggest kind things to say. Reinforce the language of empathy and helping.

Detective Debrief

Great work, detectives!

You found clues in faces and bodies and learned kind responses.

Remember to use your detective skills every day to help friends.

Wrap up the discussion by asking volunteers to share one thing they noticed and one way they’ll help a friend next time. Reinforce that noticing feelings makes us great friends.

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Activity

Emotion Charades Cards Preparation

Print, cut, and use these cards for the Emotion Charades game. Each card shows an emotion word and a simple visual cue to help students act it out.

Instructions for Teacher

  • Print the sheet of cards on cardstock for durability.
  • Cut along the dotted lines to create individual cards.
  • Place cards face down in a pile for students to draw and act out.
  • After each charade, discuss the emotion’s clues (face, posture, tone) with the class.

Emotion Cards

Happy 😊





Sad 😢





Angry 😠





Surprised 😲





Worried 😟





(Optional Extension Cards)

Excited 😃





Scared 😨





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Worksheet

Detective Journal Template

Instructions: Pretend you are a Friendship Detective. Use your detective skills to notice feelings and plan a kind response.

1. Draw a Friend Showing an Emotion

(Draw your friend in the box below. Show how they look when they feel an emotion.)













2. Clue Check: What Clues Tell You How Your Friend Feels?

  • Face Clues (e.g., smile, frown, tears):


  • Body Clues (e.g., slumped shoulders, open arms):


  • Voice/Tone Clues (e.g., quiet voice, loud voice):



3. Detective Response: How Can You Help Your Friend?

(Write or draw what you could say or do to be a kind friend.)











Great job, Detective! Remember to use your clue-finding skills every day to help friends. Feel free to fill out another page when you spot more feelings!

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