SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING
SOCIAL SKILLS LESSON PLAN
SOCIAL SKILL: JOINING IN & INVITING OTHERS TO JOIN IN
CASEL COMPETENCY: RELATIONSHIP SKILLS
BOOK INFORMATION
Book Title: Can I Play Too?
Author: Mo Willems
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Year: 2010
ISBN Number: 978-152311991-3
Number of Pages: 57 pages
Reading Level: Pre-K - 3rd grade
BOOK SYNOPSIS
Elephant and Piggie start to play catch. Snake wants to join in. After a few struggles, they find a way for
Snake to participate.
LESSON OBJECTIVE
Help the students know how to invite other kids to play with them and accommodate for their needs.
LESSON MATERIALS AND ADVANCED PREPARATION
Make Your Own Snake Activity
Materials: sharpie permanent marker; socks (one long tube sock for each student---socks can be
whatever color you desire); long twist ties or rubber bands (one for each student); plastic eyes/buttons
(two for each student); glue; cotton or polyester stuffing (materials can be purchased at Wal-Mart,
Craft store, or Amazon)
Preparation: None needed.
Snake Toss Activity
Materials: sharpie permanent marker; socks (one long tube sock for each student---socks can be
whatever color you desire); long twist ties or rubber bands (one for each student); plastic eyes/buttons
(two for each student); glue; cotton or polyester stuffing (materials can be purchased at Wal-Mart,
Craft store, or Amazon); or you can buy 3-4 soft snakes
Preparation: Make 3-4 snakes or buy them.
KEY VOCABULARY AND CONCEPTS
“Excuse me”- a phrase used to politely ask for someone’s attention
PRE-READING DISCUSSION
Show the front book cover and ask the students what they think the book is about.
POST READING DISCUSSION
Ask the following questions:
What made it hard for snake to participate?
How do we know that elephant and piggy wanted snake to join in with their activity?
How do you think that made snake feel?
How did they get snake involved?
What games or activities do you like?
How can you invite others to join in with your activity?
READ THE BOOK
POST READING ACTIVITY
Make Your Own Snake
The goal of this activity is to create an environment where each student will have someone to work
with. Allow the students to work with the friends of their choice. Small groups working together is
optimal. Some students may get left out of the small group activity because they might not readily fit in
with a group. Some children might have lots of friends and other students might struggle to cooperate
with a friend. After the students are actively involved in making their snake, ask them to stop for a
moment, look around and see if anyone needs help or needs to join a group. This is a perfect
opportunity to invite the left out students to ask to join a group--- or to have the groups invite a specific
child to join their group.
Making the snake:
Stuff the sock with cotton or polyester stuffing.
Use the twisty or rubber band to seal the end of the sock.
Glue on the eyes.
Use a permanent sharpie marker to draw the snake’s mouth and also to write the student’s
name on their snake.
Snake Toss
For this activity, you will be playing hot potato/musical chairs with the snake. Follow the steps below:
Divide the kids into 3 or 4 groups.
Let them know that they will toss the snake to each other gently until the music stops.
When the music stops, the student with the snake is out. The students who are “out” must
sit outside the circle for a rotation.
When the next rotation is over, have each group invite a kid that was sitting out to be
included back into their group.
The goal is to allow most students the opportunity to know the feeling of being left out and
then being asked back in and being a part of something fun.
Stop music intermittently ---similar to hot potato.
Suggestion: Use the song from High School Musical called “All in this Together.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbrbUfYSt0E
CLOSURE
Ask the students how they felt when they were in their group making the snakes (for Activity #1) or
how they felt when they were playing the game (for Activity#2).
Then ask them what it would have been like to have to make the snake alone (activity #1) or what it
was like having to sit out and not taking part in the fun (activity #2)?
Share personal feelings about the importance of making sure everyone is included. Display the
statement (poster on the following page) in the front of the classroom and refer back to this statement
to reinforce the social skill.
