25 Social and Emotional Bellringers

These 25 neurodiversity-affirming social and emotional bellringers are designed specifically for middle school students to help them explore the five CASEL competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. 

Use these quick prompts and activities to start class, gain insight into how students are feeling, or support transitions between subjects. Each bellringer includes an open-ended question and activity. The activity serves as an alternate way for students to respond to the prompt if they do not want to write or need additional support.

Self-Awareness

1) Prompt: What emotion are you feeling right now? 

Activity: Color the emotion you’re feeling on an emotion wheel or draw a picture to reflect it.

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2) Prompt: If your mood were a color, what would it be?

Activity: Color a shape with the color that matches your mood.

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3) Prompt: How much energy do you have today?

Activity: Shade in a battery icon to show your energy level.

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4) Prompt: What animal matches your mood today?

Activity: Draw the animal or pick from a list (ex. Turtle = tired, cheetah = energetic).

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5) Prompt: What is one thing you’re really good at?

Activity: Draw it on a badge, star, or ribbon.

Self-Management

6) Prompt: How does your body feel after taking deep breaths?

Activity: Trace a shape with your finger while you breathe in and out. 

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7) Prompt: How do your muscles feel when you release tension?

Activity: Tense your shoulders, fists, and feet for 5 seconds each.

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8) Prompt: What colors feel calming to you?

Activity: Color for 2 minutes using colors that feel calming.

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9) Prompt: Describe a place where you feel calm and safe.

Activity: Draw a place where you feel calm and safe.

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10) Prompt: What helps you calm down when you’re overwhelmed?

Activity: Pick a calming tool from the list and try it for 2 minutes (tools: drawing, stretching, breathing, coloring).

Social Awareness

11) Prompt: You and your friend want to play different games. How can you and your friend decide which game to choose?

Activity: Choose from 3 possible solutions (take turns, play something new, play separately, etc.).

12) Prompt: If someone is sad, what’s something kind you could do or say? (Note to teacher: respect “nothing” as a valid choice too!).

Activity: Draw your idea.

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13) Prompt: What’s one kind thing you saw someone do this week?

Activity: Draw a picture of the kind act.

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14) Prompt: What is one thing you appreciate about someone or something today?

Activity: Draw a picture on a sticky note, and stick it on your desk or notebook.

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15) Prompt: Look at this picture (note to teacher: choose an image based on student interests). What do you think might be happening?

Activity: Point to one person in the picture and describe or draw how you think they feel.

Relationship Skills

16) Prompt: What’s one way you can ask for help?

Activity: Act it out using your preferred way (spoken request, hand signal, written, etc.)

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17) Prompt: What do you think helps people feel safe and supported when working together?

Activity: Sort a list of actions into “helpful for teams” or “not helpful for teams”

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18) Prompt: Who makes you feel seen or understood?

Activity: Draw a picture of the person who makes you feel seen or understood. A character is fine.

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19) Prompt: Think of a time someone made you feel good in a conversation or friendship. What did they do?

Activity: Choose the behaviors from a list (they listened, they gave me space, etc.)

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20) Prompt: What’s something you need from a friend to feel supported?

Activity: Choose from a short list (someone who makes you laugh, gives you space, etc.)

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Responsible Decision-Making

21) Prompt: If you choose to ignore directions, what might happen?

Activity: Circle an answer from a list of three possible outcomes.

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22) Prompt: You forgot something important. What could you do next?

Activity: Draw a picture of what you could do next.

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23) Prompt: What helps you feel better when you feel overwhelmed?

Activity: Draw a picture of the items, people, and/or spaces that help you feel better.

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24) Prompt: What might happen next if you push someone when you’re frustrated?

Activity: Choose from a list of three possible outcomes.

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25) Prompt: There are two events happening at the same time this Saturday, and you want to go to both. How do you decide which one to go to?

Activity: Choose one way to help you decide (the one I’m most excited about, the one I don’t want to miss, etc.)

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