How it works
One connected journey: Learn → Practice → Build → Remember & Apply.
Every workshop follows the same simple path, so children, families, and educators always know what comes next.
Step 1
Learn
Children are introduced to an age-appropriate social-emotional skill through an engaging lesson and storybook.
Step 2
Practice
Children participate in interactive activities that help reinforce the skill and give them opportunities to practice what they learned.
Step 3
Build
Children build the teddy bear associated with their lesson, creating a fun and meaningful connection to the skill.
Step 4
Remember & Apply
Children take their bear home as a tangible reminder of what they learned and how they can use that skill in their everyday lives.
Learn → Practice → Build → Remember & Apply
Not four separate activities — one complete learning experience.
Inside the Learn step
Learn Through Story
Students are introduced to the SEL skill through a storybook featuring relatable characters and age-appropriate situations.
Every classroom kit includes the educator lesson guide and the student-facing SEL storybook, so the story is never a separate purchase. Storybooks and supporting program materials are available in English and Spanish.
Then the lesson continues
Learn → Practice → Build → Remember & Apply
Educational reflection activity
The SEL Heart Ceremony
The Heart Ceremony helps transform teddy-building into a meaningful reflection experience. Before completing their teddy, children pause to think about the social-emotional skill they practiced during the lesson.
Students connect the heart with the lesson's message—such as confidence, calmness, kindness, friendship, or wise decision-making—before placing it inside their teddy.
The heart becomes a symbolic reminder of what the child learned and a simple way to help them recall the skill after the experience is over.
Possible sequence
- Reflect
- Choose the Skill
- Heart Ceremony
- Build
- Take the Skill Home
Age range
Designed for Pre-K–5th Grade
Activities and discussion can be adapted based on student age and developmental level.
There is one core SEL Teddy Connections lesson for each skill. The guide includes developmental adaptations — suggestions for adjusting vocabulary, discussion, and practice — rather than three separate curricula.
Simple emotional vocabulary, stories, modeling, movement, and concrete examples.
Emotion identification, guided reflection, basic problem-solving, communication, and practicing SEL strategies.
Deeper discussion, perspective-taking, reflection, decision-making, conflict resolution, and independent application.
Every lesson has a bear
The bear is the reminder, not just the craft.
Each of our five lessons is paired with a bear character and its own color, so children keep connecting the bear, the color, and the skill long after the workshop.