SEL Teddy Connections

Meet the bears

Five bears. Five skills. Five colors children remember.

Every SEL Teddy Connections lesson is paired with a bear character and its own signature color, so children begin connecting the bear, the color, and the skill together.

Confident BearCalm BearKind BearFriendship BearWise Bear

Confident Bear

SEL Skill: Self-Awareness

Color: Yellow

English + Español

Children build self-awareness by naming their feelings, recognizing their strengths, and understanding what makes them uniquely themselves.

Includes a confidence-focused SEL lesson and storybook.

Learn more Explore Classroom Kits

What children will learn

  • Name feelings honestly and accurately
  • Identify personal strengths and interests
  • Notice self-talk and shift it to be kinder
  • Connect feelings to what caused them

What students practice

  • Identifying and naming emotions
  • Recognizing personal strengths
  • Using encouraging self-talk
  • Identifying qualities that make them unique
  • Building confidence when trying something new

Calm Bear

SEL Skill: Self-Management

Color: Brown

English + Español

Children learn simple strategies for managing big feelings, calming their bodies, and responding thoughtfully instead of reacting.

Includes an emotional-regulation lesson and storybook.

Learn more Explore Classroom Kits

What children will learn

  • Notice what big emotions feel like in the body
  • Practice belly breathing and calming tools
  • Pause before reacting
  • Set a small goal and stick with it

What students practice

  • Recognizing physical signs of strong emotions
  • Identifying situations that may cause frustration or stress
  • Using age-appropriate calming strategies
  • Pausing before reacting
  • Choosing healthy ways to respond

Kind Bear

SEL Skill: Social Awareness

Color: Green

English + Español

Children explore empathy, noticing how others feel, and the small everyday choices that make classrooms and families kinder.

Includes a kindness and empathy lesson and storybook.

Learn more Explore Classroom Kits

What children will learn

  • Read feelings in faces, words, and tone
  • Understand different perspectives
  • Include others and speak up kindly
  • Turn kind thoughts into kind actions

What students practice

  • Identifying how another person may feel
  • Seeing situations from another perspective
  • Showing empathy
  • Identifying opportunities to help others
  • Demonstrating kindness through words and actions

Friendship Bear

SEL Skill: Relationship Skills

Color: Blue

English + Español

Children practice communication, cooperation, and healthy ways to work through conflict with friends and family.

Includes a friendship-focused lesson and storybook.

Learn more Explore Classroom Kits

What children will learn

  • Listen fully before responding
  • Take turns, share, and cooperate
  • Use words to solve disagreements
  • Repair a friendship after a rough moment

What students practice

  • Active listening
  • Clear communication
  • Cooperation
  • Taking turns
  • Resolving minor conflicts
  • Asking for help when needed
  • Building and maintaining positive friendships

Wise Bear

SEL Skill: Responsible Decision-Making

Color: Charcoal

English + Español

Children learn a simple decision-making process for making safe, thoughtful, and responsible choices.

Includes a decision-making lesson and storybook.

Learn more Explore Classroom Kits

What children will learn

  • Pause before deciding
  • Think through what happens next
  • Weigh safe and helpful options
  • Take responsibility and try again

What students practice

  • Identifying possible choices
  • Thinking about what could happen next
  • Considering how choices affect themselves and others
  • Solving problems
  • Making safe, respectful, and responsible decisions

Standards & alignment

Designed around the CASEL 5 social-emotional learning competencies.

Our five teddy bear lesson themes correspond with the five core competency areas of the CASEL SEL framework: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision-Making. This makes it simple to place each workshop inside the SEL plan your school or district already uses.

CASEL is an independent organization and does not endorse or certify SEL Teddy Connections.