Decision-making is a critical skill for students, helping them navigate the everyday choices they face and build confidence in their ability to solve problems. For upper elementary students, these moments can range from deciding what to do at recess to navigating tricky social situations with friends.
By teaching decision-making skills, we empower students to approach challenges thoughtfully and align their choices with their values.
Below, I’ve outlined ten quick activities you can use to strengthen your students’ decision-making muscles. These activities are designed to be simple, engaging, and adaptable to a variety of classroom and small-group settings.
The Decision-Making Process
Before we dive into the activities, it’s helpful to review the basic steps of decision-making. Teaching these steps gives students a structured way to approach their choices:
Identify the Problem: What decision needs to be made?
Gather Information: What do you know, and what do you need to know?
Consider Options: What choices do you have?
Evaluate Consequences: What might happen with each choice?
Make a Choice: What is the best option based on your values and information?
Reflect: How did the decision work out, and what can you learn from it?
Each of the activities below focuses on one or more of these steps, giving students a chance to practice in fun, low-pressure ways.
Add in link to decision making lessons
1. Decision Dice
What It Is: A fun and interactive way to connect choices with outcomes.
How It Works: All you need is a list of common social problems, a die, and a list of common reactions. Students pick a scenario, roll the die and pick the corresponding reaction. Then discuss what would happen.
Example:
- Pick a Scenario: Someone takes your ball at recess.
- Roll the die: You roll #3. Reaction: yell at them.
- Discuss: If you reaction is to yell at the person who took your ball. What might happen next? How would you actually react? What would lead to the best outcome?
Why It Works: This activity helps students see the link between actions and consequences in an interactive and step by step way.
2. Would Your Rather?
What It Is: A quick and engaging way to teach students how to weigh options.
How It Works: Present students with two options and ask them to choose one. Start with fun scenarios to warm them up (e.g., "Would you rather have pizza for lunch every day or ice cream for dessert every day?") and then shift to SEL-focused dilemmas (e.g., "Would you rather play with a new classmate who seems shy or join your usual group of friends?").
Why It Works: Students learn to consider their values, priorities, and the potential outcomes of each choice.
Pro Tip: Let students create their own "Would You Rather?" scenarios for their peers.
3. Problem Solving Pairs
What It Is: A collaborative way to work through decision-making challenges.
How It Works: Pair students and present a scenario, such as, "Your teacher forgot to assign partners for a project, and now you have to choose who to work with." Ask each pair to discuss their options and come up with a solution together.
Example Discussion Prompts:
- What are your choices?
- How will your choice affect others?
- What’s the best way to decide?
Why It Works: Students practice collaboration, perspective-taking, and respectful communication.
4. Stoplight Strategy
What It Is: A visual tool to guide students through decision-making.
How It Works: Introduce the Stoplight Strategy:
- Red Light: Stop and identify the problem.
- Yellow Light: Think about your choices and their consequences.
- Green Light: Make your decision and act.
Use this strategy during teachable moments. For example, if two students are arguing about who goes first in a game, say, ”Okay, so Red Light: our problem is we have to figure out who goes first. Yellow light: how can we decide? Will that feel fair? Alright, green light. We decided that the youngest person goes first."
Why It Works: The stoplight provides a simple, memorable framework that students can use independently.
5. What's Missing
What It Is: An activity to teach students the importance of gathering information before making a decision.
How It Works: Present a scenario with missing details. For example, "You’re deciding whether to join the soccer team, but you don’t know when practices are." Ask students to identify the information they need and brainstorm how to get it.
Why It Works: This activity builds critical thinking skills and emphasizes the importance of asking questions.
6. Values Match
What It Is: A reflective activity to help students clarify their values.
How It Works: Create cards with values like "kindness," "teamwork," and "honesty." Present a scenario, such as, "You’re deciding whether to go to your friend's party or your grandparents bbq," and ask students to rank the values that are most important for their decision.
Why It Works: Students learn to connect their values to their choices, fostering self-awareness and responsible decision-making.
7. Role-Playing Scenarios
What It Is: An interactive way to practice decision-making in real-life situations.
How It Works: Create scenarios where students take on roles and make decisions together. For example, "You’re part of a student group helping plan a school event. You have to decide how to spend a limited budget."
Why It Works: Role-playing helps students practice empathy, communication, and collaborative decision-making. Students can use a decision making framework worksheet.
8. Four Corners
What It Is: A movement-based activity to encourage students to express their opinions.
How It Works: Label four corners of the room with different options (e.g., "Yes," "No," "Maybe," "Not Sure"). Present a scenario and have students move to the corner that represents their decision.
Example: "You forgot your homework at home. Should you tell the teacher right away?"
Ask a student from each corner to explain their choice.
Why It Works: This activity gets students thinking critically and allows them to hear diverse perspectives. You can also highlight how seeing what others decide can effect your own decision making.
9. Yes, No, Maybe Chart
What It Is: A quick categorization activity to teach decision analysis.
How It Works: Present a scenario, such as "You overhear two friends planning a prank on another classmate. Should you tell a teacher, talk to your friends, or do nothing?" Have students sort potential actions into "Yes," "No," or "Maybe" categories. Discuss the reasons behind their choices.
Why It Works: This activity simplifies decision-making and highlights the need for careful consideration.
10. Daily Decision Challenge
What It Is: A daily practice to build decision-making habits.
How It Works: Start each day with a quick decision-making question, such as "What would you do if your friend was upset and didn’t want to talk to anyone?" Discuss responses as a class or in small groups.
Why It Works: Regular practice helps students internalize decision-making steps and strengthens their confidence.
Working Decision Making Muscles
Decision-making is a skill that grows with practice, and these quick, engaging activities give your students the tools they need to approach choices thoughtfully. By integrating these activities into your classroom or counseling sessions, you’ll help students develop critical SEL competencies like self-awareness, social awareness, and responsible decision-making.
Which of these activities are you excited to try? Let me know in the comments, or share how you’ve adapted them to fit your students’ needs!
Resources In This Post
Making Decisions Worksheets
Five no prep 15-minute SEL lessons you can use to teach good decision making skills. These print-and-go worksheets will help students learn a simple step by step process to make easy and hard decisions.
Choices & Consequences Worksheets
Quick SEL Worksheets will help students learn about choices and consequences. Over five days, they will learn about good choices, consequences, and a simple process to make choices.
