Engaging Activities about Life Skills for Teens
Life skills are a never ending set of tasks to learn. Even if you don’t have a class specifically on life skills, you can weave them into your Family and Consumer Science curriculum rather easily. I always tell students there are definitely some I am willing to pay for- car oil changes- rather than learning how to do it myself. But there are others I find to be valuable- writing thank you notes and addressing envelopes.
Finding engaging, yet simple activities to to teach teenagers about life skills can be quite the task.
If your students are anything like mine, you notice they are lacking basic life skills, essential for success. I am sure you are also wanting to help build their employability skills. These are the same students who will be working at businesses I frequent sooner than later. I want to help create solid working skills. I also want to make sure we have well-informed consumers.
Enter two different activities to help students learn more about life skills.
Life skills lesson plans
These two activities could easily fill five 49-minute classes. Don’t have time to add in a full week or more of life skills? You could also use these two activities throughout the school year…something like a “Find Out More Friday” type of activity.
I have found life skills units when there are a week or two spots available between transitions or holiday breaks to be the most beneficial for my students’ attention spans.
I wanted each one of these life skills tasks to be simple, but meaningful. Students wouldn’t need to have every supply in the classroom to complete the task. I was quite pleased with how this turned out and will be adding to it in the future.
Our students will never finish learning life skills and I want to make sure units are short enough to learn new tasks, but not seem overwhelming.
Life skills tasks
Life skills tasks Vol. 1 has 8 different everyday tasks for students to complete. Each task requires little to no prep, other than making copies to complete.
Task 1 includes laundry symbols. In the Family and Consumer Science classroom, we do quite a bit of laundry, but it’s towels and wash clothes so it is far less important to sort and check symbols.
Task 2 has students writing a thank you card and addressing an envelope. Who knew it would be such a challenge to address an envelope?
Task 3 involves setting a table for 4. Students will need scissors and glue to cut and paste for this activity.
Task 4 teaches students how to calculate sales tax.
Task 5 uses comparison shopping for common household purchases.
Task 6 asks for a reference or letter of recommendation.
Task 7 calculates a tip ranging from 20-30%.
Task 8 calculates the price of a sale.
Tasks 5-8 simply need a calculator to complete and all tasks include instructions before practicing.
Life skills one pager
My students also chose a life skill to learn more about and then created a one pager.
Some of my students had completed a one pager, but it was a full page writing activity. Others had created a visual presentation for a one-pager, which is what I had in mind. Make sure your students know the difference if some start looking surprised you have assigned a one-pager.
I let students choose a life skill to increase buy-in. You could also randomly assign life skills to students, but I know I don’t want to learn more about changing the oil in my car, so I wouldn’t want to create a poster about it.
After students took some time researching on YouTube and the internet, they were tasked with sharing the information in a visually appealing way.
The one-pager should include an easy-to-read title, supplies needed, steps to complete, where/how to learn more, and key facts. I have markers, crayons, and colored pencils in the classroom for students to use when decorating. And I did require color!
I did not regulate who had which life skill and only had a few repeats. Of course, some of the girls loved the idea of creating aesthetically pleasing notes, but I find this to be such a valuable skill that I don’t mind if there are repeats.
Completing the one-pagers took two-three 49 minute class periods, which was worth the time because they turned out great. The students will have a gallery walk around the room to learn more about the various life skills and we will likely repeat this activity before the end of the year.
I was pleased with the amount of time I saved this week with engaged students. I don’t even think I heard a single complaint about completing the work. There was even a comment, “This actually sounds fun!” That’s always a win if you have them excited to learn.
If your classroom needs life skills practice and you find yourself crunched for time, you can find both activities in my TPT store and in my shop. All links are below.