Play Your Way to Better SEL: The Pathway to Positivity for Purposeful, Playful Learning

Discover Pathway to Positivity, a fun, low-cost, moderate-prep board game designed to reinforce SEL values. Adapted from Snakes and Ladders, it uses colour-coded cards to spark reflection, conversation, and laughter. Perfect for fostering self-awareness, empathy, and stronger friendships through meaningful play. Try it today!

ESL Teacher

May 7, 2025

2–3 minutes

ESL, Primary, SocialEmotionalLearning, Teaching Resources

As I was finishing my Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) units for my Primary 3 to Primary 6 classes, I wanted to develop a game that would further strengthen the SEL values I was aiming for. The issue was that I had limited preparation time and resources (i.e., budget $). Therefore, I needed a game that was universal, one that could be played across different levels. This would minimise the preparation time (killing four birds with one stone!).

As I was Googling, I thought “Why not create one myself?“. Hence, Pathway to Positivity, a board game that is centered around SEL was born. Pathway to Positivity or P2P is an adaptation of a Snakes and Ladders board game I created not too long ago.

P2P is a board game that can be played in pairs or in small groups of three to four. The board features coloured-coded tiles that correspond to three decks of similarly coloured cards. To illustrate, the version of P2P game that I created includes three tile colours – green, red, and orange. Each colour represents a different category of task. Green denotes ‘You’, where students share something about themselves such as ‘Tell us one secret about yourself that no one knows’. Red represents ‘SEL’, where students answer SEL-themed questions such as ‘How do you feel when you help someone?’. Orange represents ‘Do’, where students must complete a challenge or task such as ‘Say the alphabet backwards’ to proceed.

I adapted the game to help my students to reflect on their learning of SEL units in a fun and meaningful environment. Not only did this game reinforce the SEL values I was targetting, but P2P will also encouraged my students to understand themselves better and build stronger, more meaningful friendships.

Feel free to adapt this game to suit your own objectives and give it a try! Let me know how it goes.

Behind the scenes: Creating the Pathway to Positivity cards!

Link: Pathway to Positivity Template (Canva)

Tips:

You may want to laminate the board and the cards
Dice are not neccessary, you can simply ask your students to move one tile at a time or play Rock-Paper-Scissors to decide turns