10 Greeting Activities for Autistic Children: Fun Preschool Social Skills & SEL Games
- Autism-Talk
- Jun 14
- 10 min read
Time to Read: 8–10 minutes
TL;DR
Greeting others is one of the earliest social skills children learn. For many autistic children and other young learners, greetings benefit from direct teaching, visual supports, social stories, games, and repeated practice opportunities.
In this article, you'll learn why greeting skills matter, how to teach greetings without requiring eye contact, and 10 fun greeting activities that can be used at home, in therapy, or in the classroom.
Table of Contents
What Are Greeting Skills?
Greeting others is one of the earliest social skills children learn. For many autistic children and other young learners, greetings benefit from direct teaching, visual supports, social stories, games, and repeated practice opportunities.
It is important that kids realize it is not about saying something specific, it is just about letting the other person know you see them and are happy to see them. Greetings can take many forms.
A child might:
Wave
Smile
Say hello
Use AAC
Sign
Give a high five
Nod
Raise their hand
The specific greeting is less important than helping another person know they have been acknowledged.
Greeting skills are frequently one of the first social skills children learn before developing more advanced social skills such as waiting, taking turns, joining play, having conversations, and building friendships.
You may also enjoy:
[Waiting Activities for Preschoolers]
[Taking Turns Activities for Kids]
[Beginning Friendship Skills Activities]
[Joining Play Activities for Young Learners]
Why Are Greetings Important for Autistic Children and Preschoolers?
Greetings are often the first step in a social interaction.
Before children can join a game, ask a question, make a friend, or participate in a conversation, they usually need a way to acknowledge another person.
Greeting skills help children:
Start social interactions
Participate in classroom routines
Increase social confidence
Practice communication skills
Learn expected social routines
Research suggests that many autistic children benefit from explicit instruction, visual supports, social narratives, modeling, and peer practice opportunities when learning social communication skills. These supports can make social expectations more predictable and easier to understand. The National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice identifies visual supports, social narratives, and peer-mediated instruction as evidence-based practices for autistic learners, while the CDC notes that autism can affect social communication skills such as gestures and social interactions.
Learn more:
National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice: https://ncaep.fpg.unc.edu/
AFIRM Evidence-Based Practices: https://afirm.fpg.unc.edu/
CDC Autism and Social Communication: https://www.cdc.gov/autism/signs-symptoms/index.html
Do Children Need Eye Contact to Greet Someone?
No.
Eye contact is not required for a successful greeting.
The goal of a greeting is social connection, not eye contact.
A greeting can be conveyed by:
Waving
Using AAC
Smiling
Speaking
Signing
Turning toward the other person
A child can successfully greet someone without making direct eye contact.
Rather than focusing on eye contact, focus on whether the child is acknowledging another person's presence.
Start With a Greeting Social Story
Before introducing games and activities, many children benefit from learning what greetings are and why people use them.
A greeting social story can help explain:
What a greeting is
Why people greet each other
Different ways to greet someone
When greetings are expected
What children can do if they feel nervous
If you are looking for a simple introduction to greeting skills, you can start with my:
Greeting Social Story for Autism and Preschool Social Skills
Many children learn best when information is presented through multiple modalities. Combining social stories, visuals, photos, games, movement activities, dramatic play, and real-life practice opportunities often leads to stronger learning and generalization.
Printable Greeting Activities Pack
All of the activities below can be played using materials you already have at home or in the classroom.
If you would like printable visuals, greeting cards, bingo boards, scavenger hunt pages, greeting cubes, dramatic play supports, and other materials that pair with these activities, you can find my Greeting Activities Pack on:
[Teachers Pay Teachers] Greeting Printables Bundle
[Etsy] Greeting Printables Bundle
Ball Toss Greeting Game for Preschool Social Skills
This is one of the easiest greeting activities to set up and children usually love the movement component.
Have children stand in a circle with a soft ball.
One child begins by greeting another child and tossing the ball to them.
For example:
"Hi, Maya!"
The receiving child responds with a greeting and then chooses another classmate to greet before tossing the ball again.
After a child has taken a turn, they sit down.
The game continues until everyone is sitting.
This simple activity provides multiple opportunities to practice greeting peers, responding to greetings, waiting, and listening.
Skills Practiced
Greeting peers
Responding to greetings
Turn taking
Waiting
Listening
Cookie Delivery Activity
One of my favorite ways to practice greetings is through a cookie delivery activity. Children are often much more motivated to greet others when they have a meaningful reason to do so, and delivering a treat creates a natural opportunity for social interaction.
Before making the cookies, gather the group and brainstorm a list of people who might enjoy receiving a special treat.
Talk about the people who work in your school or community and how they help children every day. Students might suggest the principal, secretary, custodian, cafeteria staff, speech therapist, bus driver, librarian, or classroom helpers.
This discussion helps build social awareness by encouraging children to notice the people around them and think about how others contribute to their day.
Next, make a simple snack together. I often use easy no-bake cookies, but you could also purchase cookies and let students decorate them, make trail mix, prepare fruit cups, or use any other simple cooking activity.
Once the treats are ready, students can help deliver them. As they visit each person, encourage them to practice greeting skills such as saying hello, waving, smiling, giving a fist bump, or using their AAC device. Because the greeting serves a real purpose, many children are more engaged and willing to participate than they might be during a structured practice activity.
This activity combines greeting practice, community awareness, cooking skills, and kindness while creating positive interactions with the people who support students throughout the day.
Greeting Bingo Game for Autism and SEL
Children often become much more motivated to practice social skills when there is a game involved.
Create bingo boards filled with greeting challenges.
Examples:
Wave to a friend.
Say hello to a teacher.
Greet someone by name.
Give a high five.
Say good morning.
Children cross off squares as they complete each social interaction.
Unlike traditional bingo, children must actually use the greeting skill before marking the square.
This provides repeated opportunities to practice greetings in a fun and meaningful way.
Greeting Scavenger Hunt Activity for Social Skills Practice
One of the biggest challenges in social skills instruction is helping children use skills outside of structured lessons.
A greeting scavenger hunt helps bridge that gap.
School version:
Teacher
Secretary
Custodian
Principal
Librarian
Bus Driver
Home version:
Mom
Dad
Brother
Sister
Grandparent
Neighbor
Children earn a sticker, stamp, or check mark each time they complete a greeting.
This activity encourages real-world practice and helps children generalize greeting skills to different people and settings.
Greeting Path Activity for Teaching Greetings
Another fun game for children that are motivated by physical movement is a greeting path game. Make pictures of common greetings and include a few fun ones. Place greeting picture cards in a line across a table or on the floor.
Examples:
Wave
High Five
Handshake
Fist Bump
Air High Five
Pair up children and put them on either side of the pictures. Children move through the greeting path with a partner and complete each greeting shown and then move to the next picture. when they get to the last picture, they have "won". Children who are enjoying the activity can challenge themselves to keep doing the activity a little quicker each time.
The visual supports help children understand exactly what to do while reducing language demands.
This is an excellent activity for visual learners and children who benefit from activities presented in a game format.
Greeting Cube Game for Preschool Social Skills
Download a greeting cube template or pictures of greetings and place on a dollar store die.
Children roll the cube and perform the greeting shown.
The element of surprise helps maintain engagement while teaching children that there are many different ways to greet another person.
Morning Greeting Choice Board Routine
Arrival time provides a natural opportunity to practice greetings every day.
Create a greeting board near the classroom entrance.
Children choose how they would like to greet the teacher.
Options might include:
Wave
High Five
Fist Bump
Handshake
Verbal Greeting
Providing choices often increases participation and allows children to select the greeting that feels most comfortable.
Over time, this simple routine can provide hundreds of greeting practice opportunities.
Bakery Pretend Play Activity for Practicing Greetings
Dramatic play is one of the best ways to help children practice social skills in a motivating activity.
Create a bakery center with pretend baked goods, menus, order forms, and money. Whenever possible, use real items and let children help make the play props. Children are
often more motivated when materials look interesting, realistic, and different from the toys they use every day.
Some ideas include:
Make pretend birthday cakes from playdough, modeling clay, or stacked cardboard circles.
Provide candles, beads, buttons, pom-poms, sequins, and stickers for decorating cakes.
Let children create pretend cookies, donuts, cupcakes, and muffins from playdough. Provide candles, beads, buttons, pom-poms, or sequins for decorating.
Save empty cake mix, cookie mix, frosting, sprinkle, and baking soda boxes to use as bakery supplies.
Add real mixing bowls, measuring cups, measuring spoons, spatulas, whisks, muffin tins, and cookie sheets.
Create simple picture recipe cards that children can follow during play.
Use cupcake liners and paper baking cups for sorting and pretend baking.
Provide bakery boxes, take-out containers, paper bags, and tissue paper for packaging orders.
Make bakery signs and labels for different baked goods.
Add pretend money, wallets, cash registers, receipts, and order forms.
Create customer order cards with pictures of different bakery items.
Add clipboards and pencils for taking customer orders.
Include a bakery menu with photos of the pretend foods available.
Use play food tongs for selecting and serving baked goods.
Add trays for displaying cupcakes, cookies, and cakes.
Create a birthday cake station where children take orders and decorate cakes for customers.
Include delivery bags or baskets so children can deliver bakery orders to classmates, teachers, or family members.
Display photos of real bakeries to inspire dramatic play and conversation.
One child becomes the baker while another becomes the customer. For children with autism it is beneficial to make the roles very clear and provide some kind of visual so the children know who the cashier is, who the customer is, etc.
Before ordering, the customer practices greeting the baker.
If possible have visual supports nearby that give children ideas for greeting choices they might use as well as things that people that work in a bakery might do. Children then continue the interaction by placing an order and completing the pretend play scenario.
This helps children understand that greetings are often the first step in a larger social interaction.
Hello Hand Puppet Greeting Craft
Art projects can provide a fun way to reinforce social skills.
Children create a handprint puppet using paint, paper, craft sticks, and googly eyes.
Once finished, children can use their puppets to:
Wave hello
Practice greeting friends
Some children feel more comfortable practicing social skills through puppets before using the skills themselves.
Greeting of the Day Activity
Write different greetings on craft sticks and place them in a container.
Examples:
Wave
High Five
Fist Bump
Handshake
Say Hello
Each morning, choose one Greeting of the Day.
Challenge children to use that greeting throughout the day whenever appropriate.
This simple activity increases repetition and provides multiple opportunities to practice the same skill across settings.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you teach greetings to autistic children?
Many autistic children benefit from explicit instruction, visual supports, social stories, role play, games, peer practice opportunities, and real-life practice throughout the day.
What are greeting skills?
Greeting skills involve acknowledging another person's presence through actions such as waving, speaking, signing, smiling, using AAC, or other forms of communication.
Why are greetings important for preschoolers?
Greetings help children start social interactions, participate in routines, build friendships, and develop communication skills.
Do autistic children need eye contact when greeting people?
No. Eye contact is not required for a successful greeting. The goal is acknowledging another person's presence and creating social connection.
Can AAC users learn greeting skills?
Absolutely. AAC users can greet others using preprogrammed greetings, symbols, buttons, or other communication methods.
What are fun greeting activities for preschool and kindergarten?
Some popular greeting activities include greeting bingo, greeting scavenger hunts, greeting cubes, ball toss greetings, dramatic play activities, greeting crafts, and morning greeting routines.
Related Resources
Waiting Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten
Taking Turns Activities for Kids
Sharing Activities for Preschool Social Skills
Beginning Friendship Skills Activities
Joining Play Activities for Young Learners
Conversation Activities for Kids
Social Stories for Autism
Visual Supports for Autism
Final Thoughts
Greeting skills may seem simple, but they are often the foundation for later social communication skills.
Whether children wave, sign, use AAC, smile, or say hello, the important thing is helping them learn how to acknowledge others and begin positive social interactions.
Through social stories, visual supports, games, dramatic play, crafts, and real-life practice opportunities, children can develop greeting skills that support friendships, classroom participation, and everyday communication.
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