** Dog Body Language, Safety & Emotions Lesson | Printable Dog Safety Activities | 16-Page Ready-to-Teach Resource
**
Help children understand dogs, stay safe around them, and develop emotional awareness with this engaging 16-page printable lesson.

This ready-to-teach resource combines dog body language, dog safety, and social-emotional learning into one practical lesson designed for primary-aged children. Everything is prepared for you—simply print the materials and start teaching.

Unlike most dog safety resources, this lesson goes beyond teaching children how to recognize canine body language. It also helps them understand their own emotions and body language, showing how both influence interactions with dogs. This dual approach makes safety rules easier to understand, remember, and apply in real-life situations.

**## What Children Will Learn
**
Children will learn:

• How to recognize relaxed, worried, fearful, and confident dogs

• How to identify two key body language cues:

  • Is the dog’s body relaxed or tense?
  • Is the dog’s weight shifted forward or backward?

• How to approach unfamiliar dogs safely

• When not to approach or touch a dog

• How to recognize their own body language and emotional state

• How emotions influence both children and dogs

• How to make safe decisions in everyday situations involving dogs

By the end of the lesson, children will be able to explain what a dog may be feeling, decide whether it is safe to approach, and recognize what their own body language is communicating.

** Why This Lesson Is Different
**
Most dog safety lessons focus only on the dog’s behaviour.

This lesson teaches children to observe both the dog and themselves.

Through a movement-based “Dinosaur” role-play activity, children physically experience what confidence, fear, tension, and relaxation feel like. They notice muscle tension, posture, shoulder position, and shifts in body weight before comparing these same signals to a dog’s body language.

This unique approach builds emotional awareness, empathy, observation skills, and safer behaviour around dogs.

** What’s Included
**

• 16 printable lesson pages
• Ready-to-use teacher prompts
• Discussion questions
• Classroom activities
• Interactive games
• Dog body language exercises
• Dog safety scenarios
• Printable assessment
• No-prep teaching resource