3 Life-Changing Social Emotional Activities for Preschoolers and Toddlers

Social Emotional Activities help instill the most important skills.

Through the application of social emotional activities for preschoolers and toddlers, you can rest assured that our little ones are ready to take on whatever the world has to offer.

Before they even reach school-age, preschoolers and toddlers can apply these social emotional activities to their everyday life. 

In reality, research has shown that social emotional skills are one of the most important things that children learn in the early years of their life. 

By practicing these social emotional skills in preschoolers and toddlers, studies have shown a visible increase in the application of skills such as sharing, kindness, and self-regulation.

Read on to learn how certain social emotional activities can make a positive impact on your toddler or preschooler!

Social Emotional Activity 1: Read and read some more!

Reading is an excellent social emotional activity for any preschooler or toddler! 

Even if they are still learning to grasp certain words, they can still start to learn how people act. Stories are great ways for preschoolers and toddlers to start to understand timelines and interactions!

Furthermore, many children's books teach important lessons to grow the toddler’s social emotional understanding. By learning more about how different people interact, your preschooler or toddler can begin to learn how the world around them works.

Even more, reading has proven benefits including:

• Improved concentration
• Development of the imagination
• Enhances vocabulary and language skills early in life

As they grow, our young toddlers and preschoolers will continue to learn about new people and places. This will ultimately motivate them to become more curious and driven to learn in the long run!

Social Emotional Activity 2: Teaching children to identify their emotions

Social emotional activities for preschoolers and toddlers can take the form of hundreds of games and activities.

Honestly, many of them are pretty easy to do! Some of our favorites when it comes to teaching preschoolers and toddlers to identify emotions is through arts and crafts.

Previously, we discussed how reading is a great social emotional activity for toddlers and preschoolers. 

This tool can be used again for activities such as identifying emotions, but we’d recommend taking it a step further.

One way to help students identify their emotions is through the use of faces. A child would pick a smiley face out of a collection of cards or photos if they are feeling happy, a frown if they are feeling sad, etc. 

Hence, activities like these will lead to a greater understanding of their own emotions and the emotions of others, whether adults or peers.

With this new level of understanding, social emotional activities for preschoolers and toddlers will continue to assist young ones with adjusting to new friends or environments.

Social Emotional Activity 3: Learning to Deal with Hard Feelings

Social emotional activities for preschoolers and toddlers can be a huge help in the hardest times, as times of anger, sadness, or frustration for a child.

Hence, we have put together a few activities that you can use to help teach preschoolers or toddlers how to cope with those feelings in a safe environment and in a safe way.

Occasionally, kids just need a place to go and relax. One social emotional activity is to help your preschooler or toddler find a few of their favorite things and set up an area where they can go to relax if necessary.

By giving your child the ability to choose their own ‘necessities’ for the area, they’re ultimately developing: 

• Independence and decision making
• Relating emotions to the outside world
• Increased understanding with safe ways to cope with sadness or anger

Another popular social emotional activity for toddlers and preschoolers is to teach them basic yoga poses or to invent new ones!

Simply, the ability to move or to create new scenarios for themselves in a fun environment will help to redirect your child’s focus, from anger or sadness to fun and enjoyment!

Many Social Emotional Activities Work Well. Find the One That Works For Your Family!

By implementing a few of these activities, we hope that you can start to see changes in your child’s social emotional development in preschool and beyond! 

There are many different techniques out there, and finding the one that works for you and your family is a matter of trying new activities and observing the results. If you are unsure or are feeling lost, connect with us.