Social Emotional Learning Activities for Preschool

Smart & Entertaining Social-Emotional Learning Activities for Preschool Kids!

Holistic growth is vital for children. This means that along with academics, parents must focus on developing their kids’ social and emotional learning as well. This can be very easily achieved through a number of fun social-emotional learning activities for preschool kids.

Parents do their best to ensure that their kids grow up well. All of us want our kids to cope in school, make friends, remain active, and stay healthy. Whether it’s a healthy diet or bringing in a tutor, we do everything in our capacity to improve their growth. While we focus on them doing well in school, it’s also important for them to grow into good human beings. This is why parents are keen on practicing social-emotional learning activities for preschool kids. It will help them in understanding and being aware of their emotions and showcasing kindness and empathy towards others. These activities highlight the components of social-emotional learning, namely self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. Here are a few smart yet easy activities that you can try at home with your kids.

Get a Pet

Children may get angry with adults and other children, but they’ll always show affection towards a pet. Owning a pet will help them develop kindness and responsibility. The love of a pet is like no other. Dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, and many other domestic animals can be house pets. You can teach your child to feed them and care for them. If they are having a bad day or are angry at a situation, a pet will calm them down. It’s true that those who treat animals with kindness grow up to be kind and empathetic human beings themselves. They can naturally connect and engage in many playful activities with a pet on a daily basis and get their social emotional learning at home easily.

Empathy Games

This could be a verbal game or can be played with cue cards. What you’ve got to do is ask a number of relatable situations to the child and allow them to answer. Their answers will help you understand their mindset towards everything. If they answer correctly, you’ll know they are growing up to be mature and kind, and if their answers are leaning towards negative feelings or actions, you could explain that they should reconsider their behavior and thinking. The questions could range from “A boy fell down in the park and all the other kids started laughing at him. Is that right or wrong?” or “There’s a new girl in class who is sitting alone. What will you do?”

Kindness Calendar

Help your child maintain a ‘kindness calendar’ at home. They have to write one act of kindness at the end of the day. It could be something they did in school like sharing their sandwich or chocolate with another child, helping the teacher carry some books, or helping a child up who has fallen down. It could also be anything done at home or at the playground like helping set the table, bringing a glass of water for mom or dad, etc. You could review the calendar every few weeks to boost their self-confidence and appreciate all their kind gestures and even reward their good deeds to keep them motivated.

These are a few of the many social-emotional activities that can be practiced at home or in one’s local surroundings. If you want to further enhance their social skills, you could encourage more play dates and group activities. Children will learn to be social when they are around other kids. And more importantly, these activities will help kids understand their feelings and communicate about them. With time, they will learn how to act on those feelings appropriately instead of simply throwing a tantrum.

There are many learning game apps by SKIDOS too that teach kids about being social and emotional. It teaches them about taking care of animals, making friends, being kind, and much more. Explore the learning apps and other social-emotional activities today and help your child grow up to be a beautiful human being. This could be one of the most handy ways to teach your kids key skills at just a few clicks through some interesting games as per their age and preferences.