Teaching emotions preschool

45 Fun Social Emotional Activities for Preschoolers

Social-emotional learning is gaining traction in being recognized as an important part of early childhood curriculum. This type of learning is presented in the form of both one-on-one and group activities.

Social-emotional activities for preschoolers are wonderful tools to teach young children about their own emotions, as well as the emotions of others.

Below are some social-emotional activities that are great for the classroom, as well as the home.

1. Emotions Discovery Bottles

This set of emotions discovery bottles is Inside Out-themed, however, the set of bottles you make with your preschooler does not have to be. Have your child pick out the ingredients for each bottle and make corresponding faces to put on each one.

Learn more: Laly Mom

2. Feelings Check-in Chart

Making a chart about feelings is a helpful social-emotional tool for preschoolers. You can hang it in your classroom and, throughout the day, accompany students to the chart to practice identifying their feelings.

Learn more: Pre-K Pages

3. Stomping Out Big Feelings with Dinosaurs

Stomping out dinosaur-size feelings is a fun social-emotional activity that helps children identify their feelings and express them in productive ways. It's also a great proprioceptive activity, much like heavy work.

Learn more: The OT Toolbox

4. Setting Up a Calming Corner

You are probably familiar with calming corners/peace corners. They are areas in a classroom where preschoolers can go to have some quiet time - on their own terms.

Setting this area up with your students and sharing ideas on calming items and activities to use in the calming corner is a wonderful social-emotional activity.

Learn more: The Montessori-Minded Mom

5. Make a Set of Worry Dolls

Preschool-age children are not so different from adults in that some of them are worriers. Crafting a set of Worry Dolls is a great social-emotional activity that pairs well with the book, Silly Billy, by Anthony Brown.

Learn more: Happy Hooligans

6. Making Emo Dolls

Using cardboard rolls, preschoolers can help make these cute emo dolls. Each doll expresses a different emotion.

They can be used for role-playing by children to help them identify their own feelings and develop empathy for the feelings of others.

Learn more: Danya Banya

7. People Playdough Mats

This is a fun social-emotional activity for preschoolers. Using playdough, children get to make a person that represents them physically and assign emotions to them.

Viewing the facial expressions they make helps them identify their own emotions, as well as others.

Learn more: Picklebums

8. Make Emotions Masks from Paper Plates

Making emotion masks from paper plates is a fun idea that can help preschoolers express their own emotions and identify others' emotions. Since many young children are still in need of emotional vocabulary, this is a no-pressure, informal, and fun way to introduce it.

Learn more: No Time for Flashcards

9. Talk About Emotions During Morning Circle

Morning circle is an opportunity to talk about the date, weather, what's going to happen during the day, and to do music and movement activities. It's also the perfect time to talk about emotions and come up with some healthy strategies students can use throughout the day.

Learn more: No Time for Flashcards

10. Calming Sensory Bins

Sensory bins are a great social-emotional tool for preschoolers. They provide sensory feedback that can have a calming effect on young kids.

Preschoolers can visit a sensory bin on their own when they are feeling overwhelmed or in groups where they can talk with each other about how the bin activity makes them feel.

The lavender sensory bin linked below is just lovely.

Learn more: The Chaos and the Clutter

11. Story Telling Social Stories

Preschoolers have active imaginations and they love telling stories. Storytelling is introduced in the early childhood learning environment to help prepare children for reading.

It's great for social-emotional learning, as well.

Learn more: How We Learn

12. A Sticky Cutting Tray of Emotions

Cutting trays are appealing to preschoolers - an unrestricted space where they can cut and create. Add a social-emotional aspect to your students cutting trays by giving them magazines with close-ups of faces for them to cut out and reconstruct.

Learn more: Picklebums

13. Feeling Matching Game

Playing a matching game with feelings cards put a social-emotional spin on the classic game of memory. There is room for teachers to get creative with the "feelings challenge" when preschoolers make a match.

Learn more: Kiddie Matters

14. Emotions Guessing Game

This emotions guessing game is a lot of fun. It helps develop social-emotional skills in large or small groups.

After practicing with this game, preschoolers will be able to more confidently and accurately identify their own emotions, as well as the emotions of others.

Learn more: Childhood 101

15. Emotions Sorting Mats

Presenting an "emotions sorting mat" to preschoolers helps them better understand that different emotions can present in a variety of ways, but still be recognizable.

Learn more: File Folder Heaven

16. Play "Catch" a Feeling

This activity is so much fun and it's also incredibly easy to set up. All you need is an inflatable beach ball and a marker.

Learn more: Pam Dyson

17. Social-emotional Board Game

Making a social-emotional board game is a way for teachers and parents to get creative, as well as focus on the emotional skills with which their preschoolers are struggling.

Learn more: Kristina Marcelli

18. Emoji Feelings Faces

Using emojis to express emotions is an internet trend that seems to be here to stay. These cute little faces are actually great social-emotional learning tools for kids, too.

Learn more: Kiddie Matters

19.

Sorting faces based on emotions is a fun social-emotional activity that helps preschoolers identify social cues and learn empathy. It also helps children understand that not every expression of negative emotion involves crying.

Learn more: Having Fun at Home

20. Paper Plate Feelings Spinner

This is a neat social-emotional activity for preschoolers. Making a paper feelings spinner starts out as a fun craft and ends up as a social-emotional tool that can be used again and again.

Learn more: Meaningful Mama

21. Color By Emotions by Code

Coloring emotions by code is a fun activity that helps children develop fine motor skills and learn colors - all while teaching them how to identify and name their own emotions.

Learn more: Frogs and Fairies

22. Scribble Art

Scribble art is a social-emotional activity that gives children the chance to identify, name, and express their emotions all at once.

Learn more: The Art of Education

23. Mega Block Feelings

Making Mega Block feelings is an extremely simple activity to set up. Preschoolers can match facial features to create emotional expressions.

Learn more: Twitchettes

24. Story Stones

Story stones have a lot of opportunities for social-emotional activities for preschoolers. One such activity is painting facial expressions and having preschoolers piece together faces and name the corresponding emotion.

Learn more: Where Imagination Grows

25. Create a Flipbook

Preschoolers have a difficult time understanding that emotions are fluid - that they can be sad, but not be a "sad person". Creating a flipbook that lets young children identify the feelings they are having at the current moment can help them understand this concept and apply it to others.

Learn more: The Mad House Mummy

26. Make a Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down Jar

A thumbs-up, thumbs-down jar is a really neat activity that helps preschoolers consider how their actions can make other people feel in a fun, no-pressure, no-shame way.

Learn more: Things to Share and Remember

27. Making a Self-portrait

This is another fun self-portrait activity. This one has preschoolers look in a desk mirror while they express an emotion. Then, they are to draw a portrait of themselves.

Learn more: Still Playing School

28. Fishing for Feelings

Playing a fishing game to learn social-emotional skills is a perfect idea for preschoolers. This game can be played in so many different ways and as a one-on-one activity, or as a group.

Learn more: Little Page Turners

29. Feelings Hop

Preschoolers benefit from social-emotional learning as much as they do from gross motor activities. Combining the two is a great idea for social-emotional activities for preschoolers.

Learn more: Kiddie Matters

30. Make a Feelings Jar

Making a feelings jar is a beautiful idea for teaching emotional regulation and social-emotional skills to preschoolers. This activity works well in groups or as a one-on-one activity.

Learn more: Mosswood Connections

31. Feelings Slap Game

This is a fun card game that teaches social-emotional skills by helping preschoolers identify and name different emotions. This game can be played in small groups or emotions can be called out to students at their spots on the rug.

Learn more: Kiddie Matters

Improve focus, self-control, and mindfulness in the classroom while practicing breathing techniques that will also improve motor skills.

Learn more: The OT Toolbox

Worksheet with images that gives suggestions of ways students can show kindness in their home and community.

Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers

Using colored sticks or candies, students will choose a color, then have to express gratitude related to the color. It gets students to appreciate little things and others in their daily lives.

Learn more: Seattle's Child

Help kids learn how to work through specific social scenarios by using social stories to practice these interactions.

Learn more: Whimsy Workshop Teaching

Great for preschool children who are impulsive. This is a simple game that uses images and speech to "stop and think" before calling out the answer.

Learn more: The Dabbling Speachie

This sort and paste activity teaches students the difference between a good and a bad friend through concrete examples.

Learn more: Keeping My Kiddo Busy

Let students show their artistic expression while learning about spatial awareness. Using an outline of a simple shape and objects found in nature, children will create a puzzle that fits the objects inside the border.

Learn more: Little Pine Learners

This game uses images to help students identify the meaning of body language.

Learn more: Annie's Classroom

Create a calming kit for children to use when they are upset. The kit will teach them how to self-regulate and build calming skills for when an undesirable feeling comes.

Learn more: Perfection Pending

Teach children about the concept of charing through the read-aloud text, "The Doorbell Rang", which also introduces them to basic math skills.

Learn more: Pre-K Pages

Children identify an emotion and then use images to relate it to how it makes their bodies feel. It helps students not only be conscious of their emotions, but also aware of how their body reacts.

Learn more: The Responsive Counselor

43. Alphabreathes

This book is a fun way to teach a variety of breathing strategies to students created by a psychologist and appropriate for toddlers. It relates the different strategies to a familiar object and letter of the alphabet.

Learn more: Mindful Schools

Children learn about strong emotions through interactions between the puppets. You can also have them create their own puppets that they identify with.

Learn more: Raising Children

Support students in identifying different emotions by using this adorable sort and match game.

Learn more: Frogs and Fairies

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some social-emotional activities?

The above list has many great social-emotional activities. In addition to the above activities, role-playing with a caregiver also teaches many important social skills and emotional skills.

How do you teach emotions?

Emotions can be taught in many ways. Books, conversations, and social-emotional activities are all great ways to teach emotions.

What are examples of social activities?

Social activities are activities such as group art projects, pretend play involving serving or helping, and circle time group activities.

Social-Emotional Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten

When our little ones head off for school, they take their first steps in a lifelong journey of learning. Not only will they begin to build foundational skills that will pave the way for academic success, but they’ll also learn social-emotional skills like kindness, sharing, and self-regulation that will contribute to their overall success in life. Some research suggests that social-emotional activities might be the most important work children can do in the early years. In fact, one study found that social-emotional wellness in kindergarten correlated with success up until age 25.

Here are some of our favorite social-emotional activities to use with your preschool and kindergarten students.

(Just a heads up! WeAreTeachers may collect a share of sales from the links on this page. We only recommend items our team loves!)

Teach students to identify their emotions.

Identifying and labeling feelings (your own and others’) is a valuable life skill that takes lots of practice. These social-emotional activities are not only fun and engaging for little ones, they spark essential conversations that lead to deeper understanding.

1. Read, read, read!

There are TONS of children’s books featuring interesting main characters and story lines that teach social-emotional skills. Reading about characters they can relate to, in situations they can relate to, helps young children learn valuable lessons. Here are two book lists to get you started: Picture Books To Teach Students About Kindness and Children’s Books for Teaching Social Skills.

2. Sing

Source: Centervention

Different emotions evoke different feelings in our bodies. Teach your students this song to help them learn to identify what is really going on. Also, find role-play scenarios and reflection questions.

3. Play a monster emotions match game

Source: Pocket of Preschool

Download the free game cards here. This fun and engaging game helps kids learn how to identify emotions in other people. The game begins as students walk around the room making the feeling face that matches their card. As they walk, they look for another student who seems to be demonstrating the same feeling. Once everyone thinks they have found their matching feeling friend, let them check their cards to see if they are right. Play a few rounds to give kids a chance to try out different feelings.

4. Make emotion masks

Source: No Time for Flash Cards

These masks are a great tool for talking about feelings. And all you need is paper plates (cut in half), craft sticks, tape, and markers. The activity will focus on four emotions: happy, mad, sad, and silly. For each emotion (and each mask), make a face and then ask the class to identify the emotion it represents. Once they correctly identify the emotion, have them use the marker to draw that face on one of the plates. You can use these masks during read-alouds (hold up the mask that shows how the main character is feeling) or during class conversations to reinforce their understanding of what different feelings look like.

5. Start each day with a check-in

Source: Simple Music Teaching

This chart is a fun one to help students communicate how they’re feeling. Position it next to your classroom door, and have students point to the emoji that most closely matches how they’re feeling as they enter. This activity helps students get in the habit of monitoring their emotions and gives you valuable information about your students’ moods.

Teach kids strategies to deal with hard feelings.

Being able to identify and label feelings is a great start. Knowing what to do when unsettling feelings come up is the next step. Feelings like anger, sadness, and confusion will undoubtedly arise from time to time in the classroom. Here are a few social-emotional activities to help your students learn how to cope in a safe environment.

6. Use strategy cards

Source: Liz’s Early Learning Spot

These free downloadable cards offer 23 different strategies (with pictures and words) that kids can use to manage their emotions. Print them out, punch a hole in the corner of each card, and attach them to a ring.

7. Download this free poster

Source: A Blog From the Pond

Use these posters to teach kids what to do when they feel their emotions escalating. Once they are familiar with the strategies, post the posters in your calm-down corner for kids to reference as they regroup. Included with the download are 30 great calm-down ideas like “I can count to 10,” “I can blow a feather,” and more.

8. Put together a calm-down kit

Source: Playful Notes

Stock a plastic bin with tools to help little ones manage their emotions. Include things such as strategy cards, squeeze balls, calm-down bottles, putty, and breathing exercises. For more ideas, check out this list of 40+ Things To Put in Your Calm-Down Kit.

9. Teach them yoga poses …

Source: Social Emotional Workshop

Teach your students simple yoga poses to help them get control of their bodies when emotions are running high. For best results, pair poses with deep-breathing techniques. Follow this link to access a kid-friendly yoga card deck with 34 different yoga poses (including simple descriptions) and suggested sequences of poses to use.

10. … and breathing techniques

Source: Early Impact Learning

Deep breathing reduces stress and anxiety and helps kids learn to manage their emotions. Check out this source for lots of fun ideas for building breathing breaks into your day.

Build in lots of opportunities for kids to work on social skills.

Like everyone, little ones learn best by doing. Give them lots of opportunities to interact with peers one-on-one, in small groups, and as part of a whole class, ideally with as little adult interference as possible. As they play during social-emotional activities, they’ll learn to navigate among other kids who may have different styles and opinions. Activities like creative play, building projects, board games, and partner reading are great tools to reveal kids’ strengths and challenges as they begin to figure out how to manage school in the best way for themselves.

11. Create a culture of kindness

Create a culture of kindness in your classroom. Read your students the story Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud. Then spread the love with a few of these activities.

12. Engage in compliment circles

teaching

Source: The Interactive Teacher

Holding compliment circles in class takes very little time but yields powerful results. Create an environment of respect and kindness with this simple activity that teaches kids how to give and receive compliments. For all the details, check out this blog.

13.

Source: This Reading Mama

In any social situation, conflict is bound to occur. That’s why teaching kids how to peacefully solve problems is essential. Equip your students with the tools they need to manage uncomfortable situations with these coping strategies and free poster set.

14. Play a sharing game

Source: Sunny Day Family

In Mo Willems’ adorable book Should I Share My Ice Cream?, Gerald the elephant has to make a quick decision about whether to share his ice cream cone with his best friend, Piggy. Read the story to your class and have a conversation about sharing.

Then try this fun game. Make “waffle” cones out of rolled-up sheets of construction paper, then have students practice passing their “ice cream” to a friend. Not only will students learn cooperation, but this game is also a great opportunity to use polite language such as “please” and “thank you.”

15. Watch friendship videos

Learning to get along with others takes a lot of practice. Here are 12 friendship videos that use compassion, wisdom, and humor to tackle what it means to be a good friend. Use them to jump-start conversations with your students as you build your classroom community.

Practice mindfulness in the classroom.

Mindfulness is defined as a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. Mindfulness techniques help students handle big emotions (in themselves and others) and cultivate a sense of peace and calm.

16. Introduce mindfulness with children’s books

Source: 15 Books To Teach Kids About Mindfulness

If you’re looking for social-emotional activities that incorporate reading, there are dozens of brilliant books that teach the lesson of mindfulness for preschoolers. A couple of our favorites, just for little ones, are Peaceful Panda and I Am the Jungle.

17. Go on a nature walk

Source: The Little School

Take your little ones outside to indulge their five senses. Explore the changing color of leaves, different leaf shapes, pine cones, and more. Listen for birds and other critters. Lie down on the grass and feel the earth beneath you as you look up at the blue sky.

18. Play in water

Source: Preschool Plan It

Nothing soothes the senses like water. Set up a water table in your classroom and let students engage in free cooperative play. Include your water table as a station at center time.

19. Make time for art

Source: Innovation Kids Lab

There are SO many reasons kids need to paint. Most find peace and relaxation in art. It focuses their minds and helps them look at the world around them in a much more engaged way.

20. Practice listening

Source: Fay School

Learning to listen, not only to themselves but to each other, is a critical skill for preschoolers. Take moments each day to sit quietly and listen for sounds for increasing lengths of time. Ring a chime and ask students to see how long they can hear the sound it makes. Pair students up and teach them to take turns asking questions and listening to answers. Play a round of “telephone.”

If you liked these social-emotional activities and want more articles like this, be sure to subscribe to our newsletters.

Plus, check out 50 Simple Mindfulness Activities for the Classroom.

Development of the emotional sphere of preschool children in a preschool educational organization

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Emotional intelligence of a child. How to develop in preschool children

At present, much attention is paid to the intellectual development of children - there are many programs for early education, mastery of counting, reading, English from an early age. But, it has long been proven that artificial learning is not only harmful to the child, but also dangerous. In pursuit of their own ambitions, parents miss such an important aspect as the development of emotional intelligence. And if everything is quite simple with writing, reading and counting, then the formation of the emotional sphere is a more complex process, and therefore is an important component of the harmonious development of the child.

Emotional intelligence is a person's ability to recognize and correctly express their emotions, as well as understand the feelings of other people.

Why develop emotional intelligence in children

1. Management of own behavior

is permissible, a favorite toy was selected from the child. In response, he begins to scream, cry, maybe even get into a fight. Why? Because he experiences emotions - resentment, sadness, anger.