Why Teaching Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is Important for Toddlers and Kindergarteners

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is the process of developing and applying the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to understand and manage emotions, to feel and show empathy for others, to establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

Children need social-emotional skills to thrive both in the classroom and in life. Social and emotional development is often highlighted as an important indicator for a successful transition to school. Research shows the link between social and emotional skills and school success is a greater predictor of children’s’ academic performance in the first grade than their familial background and their cognitive abilities.

Key social and emotional skills for young children that are identified for school success are:

  • Self-awareness

  • Getting along with others,

  • Following directions,

  • Identifying and regulating one’s emotions and behavior

  • Problem-solving,

  • Persistence,

  • Correctly interpreting other’s behavior and emotions, and

  • Feeling good about oneself and others.

Teaching, modeling and practice social-emotional skills are important. One social-emotional skill that can be easily integrated into your home practices is identifying and discussing feeling. Young children need to understand that no emotion is good or bad, but they are simply emotions that everyone experiences. Most importantly, it can name the emotion and manage their responses as it relates to them.

To help young children practice this skill use this free social-emotional cue cards that I’ve developed. It includes 16 different emotions with visual cues, providing an easy to build intentional moments to support social-emotional development while building early literacy skills.

During your day use these cards to engage in discussions with your toddler and Kindergartener and get them talking about their feelings.

For example, you can ask:

💛 How do you feel right now?
💛 [Point to a Card] How does the child feel? How can you tell they feel [emotion]?
💛 [Point to a Card] How can you help someone who feels [emotion] feel better?
💛 Do you remember when we read [book title] and the main character felt [emotion]? Why did they feel that way?
💛 Are there any words you recognize? Show me!

Aminata JallohSELComment