15 Ideas for Teaching Emotional Skills

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The early years are when children are the most “mold-able”.  This is the prime time to help them develop important emotional skills that will bring them to success far beyond their academics, but in life in general.

Here are 15 emotional skills activities for preschoolers to help teach how to keep our big emotions in check!

Social Emotional Learning Activities for Preschool

Managing emotions is difficult for preschoolers. Learn 15 ways to teach kids about how to manage their emotions by teaching them the right emotional skills. These 15 emotional skills activities will help kids not only improve their social skills, but have fun as well!
Include these feelings and emotions activities in your social emotional development lesson plans.

Like you, each of my kids are completely different.

My oldest is excitable. My daughter is fierce. My second oldest son is so very tender while my toddler son is tough (unless it’s naptime), and the baby is just plain happy. And like you, some of my kids are more like me than their dad and visa versa.

My oldest, while he is always wanting to take things to the next level, he is also so very kind. When the family has a tender moment he is the one to get teary-eyed. When a friend struggles with their problems he is the one to reassure them, pick them up, and help them back on track. It is wonderful to see him display such empathy, but there are times when these emotions that lay so close to the surface.

A couple weeks ago my husband was completing a fitness routine and vocalized to me that his knees were aching again. Knowing that Dad’s knees have been hurting for some time, my son immediately swelled up in tears when he overheard our conversation. We tried to reassure him that exercise will strengthen Dad’s muscles, and that really he’s doing OK, but to no avail, my son was completely overcome with emotion.

His emotion quickly turned to rebellion when we attempted to give him ways to cope with his feelings. “If you’re feeling sorry for Daddy, why don’t you join in with him real quick and give him some motivation for the last 3 minutes of his workout? That would really help him feel better.” He grew more and more withdrawn and turned inward.

I finally took him in my arms. “How can I help you right now?”

“I’m just feeling really emotional, Mom,” he said to me.

This was a positive step. It’s good to have emotions and it’s even better when kids can recognize they are feeling something other than happiness.

We all experience positive and negative emotions on a daily basis. The important part is to deal with them the right way.  

  • Identify your feelings.
  • Understand why they are the.
  • Move forward, always aiming for a more positive outlook.

These are hard lessons for a child to learn (not to mention this is difficult even as an adult). Sometimes they have to be taught in the moment, with love and understanding from a parent or teacher…but today.

Try our kindness preschool lesson plans and helping others preschool lesson plans, too! These activities can also help preschoolers learn how to regulate their emotions. We even have friendship lesson plans for preschoolers, too!

I’ve collected 15 ways to help your preschooler develop emotional skills.

FAQs About Teaching Social Emotional Skills to Preschoolers

Why are social-emotional skills important for preschoolers?

Social-emotional skills are an important part of a young child’s development as they lay the foundation for school and life in the future. They aid in the development of literacy, numeracy and other cognitive skills.

What are the 5 social emotional learning skills?

The five social emotional learning skills are self-awareness, understanding your emotions and how they influence your behavior; self-management, learning how to regulate your emotions and behaviors: responsible decision-making, making good choices; social awareness, the ability to empathize with others; and relationship skills, the ability to make friends.

What are emotional skills for preschoolers?

Some common emotional skills that develop during the preschool years include showing appropriate affection, expressing awareness of their feelings and the feelings of others, self-control of behaviors and emotions, increasing attention span, developing healthy friendships and using words to express their emotions.

15 Feelings and Emotions Activities for Preschoolers

15 Ways to Help Your Preschooler Develop Emotional Skills

Here are 15 social emotional skills activities for preschoolers. Among these are some great activities to explore our emotions and plan to deal with them forthrightly!