Thoughts on Teaching Preschool Social Skills
When we began considering preschool options for our twins, I remember specifically telling my husband, “I honestly don’t care what they learn academically, that will come with time. All I really want is for them to learn to play well in the sandbox.” We ended up choosing a co-op which provided plentiful beautiful (and messy!) opportunities for them to interact with a consistent group of kiddos.
We have a large age gap between our twins and our two younger children. Many of my parenting opinions have changed over time, we truly do learn by living! But this is one that has remained the same. The value of early social skills truly pays off for a lifetime. Building and encouraging social emotional intelligence is exhausting and rewarding work.
This spring I began working on a unit specifically focused on building social skills for kids in pre-k and early kindergarten. The unit focuses on four of the skills that we specifically worked on with our own children.
What is a social cue?
I can greet other people.
I can respect space.
I can be a kind friend.
Each of the units provides several different ways to present this material to kiddos. As with all of my units, they are specifically designed to be versatile. They can be used in classroom settings, they can be used around the dinner table, in homeschool settings or they can be used in small social skills groups.
The ability to read body language and general social cues can not be underestimated. It allows children to build stronger, more empathetic and more intuitive relationships with peers. I am giving away two of the anchor charts that go along with the first section of this unit for free. Click HERE to download these free social skills tools!
This unit is part of a series of units for preschool aged children. Each of the three units shares the “I am growing …” theme. I loved this theme because it demonstrates to kids that each of us is growing, changing, evolving and progressing. To tie in the growing theme with this unit, I encouraged children to think of their new skills as part of a “friendship garden.” All four of the main skills focused on in this unit can be used to help make their garden welcoming, inviting and beautiful. By reading social cues, greeting others, respecting space and being kind, children can grow beautiful friendships!
This friendship garden theme is reinforced at the very end of the unit with a mini-book that children can color and take home with them. Just click on either image below to grab your free Growing My Friendship Garden Mini-Book!
This social skills unit is the second in this “I am growing …” series. The first unit focusing on growth mindset. You can check out that unit here. The unit following this one is on growing healthy habits and you can download some freebies from that unit here. All three of the units are available together in a bundle at a discounted price. Click the bundle photo below to read more about it! I love integrative health resources because we truly are holistic beings and our wellness depends on understanding the overlapping layers of physical, social and emotional health.
As always, I truly hope that these units help the children in your life to thrive and grow! We may never know how profoundly these social and emotional skills will impact the lives of our children. Thank you for the important work you are doing!