13.8: Supporting Social and Emotional Learning

Learning Objectives

1. Describe how caregivers can scaffold social play and model emotional expression for young children.
2. Discuss the importance of routines, responsiveness, and positive guidance in fostering a nurturing environment that supports social-emotional learning.

Promoting Positive Social Interactions

From birth, children are naturally inclined to engage with others. Social play helps infants and toddlers learn about emotions and build connections with caregivers and peers. The way caregivers encourage play can influence a child's social confidence and ability to interact with others.

• Simple, face-to-face and interactive games like peekaboo, pat-a-cake, and mirroring a baby’s coos and expressions help infants develop early social awareness and turn-taking skills.
• As toddlers grow, they begin to play alongside other children without direct interaction. This is called parallel play. Providing opportunities for parallel play, where children play near one another with similar toys, helps them become comfortable with peer interactions.
• Older toddlers begin to engage in cooperative play, where they interact directly with peers. Games that involve taking turns, such as rolling a ball back and forth or building with blocks together, teach cooperation and patience.
• Adults can scaffold social play by modeling appropriate behaviors, offering guidance in turn-taking, and helping children interpret social cues. Encouraging simple interactions—like asking a child to hand a toy to a peer or praising a child for sharing—reinforces positive social behaviors.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\). Giving children specific, positive praise, especially when they engage in prosocial behaviors, helps to encourage those behaviors are repeated. Image by Heather Carter is used with permission.

Modeling Emotional Expression and Social Skills

Infants and toddlers learn by observing those around them. When caregivers model positive social and emotional behaviors, young children begin to adopt these skills themselves.

• Naming emotions as they occur helps children build emotional awareness. For example, saying, “I see you’re frustrated because your toy isn’t working,” teaches toddlers to recognize their own feelings.
• Caregivers can model healthy emotional expression by verbalizing their feelings in a manner that is appropriate. For instance, calmly saying, “I’m feeling a little frustrated right now, so I’m going to take a deep breath,” demonstrates self-regulation.
• Reading books about emotions and social situations provides a safe way for toddlers to explore feelings. Asking questions like, “How do you think the character feels?” encourages empathy and perspective-taking.
• Toddlers often imitate adult behavior. When caregivers model prosocial behaviors (such as kindness, empathy, volunteering, donating, patience, cooperation, etc.), children are more likely to exhibit these behaviors themselves.

Creating a Nurturing Environment

A warm and responsive environment helps infants and toddlers feel secure, which supports their ability to learn and engage socially. Caregivers can create this environment by focusing on consistent and responsive interactions as well as predictable routines.

• Young children feel more secure when they know what to expect. Regular meal times, play times, and sleep routines help toddlers feel secure and develop self-regulation.
• Attuning to a child’s cues—such as comforting a crying infant or acknowledging a toddler’s frustration—teaches children that their emotions are valid and that relationships are a source of support.
• Positive guidance techniques, such as redirecting behavior, offering choices, and using gentle guidance, instead of punishment, encourage self-control and social problem-solving.
• Allowing toddlers to make simple choices, such as picking a snack or selecting a toy, fosters independence and confidence in social situations.
• Creating spaces where children feel comfortable expressing emotions—such as a cozy corner with books or a quiet area for self-regulation—can help toddlers manage their feelings effectively.

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\). Creating cozy spaces, both indoors and outdoors, where children can go for quiet time, helps them manage their feelings more effectively. In this outdoor space, a pop-up canopy is used to provide shade over pet beds for children to sit or lie while reading books. The space is clearly defined and placed away from the active play on the playground. Image by Heather Carter is used with permission.