Every parent remembers the anxiety of sending their child to preschool for the first time. Families do what they can to prepare their children academically, thinking that should be their main focus. It isn’t uncommon for social skills to take the back burner; this is where preschool social learning steps in. Human interaction is a part of daily life, and being able to respond to social cues and behave appropriately in social settings is a necessary skill for success. Without them, children have a hard time navigating relationships, handling conflict, and building confidence that leads into adulthood.

Cooperation

Preschool is the ideal setting for teaching children about cooperation. Working together toward a common goal promotes communication, critical thinking, and conflict resolution. Educators design their curriculum to offer many opportunities for group work.

Sharing

Sharing is taught and practiced daily in preschool classrooms. This may seem like an afterthought, but learning to share with others also teaches empathy, self-regulation, and conflict resolution skills. Classrooms offer opportunities to take turns, and timers are an effective tool for helping teach these skills.

Recognizing Emotions and Social Cues

Preschool is the prime environment for the acquisition of skills related to emotion identification and understanding social cues. Preschool-aged children learn a great deal from their peers and educators through modeling. A classroom setting is rich with social interactions that your child will observe daily. Each day, they gain new information and begin to implement it themselves. If it is reinforced, it will likely continue. This applies to recognizing emotions and social cues. This helps greatly when learning to regulate their own emotions. Educators foster this by identifying emotions and explaining body language as they read books.

Active Listening

Active listening is the art of fully attending to the speaker and understanding their message. This is an important communication skill. Preschoolers model active listening through observation, teaching them to appropriately express their feelings when they see others listening and reflecting. Educators respond by acknowledging students’ feelings without judgment and by working through the emotions to discover a solution to the issue.

Activities for Teaching Social Skills

Any preschool can explain the importance of social skills, but unless they know how to teach them effectively, they offer little benefit to your child. A quality preschool teaches social skills through carefully curated activities designed to do so and integrates social lessons into everyday activities. Children learn best when they don’t feel like it is a lesson. Lectures are often ineffective in teaching the core principles of social skills and emotional maturity. Some activities for teaching social skills can include:

• Puppets
• Simon says
• Building towers
• Puzzles
• Passing a ball
• Telephone

The Importance of Social Skills

Developing healthy, productive social skills early in life equips children with the skills needed to meet the demands of school and life. The better a child understands their own emotions, the better they can manage them and empathize with others. Children who learn social-emotional skills have been shown to help children develop the ability to focus, follow directions, and work productively with peers and educators. They also learn how to form positive relationships with others and are less at risk for bullying. Learning to manage social situations has also been correlated with better mental and physical health outcomes and better career opportunities later in life.

Call today to learn how our classrooms are designed to help your child learn skills to navigate social interactions.