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When you’re two years old, a lot of things feel like the end of the world.

Maybe a bug landed in your juice. Maybe you got a pudding stain on your favorite shorts. Maybe your left sock is a little more droopy than the right one, and you can feel a bit of sand in there.

Whether these problems are irreversible catastrophes is beside the point. What matters is that in the moment, they feel like disasters.

So if you’re staring down at that bug floating in your juice, and you feel a meltdown coming on, of course it’ll seem completely absurd when a grown-up tells you:

“You’re okay.”

It’d be hard to find an adult who hasn’t used the phrase to try to comfort an upset child. But the thing is, it just doesn’t work so well — and in some cases, it can make the problem worse. In this article, we’ll talk about how this problem fits into the bigger picture of self-regulation skills, and what we can do to help children tackle tricky emotions and daily frustrations when they bubble up.

So let’s look at what we need to do to move away from “you’re okay.”

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Why “you’re okay” doesn’t really work

First, it’s important to understand that everybody says “you’re okay” with the best intentions.

You want children to be okay, and to reassure them that everything will be alright. And you know that most things that upset two-year-olds aren’t really catastrophes. So of course when you say it, you really mean it.

But when you’re in a situation where you get that urge to say “you’re okay,” odds are that children just aren’t in the right state to take those words to heart.

When children get upset or stressed out, they lose access to their brains’ prefrontal cortex. That’s the logical thinking department — it’s what we’d use to remind ourselves that a spilled cup of applesauce is not, in fact, the end of life as we know it. But in the heat of the moment, our brain’s stress response overpowers the prefrontal cortex. So children just can’t use those emotional tools they need to regulate their emotions.

But also, saying “you’re okay” invalidates children’s very real feeling that, in that moment, things are not okay.

Especially when children are just learning to understand and label their own emotions, negating what they’re feeling sends some confusing mixed signals. And if we do this too much, we risk giving them the impression that it’s not okay to share our feelings with others.

Sue Asquith, an early childhood consultant and a specialist in children’s self-regulation, explains that our biggest priority in these moments of stress should be validating and acknowledging children’s feelings.

“You want children to know they’re secure, that you’ve got their back, and you’ll help them through it,” she says. “We can treat these moments as opportunities to learn more about our children and what matters to them, rather than treating it like a challenge to wash over or sweep under the rug.”

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What you can say instead of “you’re okay”

In those moments where the “you’re okay” impulse starts to bubble up, our biggest priority is teaching children that it’s alright to show and share our emotions.

Whether or not it’s reasonable to be upset over that droopy sock isn’t important. To the three-year-old that would gladly eat a bowl of grapes and ketchup for lunch, ‘reasonable’ has never really been a big priority anyway.

So instead of saying “you’re okay,” which focuses on minimizing the problem, Sue Asquith recommends phrases which focus on validating children’s feelings.

Here are three you might try instead:

I can see that you’re upset.

I’m here for you — I’ve got your back.

It’s okay to be feeling this way.

How you respond in the moment, and how you comfort children, is going to depend on each individual child. Maybe you sit down with them, or use a soft tone, give them a hug, or suggest a different activity to get their mind off the problem.

But right then and there, Sue says, it’s enough to just acknowledge that they’re upset.

“It’s not about fixing what’s gone wrong. It’s about trying to understand the situation from the child’s point of view,” she says. “Over time, we can start to understand each child’s triggers, and build up their strategy bank, so they’ve got the tools to cope with those feelings when they happen.”

The bigger picture: Building self-regulation skills

To help children deal with catastrophic events like bugs landing in their juice, we’ve got to look at building up their self-regulation skills. But that sort of learning isn’t something we can do in the meltdown moment.

As Sue explains, the teachable moment comes after the fact.

“Once the child has calmed down, you can come back to them and say, ‘Wow, that was a really powerful moment for you. I could see you were really upset about that,’” she says.

When we revisit the problem, it’s easier to help children understand why it happened, and what they can do when they’re feeling that way.

Here are some of the ways we might look to boost children’s self-regulation toolkits:

‍Giving children the words to describe their feelings. Oftentimes, children can’t even express what’s going on inside them, which adds another layer of frustration. Recognizing a feeling, and knowing how to share it, makes it easier to deal with the next time it happens.‍

Helping children understand what they’re sensitive to. Perhaps children are particularly upset by certain noises, physical sensations, or social situations. We can help them recognize those triggers, and anticipate when they might happen.‍

Building up children’s libraries of coping tools. Maybe it helps a child to move to another room or try a different activity when they’re upset, or perhaps there's something they can tell themselves that makes the problem seem less scary.

Ultimately, this is about helping children build that self-regulation skill set, so that they feel confident to puzzle through frustrations and other tough feelings on their own. And when we’ve made that emotional knowledge part of children’s long-term learning, it becomes a lot easier to move away from “you’re okay.”

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Here are three things you can say instead.

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Help your child recognize and express their emotions with these tools and activities designed to build emotional intelligence from an early age.

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Emotional Intelligence Activities for Kids: fun activities to teach kids how to identify, understand, and manage their emotions.

The concept of emotional intelligence became very popular in the mid-90s when Daniel Goleman hit the New York Times bestseller list and stayed there for more than a year.

Goleman reflected on the fact that a high intelligence quotient (IQ) does not necessarily lead to success. And, research confirms that emotional intelligence, also known as emotional quotient (EQ), may be as important (or more) than IQ.

Research seems to support the benefits of emotional intelligence

Being able to identify our emotions and others', and to use them to guide our cognitive processes and self-regulate, can positively benefit many areas in our lives:

Quality of social relationships

Work performance

Mental health

Source: D.E.Grewal & P.Salovey in A Life Worth Living: Contributions to Positive Psychology

Emotional Intelligence Frameworks

Mayor and Salovey (1990) had already described emotional intelligence as the "ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions."

Mayer and Salovey proposed a model of emotional intelligence comprised of four ability areas:

Perceiving emotions
The ability to identify accurately our own emotions and others'

Facilitating thought using emotions
The use of our emotions to facilitate thought. Analyzing emotional information may assist cognitive activities like reasoning, problem-solving, decision-making, and consideration of the perspectives of others.

Understanding emotions
The ability to understand emotions, connections between different emotions and how emotions change over time and situation.

Managing emotions
The ability to regulate our own emotions and help others with their emotional regulation.

Goleman's framework identifies 18 competencies organized into four clusters:

Self-awareness

Self-management

Social awareness

Relationship management.

For the purpose of the emotional intelligence activities that we will explore in this article, I will follow a similar framework, with five clusters that capture both the personal and the social dimensions of emotional intelligence:

Self Awareness: the ability to understand our emotions, our strengths and limitations, and how all those affect us and others.

Self-Regulation (or self-management): the ability to manage our emotions, cope with change or stress, manage conflict, adapt/be flexible

Self-Motivation: the drive to meet our needs and goals

Social Awareness: the ability to understand other people's feelings and needs.

Social Skills: the ability to interact with others (social skills include assertive communication and listening skills)

(Disclosure: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. You can also read our Disclosure & Disclaimer policy here)
Fun Emotional Intelligence Activities for Kids

Let's explore now some great ideas to help our kids' emotional development while they have fun!

Self-Awareness Activities for Kids

The following emotional intelligence activities will explore emotions, personal strengths, and self-confidence:
1. Emotions Charades
Playing feelings charades gives kids an opportunity to display different facial expressions and body language to express different feelings. It's a great way to explore how people show their own feelings in different ways and to develop your child's emotional intelligence.

We use our emotions flashcards in our charades games.
2. Emotions Drawing
Ask your kids to draw faces with different emotions. For younger children, it can be as simple as emoji-like faces in different colors.

As they grow older they will be able to start adding more details and identifying the signs that indicate different emotions.
3. Emotions Pictionary
Play Emotions Pictionary. A player draws big feelings, and everyone else needs to guess the emotion
4. Emotions Worksheets
We use our basic emotions worksheets to explore basic emotions and facial expressions, and learn how each emotion feels in your body and mind.

(It includes six basic emotions: joy, sadness, anger, disgust, fear and surprise)

5. Feelings Journal
Journaling is a great tool to process feelings and develop our emotional intelligence. Taking the time to reflect on their daily lives in a safe space can help kids' interpersonal skills.

Our Cool Kid Journal is an example of a feelings journal for kids who struggle with angry feelings.
6. Spot the Emotion
Grab a magazine or a photo book and check how many different emotions you can you spot. How did your child or student identify each particular emotion?
7. Emotions Matching Game
We also use our feelings printable flashcards for this emotional intelligence activity.

Each time that we match a set, we read the emotions definition, and we ask questions about that emotion (When did you last feel that emotion? How do you recognize that emotion? How does it feel in your body?) It's a great way to learn different types of emotions and expand emotional vocabulary.

During the game, ask about their feelings and take a few minutes when you are done to reflect on how different parts of the game made them feel.
8. Model emotions with playdough
Modeling with playdough is a fun activity that may help kids work on their social and emotional skills, creativity, and fine motor skills.

In this case, we are focusing on the social and emotional parts of the activity.

You can use this activity to:

work on the recognition of emotions through facial expression

start conversations about feelings and emotions.

We use these emotions playdough mats for this activity.
9. Emotions Matching Game
We also use our Feelings printable flashcards for this emotional intelligence activity. Each time that we match a set, we read the emotions definition, and we ask questions about that emotion (When did you last feel that emotion? How do you recognize that emotion? How does it feel in your body?) It's a great way to learn different types of emotions and expand emotional vocabulary.

During the game, ask about their feelings and take a few minutes when you are done to reflect on how different parts of the game made them feel.
10. Personal Strengths Awareness Activity
Create a strengths list or inventory, and ask the child to highlight any strengths they have and display. Sometimes your own list will be able to capture in kid-friendly language great ideas and positive qualities that you wish a child to reflect on and were not captured in these lists above (behavioral strengths, cultural strengths.)

Related: 28 Self-Awareness Activities for Kids

Self-Regulation Activities for Kids

Sef-regulation is the ability to manage your emotions, cope with change or stress, manage conflict, adapt/be flexible.

The following activities may help kids practice this emotional intelligence dimension:
11. Breathing Exercises
Deep breathing is one of the most important self-regulation strategies.

Breathing techniques are powerful tools to help kids learn how to cope with big emotions. Start by having them take deep breaths to release negative emotions. Ask them to picture their feelings in their minds and let their breath release them.

I have a very detailed post with different breathing techniques for kids.
12. 54321 Grounding Technique (Mindfulness Exercises)
Mindfulness practice can be a useful tool to help kids of all ages regulate their emotions and control their impulses and worries.

My favorite mindfulness activity is the 54321 Grounding Technique. It will distract your child from their anxiety triggers, help them focus on the present moment, and relax.

Ask your child:

Name 5 things you can SEE in the room

Name 4 things you can FEEL

Name 3 things you can HEAR

Name 2 things you can SMELL right now

Name 1 thing you can TASTE.

I have a specific post about the 54321 technique (it includes some tips and a free poster)
13. Mindfulness Adventure Walk
Get into nature! Taking a walk is a great way to quiet your mind and give time to reflect.

Mindful walking is a fun mindfulness activity to practice when you take your kids or students for a walk to and at the park.

Ask your kids to count every bird, insect, or any animal they see or hear on their walk. This enhances their senses and directs their attention to the present.

Choose a flower and let them smell it.

Recommended reading: 20 Fun Mindfulness Activities for Kids

14. Squeeze a stress relief ball with your hand / release it
The premise of this relaxation method is that physical relaxation will lead to a feeling of calmness. You tense and then relax your hand muscles until you start feeling relaxed (I sometimes give my daughter her squeeze ball before I tell her something that I know will not go down well!)

15. Hug tight a soft toy
One more tensing-relaxing exercise. You can also teach your kids how to "breathe in / hug tight / breathe out / relax", repeating this cycle several times till they start feeling calmer

Motivational Activities for Kids

We have described motivation as the drive to meet our needs and goals. These are some motivational activities for kids:
16. Positive Affirmations for Kids

Create mantras throughout your day to help you and your family be able to adjust their mindset. Write them in high-traffic areas like the kitchen fridge or on the bathroom mirror.

Some mantras that can help with emotional intelligence are:

I am kind, thoughtful, and a good friend

Our goal is to connect with others

I am always learning to be my best self

Take some time to sit with your family and come up with one or two mantras that will work for you!
17. Keep a Goal Tracker
Setting goals contributes to generating the drive to achieve.

There is a substantial body of research that suggests setting a goal helps us stay focused on the tasks and activities that will make us succeed while keeping our energy and efforts high.

A goal tracker is a must-have tool to help us stay focused and change strategies or increase practice if required.

Social Awareness for Kids

Social awareness can be described as the ability to understand other people's feelings and needs. It would include attributes like empathy (the ability to sense others' feelings and perspectives)
18. Gratitude Activities
Come up with ways for everyone to express gratitude in some way. It could be writing a nice note, making a special gift, or even keeping a gratitude journal.

Related: Fun Gratitude Activities for Kids
19. Start a One-Week Kindness Challenge
Kindness helps build positive and meaningful social connections. It also improves life satisfaction and happiness.

So, why not start a one-week kindness challenge?

Social Skills for Kids

Our social skills are a set of abilities that help us to interact with others successfully (social skills include assertive communication, conflict-resolution, and listening skills)
20. Emotions Role Play
I'm a big fan of role-play activities. In this case, it is a great opportunity to be able to express a wide range of emotions in a safe environment.

Write out different social situations that young children may encounter and then have your kids or students pick one. In a circle, have everyone read their situation and discuss as a group different ways to tackle that problem. These don't all need to be difficult situations since developing the positive emotions of others is a valuable skill. Some examples of what to write could be:

You just opened a present at your birthday party, and it's exactly what you wanted

You arrive at an amusement park, but your favorite ride is shut down.

Your friend wants to sit with a new group of people at lunchtime.

21. Conflict-Resolution Prompts / Emotions Story
Ask your kids or students to write a story based on a prompt (a type of difficult situation that the child may come across.)

They will need to come up with a good way to solve the situation using a variety of social skills as well as communication skills. It will also help them work on the understanding and expression of emotions, and how to use that information to solve the conflict.

Related: Conflict-resolution activities for kids
22. Practice an assertive communication style

Emotionally intelligent kids know how to express their opinions and needs while they respect other people's views.

Resources: Assertive Communication for Kids
23. Enjoy board games family time!
Spending a rainy afternoon with our family playing board games comes with a lot of benefits when it comes to social-emotional learning.

Board games are a fun way to learn important social skills in a safe space with a small group of peers or family members.

Some benefits of playing board games that can help kids' social-emotional intelligence develop are:

Better relationships

Expressing negative feelings in stressful situations

Learning how to have a proper emotional expression in a group setting

So, let's add an example of a social skills board game to our list:

Social Skills Group Activities (6 Board Games): These games target: morals, good manners, empathy, friendship, and emotional skills (showing emotions and managing emotions)

24. Friendships Activities

Brainstorm what makes a good friend.

Some ideas to mention: kind, helpful, talk nicely to people, don't exclude others, don't say ugly things about others.
25. Family Conversations
An important part of our social-emotional learning happens at home.

Discuss the highs and lows of the day at dinnertime. Everyone can share the best (highest) part of their day and the worst (the lowest) part of their day. In this activity, it's easy to ask then follow-up questions on how it made people feel in an easy way.
26. Listening Skills Activities: Whole Body Listening Activity
"Whole Body Listening" is one of the most popular tools to teach younger kids listening skills.

Whole Body Listening (developed by speech-language pathologist Susanne Marie Poulette)

teaches kids that listening engages all your senses:

Eyes on the speaker

Mouth quiet

Hands to yourself

Body facing the speaker

Brain thinking about what the speaker is saying

Note: be flexible, some students may have difficulties with eye contact.
Recommended Reading: Social Skills Activities for Kids

And these last two activities may cover several of the five dimensions that we have chosen as the structure for this article:
27. Reading Books
Reading children's books is one of my favorite emotional intelligence activities. Whether the book helps with self-regulation or learning different situations to help establish better skills, this is one of the best social-emotional learning tools.
28. Watching Movies
Watch a family movie and discuss the emotions displayed and how the characters deal with them.

One of our favorites is Disney's Inside Out, where Riley's full range of emotions start a journey that explores joy, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust. In this movie, kids learn how all emotions are important and necessary.

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28 Fun Emotional Intelligence Activities for Kids

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Emotional Intelligence Activities for Kids: fun activities to teach kids how to identify, understand, and manage their emotions.

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Foster social skills through games that encourage sharing, communication, and teamwork. These activities are perfect for playdates or family time.

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Activities and games for socialization are a great way for your child to learn how to behave around their peers, no matter if he is a toddler, a preschooler, or just started kindergarten. Games can teach skills like taking turns, managing emotions, and reading body language.

Use these evidence-based social skills activities to help your child build positive social behaviors and learn how their actions affect others. With these games, they can become more independent and maintain healthy relationships throughout their lives.

1. Staring Contest

Many children have trouble maintaining eye contact in conversation. A staring contest can help kids make and keep eye contact in a way that allows them to focus on that task, rather than trying to communicate simultaneously.

If your child still feels uncomfortable, you can start smaller. Place a sticker on your forehead for them to look at and then build toward having a conversation.

2. Roll the Ball

It's never too early to start building social skills, and a game of Roll the Ball suits children as young as toddlers. Kids take turns rolling a ball back and forth between them, laying the foundation for other social skills.

Kids learn to carry this skill into taking turns in conversation or joint activities. They also learn self-control by aiming the ball toward their friend and rolling it hard enough to reach them yet with limited force.

3. Virtual Playtime

Sometimes, your child can't have play dates in person, but they can still spend time together over video chat and other online spaces. Video chats help kids make eye contact by looking at their friends on the screen.

Learning to adapt to new situations becomes a valuable trait, whether with social distancing or in their future workplace. Coming up with new ways to spend time together increases problem-solving abilities, which adds to a set of vital social skills.

4. Emotion Charades

Emotion charades involve writing different emotions on strips of paper. Your child picks one out of a hat or bucket. Then, they must try to act out that emotion.

Emotion charades can help children learn to recognize emotions using facial and body cues. You can even adapt social skills activities like this to create a game similar to Pictionary, where children draw the emotions.

By depicting and acting out emotional expressions and reactions in social skills activities, children learn emotion management, which plays an important role in creating positive relationships and communicating feelings.

5. Expression Mimicking Games

When you play this game with your child, you're teaching social skills with expressions. Mimicking your expressions allows your child to understand what certain expressions mean and recognize them when others make them in real conversations.

When kids with social challenges learn to read facial expressions, they become more comfortable in situations involving them.

6. Topic Game

You can play several variations of the topic game, but the most common one involves choosing a topic and naming things that fit into that category using each letter of the alphabet. For example, if you choose animals as the topic, you might come up with:

The topic game teaches kids to stick to one subject and follow directions until they complete the activity. It also helps them make connections and get creative with letters that have fewer options.

7. Step Into Conversation

Step Into Conversation is a card game made for children with autism. The game presents structured social skills activities, like starting a conversation and talking about specific subjects based on cards.

The game helps kids learn how to talk to others appropriately and carry a conversation with perspective and empathy. It teaches good manners and self-control by showing them how to politely enter a conversation, when to talk, and when to listen.

By using socialization games like this one, you give structure to conversations to develop the social skills necessary to handle different situations in their daily life.

8. Improvisational Stories

Many children tell stories even outside of intentional social skills activities. With improvisational stories, you add another challenge that requires them to collaborate and create a narrative without thinking about it beforehand.

For this activity, place cards with pictures or words face down. The child picks three of these cards, and they must include these objects or topics in the story they tell. The game ends when all the cards are gone, or the kids reach the end of their story.

You can use this activity as a multiplayer game where children take turns adding to the story and building on each other's ideas, or one child can tell you their own story.

9. Name Game

With this simple game, kids roll or toss a ball to someone after they call out their name. Social skills activities like this one work well for helping even toddlers learn their peers' names. It shows that they are attentive to others, and it's a step toward getting to know other people.

10. Simon Says

Simon Says builds social skills for kids' self-control, listening, and impulse control as they copy their peers' movements and follow instructions. It also helps keep the attention on the game and rewards good behavior for those who follow the rules throughout the game.

11. Rhythm Games

You can incorporate rhythm games as a social skills activity both at home and in the classroom. These music-making games let your child be creative while following directions and recognizing patterns.

A 2010 study by Kirschner and Tomasello shows that joint music-making helps social behavior. In a game where children must "wake the frogs" with music, the researchers found that kids who followed the rules by making music were more likely to help others who tried waking the frogs with non-musical means.

12. Playing with Characters

These social skills activities involve tapping into your child's natural tendency to play. Using stuffed animals or dolls, you can interact with your child through the toys.

Having conversations through toys teaches kids to recognize behaviors and communicate their feelings. They practice their social skills through the toys in an imaginary, low-risk environment, without worrying about the toys' hurt feelings.

13. Play Pretend

Kids will typically create a scenario in which they pretend to be someone or something else. For example, they might play house and take on the roles of parents, become a doctor, veterinarian, teacher, or cashier. Each of these situations allows them to explore different social skills activities.

As they pretend to parent another child, for instance, they must learn to recognize and respond to emotions, de-escalate situations, and adapt to new situations.

14. Token Stack

You can adapt token stack from board games like checkers to create social skills activities that teach children how to have a considerate conversation. Every time the child speaks and responds appropriately, they add another token to their stack.

They face the challenge of trying to stack their tokens as high as possible while taking turns speaking. This activity makes them focus on having a calm conversation and giving thoughtful responses to questions and statements.

15. Decision-Making Games

Social skills activities like decision-making games come in many forms. By using strategy games or activities as simple as sorting and matching, your child learns persistence, thoughtfulness, and cooperation with others.

These games help kids with indecision, as they ask the child to make a choice, even if it's not right the first time. It demonstrates low-risk consequences and encourages them to try again if they make a mistake.

16. Building Game

When children work together to build something, like a tower using blocks, they must communicate, take turns, and understand each other to bring their creations to life.

Kids will work together to come up with a method to build their items. When they apply it, they learn to try again if the creation falls and celebrate each other's unique abilities when they finish the project successfully.

17. Community Gardening

Community gardening works differently than other social skills activities in that it teaches children to nurture a living thing.

Gardening with others increases social competence by having your child take care of something and learn responsibility, as they cannot neglect their plants. This activity also gets kids outdoors and can help calm them.

18. Team Sports

Children can participate in team sports through their school, on a recreational team, or even play with friends in their backyard. Team sports show kids how to work together toward a common goal and keep their focus on the game.

They also learn to recognize emotions, like when someone gets hurt or scores a goal, and react appropriately when they win or lose.

19. Productive Debate

A productive debate works well for older kids to learn how to manage emotions and work on positive expression, even in challenging situations. They learn how to have difficult conversations calmly, without turning them into an argument or trying to insult the other person.

People who can debate and listen to their opponents develop more of the skills needed to become leaders in the classroom and workplace.

20. Scavenger Hunts

During scavenger hunts, children work together to find objects or get a prize at the end of the activity. By working toward their goal, they learn teamwork, organization, and positive decision-making. They can split up, move as a group, and collaborate to reach the end of the game.

They also get rewarded for cooperating. These activities help them with creative problem-solving abilities by making up clues for other players to solve.

What's Next?

Using evidence-based social skills activities and games helps your child build social skills while doing something they enjoy. You can adapt any of these activities to something that engages your child and allows them to get creative with their socialization.

However, activities and games can only go so far. The Positive Action social skills curriculum is designed to work in tandem with activities like these and more to help your child identify their self-concept and shift this introspection to their social interactions. We feel social skills start within.

Explore our sample lessons for even more ways to encourage your child's social-emotional learning, or contact us to find out how our program can improve your child's social skills and have fun doing it today!

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20 Evidence-Based Social Skills Activities and Games for Kids

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Find out how children can develop healthy social skills such as empathy, emotion management, communication using these 20 evidence-based activities.

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Introduce mindfulness practices to help young children manage emotions and build self-awareness. These resources include guided activities and techniques.

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Mindfulness Exercises for Kids in the Classroom - Waterford.org

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Use these 51 mindfulness activities to help children recognize and manage their thoughts, emotions, and actions—all important SEL skills.

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51 Mindfulness Exercises for Kids in the Classroom

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Boost early literacy with activities focused on phonemic awareness. These exercises are designed to be engaging and age-appropriate.

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Phonological and Phonemic Awareness: Activities for Your Pre-K Child

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Phonological awareness is a set of critical pre-reading skills: the ability to hear, identify, and play with the sounds in spoken language — including rhymes, syllables, and phonemes. Children with strong phonological awareness skills are ready to become readers.

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A curated list of books perfect for read-aloud sessions with young children. This list includes recommendations for various age groups.

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Yesterday afternoon, I went into my daughter's first-grade class to read out loud to the class, and February 5, 2020 is World Read Aloud Day! And, those two events got me thinking that I should share some of our favorite titles to read aloud, books that my husband and I enjoy reading, that lend themselves to being read naturally, that children love hearing, and that have illustrations conducive to a larger group... So, today, I've got a list of more than 20 of our favorite books to read aloud to groups of children!

So, what makes a great group read-aloud book? First of all, it needs to be fun to read aloud. Funny accents or overly dramatic narrators always get laughs from both adults and children. Of course, as the reader, you have to be ready to get into full character in both of those cases... Humor and/or surprise also go a long way in keeping a group engaged! Books that are written in very well-done rhyme also make wonderful group read alouds, but they have to be done well, or else you'll trip up over extra syllables or words that don't quite really rhyme. Predictable books or books with repeated refrains can be fun for groups of children, as they start to chime in together to finish pages. While interactive books are tons of fun for one-on-one read alouds, remember that in a group, only one child at a time can do the interacting, so choose those carefully...

Terrific Books to Read Aloud to Groups of Children

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Any Elephant & Piggie book by Mo Willems - These books are pure brilliance packaged in two of the silliest, kindest friends. They're written completely in dialogue, which makes them fun to read out loud (though you might want to practice your best Gerald and Piggie voices ahead of time), and they make kids crack up! Our preschool used to read Can I Play, Too? as one of their repeated readings at the beginning of each school year, and the whole room of 3-5-year-olds would be laughing every single day. My favorites to read out loud (because they're really dramatic and fun!) are I Am Invited to a Party!, Can I Play Too?, Let's Go for a Drive, A Big Guy Took My Ball!, and I Really Like Slop!.

Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems - Another Mo Willems gem, this one tells the story of Leonardo (a terrible monster), Sam (a very easy-to-scare little boy), and their unexpected friendship. Sam has an amazing monologue in the middle of it that is tons of fun to read aloud if you embrace your inner child!

by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Scott Magoon - In my third grade teaching days, our media specialist came in one DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) Day and read this, as well as Rosenthal's books immediately below, to my class... And those third graders ate them up! I was pregnant with our older daughter at the time, and the first thing I did when I got home that night was order these books for our home library. Though the humor is somewhat more abstract (perfect for that room of 8- and 9-year-olds!), our girls have been loving this since they were toddlers!

, and Little Oink, all by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Jen Corace - This series is so much fun! In each book, the main character really, really wants to live in a manner unexpected for his/her species (for example, all the pig wants to do all day is clean, and the pea LOVES to eat his vegetables instead of dine on candy like the rest of the peas). Our four-year-old proudly announced a few weeks ago that she could read Little Pea, which she can... Because we have read these books that many times to her!

Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld - So, apparently I have a thing for Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and apparently she had a thing for writing hilarious books that children love (along with some delightfully touching books, too, like Plant a Kiss and ). This one is bound to engage children in heated debate over whether the animal pictured is indeed a duck or a rabbit.

The Questioneers series by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts - I have to admit I don't love reading the newest one (Sofia Valdez, Future Prez) quite as much as the first three, which makes me sad, because I love the storyline... But I struggle more with the rhythm of it than I did in the first. That said, give me or and I'll read it whenever you ask! They have important takeaways, terrific role models, and easy-to-read rhyme and rhythm, so they're a hit every single time in our house! You may be hard-pressed to find elementary classrooms that haven't yet experienced the amazingness of this series, but preschoolers may be ripe for listening!

It's a Tiger! by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Jeremy Tankard - What happens when you go for a walk in the woods, admiring the snakes all around you, only to find that one of those snakes is, in fact, the striped tale of a hungry tiger? And then, when you run away, he follows you everywhere! The seek-and-find nature of this book, as well as the unexpected ending, will have children engaged from the very first page.

The Great Fuzz Frenzy by Janet Stevens, illustrated by Susan Stevens Crummel - I first discovered this book when I was working as an assistant in a second-grade classroom, and my lead teacher read this as a way to introduce dialogue in a Writing Workshop lesson. Not much could be funnier than a group of prairie dogs stumbling upon a tennis ball and fighting over the fuzz! Be sure to practice your deepest, scariest prairie dog voice before reading this one out loud.

There's a Dinosaur on the 13th Floor by Wade Bradford, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes - Y'all, my girls ADORE this book. By now, they've basically got it memorized, so none of the twists and turns take them by surprise any more, yet they still beg and beg for us to read this one. The characters are diverse and silly, giving you as the reader ample opportunity to put on a terrific show for your audience!

by Carson Ellis - This one has actually won the E. B. White Read Aloud Award, so you know it's a good choice! Be sure to read it ahead of time, as it's written in a completely made-up language, so you're going to want to practice some of these words before performing in front of a rapt audience. You can read my full review here.

After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again by Dan Santat - This one stands out from the others on the list because it's neither written in rhyme, nor is it silly, nor is it interactive... But it's terrifically written, beautifully illustrated, and has an important message. Plus, I guess it could be considered silly when you think about the fact that it's the sequel to the story all children know about Humpty Dumpty falling off of a wall. Regardless, it's always a hit with kids!

The Circus Ship by Chris Van Dusen (and really any other Chris Van Dusen book, too) - Chris Van Dusen is a master of writing rhyming books that are just begging to be read aloud! This story has a beyond-ridiculous character that is fun to act out, as well as an intricately illustrated seek-and-find page that you don't want to miss. If you can't get your hands on this, you might try reading any of his " If I Built..." or " Mr. Magee" stories, also written in amazing rhyme, or even Hattie and Hudson, which doesn't rhyme but still reads-aloud wonderfully. You can read my Instagram review of The Circus Ship here.

All of the above books are perfect for groups of preschool and elementary-aged children. For slightly older children (upper elementary), I love reading Chris Van Allsburg's lesser-known books (they all know The Polar Express and already, so choose just about anything else from him). They've got incredible twists of fate, usually taking the audience completely by surprise. You can read about a few of my favorite Chris Van Allsburg books here, here, here, and here.

What did I miss? What books do you absolutely love to read out loud to a group of children?

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Yesterday afternoon, I went into my daughter's first-grade class to read out loud to the class, and February 5, 2020 is World Read Aloud Day! And, those two events got me thinking that I should share some of our favorite titles to read aloud, books that my husband and I enjoy reading, that lend themselves...

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Engage your child in games that promote language development, including vocabulary building and sentence structure.

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Language development is a key aspect of any child's growth, and many parents worry that they could be the cause of their child's speech delay. More often than not, that isn't the case, though.

Did you know that regular speech and verbal activities can help your child develop their speaking ability and avoid language development delays? To put your mind at ease, we'll show you five fun-filled, engaging language development activities for your 2-3 year old that you can implement in your daily routine to help them learn and grow.

What Is a Language Development Delay?

First, let's establish what exactly a language development delay is. A language development delay is when a child has difficulty understanding or using spoken language at an age where it should come naturally to them.

Examples of speech and language that a child could be struggling with include:

Saying first words

Learning new words

Responding to language

Understanding sentences and words

Putting words together to make a sentence

Building up a vocabulary repertoire

5 Language Development Activities for 2-3-Year-Olds

While some of these delays are associated with specific conditions, like autism, Down Syndrome, or deafness, many of them occur naturally on their own.

Since many language development delays occur naturally, it's important to work with your child to keep them on track and prevent them from happening in the first place. Early intervention specialists have gathered a collection of activities and exercises to do with children to help aid them in their language development.

Here, we'll cover five fantastic language development activities for 2-3-year-olds that you can use as your child grows.

1. Play "Name This Thing"

It's easy to play the "Name This Thing" game, but it can significantly impact your child's speech and language development. Simply point to various objects in your house and ask your toddler to name them. Help them along the way by naming the object yourself, then allowing them to do so. The goal is that eventually, when you point to household objects, your child will be able to recognize and name them themselves.

This game is a fantastic way to improve a toddler's vocabulary. One of the best parts about this activity is that it can be played anywhere - in your home , the supermarket, or even a park!

2. Read Books

Reading to your toddler on a daily basis is a terrific way to introduce them to new words. Early-level books with simple storylines and pictures are best to keep them entertained and engaged. As you read along, ask your child simple questions about the story and what they see on the pages. Asking them to identify what's in the pictures is excellent, too.

Remember if your child has a shorter attention span, you do not have to read every word on each page when first beginning. Point and name pictures and actions on the page and turn to the next page to keep momentum going and maintain joint attention with your child.

Reading to toddlers will significantly improve their vocabulary and teach them to respond accurately to questions they're asked.

3. Use Toys and Puppets

Various toys and puppets can be great tools for working on language skills. Give your child puppets or toys that you can make characters out of (dolls, action figures, stuffed animals, etc.) and allow their imagination to come to life. Show your children how to use the toys to have conversations; once you show them the way, they'll quickly catch on and take over.

Using toys to work on conversation and vocabulary is a fun-filled way to captivate your child. Through play, they'll learn how to answer questions, have a conversation flow naturally, and stay engaged with other people.

4. Sing Songs

One of the most enjoyable language development activities for 2-3-year-olds is singing songs. Research studies have shown that music is an excellent aid for memory and language learning. The brain is made up of neurons that use electrical and chemical impulses to transmit and process information in the brain. These neurons are fired up when we sing, increasing synaptic growth. To put it more simply - music is like exercise for the brain .

Singing simple nursery rhymes and songs to your children is a wonderful way to introduce new words while assisting with focus, memory, and language development. Plus, music causes the brain to release dopamine (a.k.a the happy hormone), so you'll have a happy toddler on your hands .

5. Build With Blocks

Sure, building blocks are a carefree toy to play with. They're also a top-tier tool to use during language skill development. Playing with blocks with your child is an opportunity to introduce words and phrases they'll use in their everyday lives. Introduce terms like "higher up," "fall down," and "left and right." You can also use building blocks as an opportunity to work on naming colors and counting numbers.

In addition to speech, blocks can also facilitate imaginative play - which boosts the development of problem-solving and self-regulation skills.

Are You Concerned About Your Child's Language Development?

If you're trying to engage your 2-3-year-old in some of these activities, and they just don't seem to be able to get the hang of it, it may be a good idea to consult with an early interventionist . The team is here to help. Work with you one-on-one and answer any questions you might have.

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Language Development Activities for 2-3 Year Olds - About Play

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Here are five fun-filled, engaging language development activities for your 2-3 year old that you can implement in your daily routine to help them prosper and grow.

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Engaging an infant in tummy time helps to strengthen their neck and shoulder muscles. Here's a collection of activities to make tummy time more enjoyable.

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Supervised tummy time is important for a baby's physical development. Tummy time also allows your baby to visually explore the environment in a new way. When positioned on their back, they can see only the ceiling and whatever is directly around them. But on their stomach, they use their muscles to lift their head and see the world at eye level, giving them a completely different view of the world-a new perspective!

If your baby doesn't tolerate tummy time-and even if they do-these activities can make it fun:

Activity #1: Tummy to Tummy

It's a good idea to begin exposing your baby to tummy time while you're both still in the hospital. The earlier you start, the more likely your baby will accept the stomach as a natural position. In fact, before the umbilical cord has fallen off, you can position your newborn on your stomach or chest while you are awake and in a reclined position on a chair, bed or floor ( with a pillow to support your head), tummy to tummy with baby.

Take this perfect opportunity to socialize with your newborn and encourage lots of eye contact. Talk in animated tones and use exaggerated expressions to get them to look at you. It's a special time to bond tummy to tummy.

Activity #2: Lap Time

You can also position your baby tummy down across your lap lengthwise while providing head support. Remember to keep their head aligned with their body. If they fall asleep in that position, just transfer them to the bed ( but place them down to their back). For more stimulation, slowly raise and lower your legs at the same time, then move them slowly from side to side. This motion will likely calm your little one.

Activity #3: Side lying with support

Side lying is a great alternative to tummy time if your baby doesn't tolerate being on teir stomach. Place your baby on a blanket on their side; if needed, prop their back against a rolled-up towel for support. If their head needs support, place a small, folded washcloth under their head. Both of baby's arms should be in front of them, and you should bring their legs forward at the hips and bend their knees to make them comfortable.

Don't forget to distract your baby with a fun toy or read them an entertaining book while they're in this position. It is best to set up a regular time for tummy time and side lying, such as after naps, baths or diaper changes. Just be sure to have a plan in place and take care to vary your baby's position every 10 to 15 minutes during playtime.

More tummy-time tips to keep in mind

Think about textures. Babies need to be exposed to a variety of textures throughout the day, and tummy time is the perfect opportunity to accomplish this. When your baby is on their tummy, the skin on their stomach, legs, arms and face touches the surface on which they are lying. The most natural place to play is on a clean floor, a nap mat or blankets of different textures. (Note: Blankets should be secured so they don't slide around when baby moves their arms or legs.) As they move their body, arms and legs against the surface, the friction that is created lets them know where their body is located in space.

Dress down. Also, your baby will gain strength and flexibility during tummy time. Dressing your little one in an infant body suit or "onesie" for tummy time allows them to feel the various textures on their arms and legs. Better yet, if there room is warm enough, just dress them in a diaper!

Remember

Strive to expose your baby to a variety of positions throughout the day, including time spent in your arms and on your lap. Remember, babies crave emotional interaction and connection with their parents.

More information

Adapted from Retro Baby, 2nd Edition (Copyright © 2022 American Academy of Pediatrics)

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tummy time; physical development; flat head; suffocation; sids; back to sleep; stomach; abdomen; supervised play; build strength; neck muscles; awake; daily activity; physical

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3 Tummy Time Activities to Try With Your Baby

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sleep~American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) discusses the importance of tummy time for babies and provides activities that will make tummy time fun.

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Baby sign language: A helpful communication tool

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Babies can learn and use sign language as a life skill, enabling them to benefit from its communication advantages.

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Want to help your children deal with stress and adversity? It's easier than you think

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Stress and the Healing Power of Connection

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Stress and the Healing Power of Connection

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Stress and the Healing Power of Connection | AAP

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About

Paul Ekman is an American psychologist who is a pioneer in the study of emotions and their relation to facial expressions. He has gained a reputation as "the best human lie detector in the world". Eve Ekman is currently a Post Doctoral Scholar at UCSF's Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. Ekman's research interests were inspired by her experience as a medical social worker in the emergency department of San Francisco General Hospital coupled with her training in the applied emotion regulation and mindfulness intervention: Cultivating Emotional Balance, CEB.

Donate

This project was generously supported by the Dalai Lama Trust. To give back, and to help bring more emotion awareness to the world, consider donating here.

Additional Resources

Here are some of the publications that guided us, or that you might be interested in seeking out to learn more.

Personality Trait

Each emotion has a corresponding personality trait that represents a longer term manifestation of an emotion.

Psychopathology

Each emotion relates to distinct psychopathologies, which describe a persistent behavior that interferes with one's ability to function.

Signal and Message

Description of what signals are

Partially-Charted Emotions

Half or less than half of emotion scientists believe there is convincing evidence that each of the following is an emotion.

The Scientific Basis For This Work

The Emotions Atlas is based on the consensus among scientists (in the choice of the five emotion continents and the relationship of emotions to moods, personality and psychopathology), the work of a few scientists who focused on the naming of states within emotions, dictionary definitions in the glossary, and theory or best guesses about the actions for each state and whether they are constructive or destructive. For more information, see "What Emotion Scientists Agree About", by Paul Ekman Perspectives in Psychological Science, in press.

Emotional Episode Timeline

Impediments and Antidotes

Here are some ways to counteract emotional states. Impediments apply to blocking a positive emotion, antidotes apply to reversing negative ones.

Intrinsic or Intentional?

Actions can be intrinsic (take place without intent) or intentional (active attempt to enact change) or both.

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The Atlas of Emotion is a tool to help people better understand what emotions are, how they are triggered and what their effects are, and how to become aware of emotions before acting on them.

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This requires a free account to access the resources.

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Interactive exploration of infant brain development

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Explore our interactive Baby Brain Map to learn more about caregiving during key stages in early childhood development.