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Social emotional learning is the process by which our children develop self awareness, self management, social awareness, responsible decision making, and relationship skills. Social emotional learning sets the stage for skills that are important to success at school, work, and life.

Learn more by clicking on this link!
https://www.cfchildren.org/what-is-social-emotional-learning/

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How can parents help their children build their social-emotional skills? Here are 10 ways that you can help teach your child this crucial skill!
Learn more by clicking on the picture below!

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Most educators know that supporting students' social and emotional wellness is critical to their overall success. We can't expect students to process information when they're distracted, hungry, tired or feel unsafe.

Now that parents and caregivers are overseeing learning at home, we need to ensure that students continue to build and practice social and emotional skills in meaningful ways, especially when distractions and anxieties from current events and in their personal communities are at an all-time high.

Social emotional learning (SEL) strengthens us as individuals and as communities, especially during uncertain times. When we practice and build our skills in self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship building and decision making, we are better equipped to navigate stressors, anxieties, and challenges. We can solve problems and work together to function at a higher level-in the classroom, at work and at home.

Regular practice is key, just as it is for any other skill like reading, math or shooting a basketball. The same ways we exercise our bodies or practice dribbling a ball, we have to practice identifying, expressing and managing our emotions. Empathy is a muscle we have to flex. By consistently doing so, when we encounter stressful situations, we have a toolkit that we can readily draw upon to help us navigate that stressor or de-escalate the conflict.

So how can we practice SEL at home? Here are ten tips that families can follow.

1. Take care of yourself, even when it feels like the last thing you can do right now.

In order to cultivate the social and emotional skills of young people, you must take care of your own mental, social and emotional wellness. Young children are sensitive to the stress of their caretakers.

We must stay calm and realistic. They sense when we are worried and anxious, and our emotions directly affect the emotions of our children. We must build in time, even if only 10 minutes a day, for our own wellness practices-journaling, going for a walk, meditating, exercising, for example. Much like putting on our own oxygen mask first before putting on a child's, we must take care of ourselves during this stressful time so that we're able to show up for others.

2. Establish routines and intentionality.

Routines ground us and provide a sense of safety and security. They are especially important for young children and children who have experienced trauma. Right now, amid the uncertainty of COVID-19, all of us are experiencing trauma. Disasters, forced isolation and other situations associated with the virus break students' usual routines.

Craft a daily routine for you and your children to stick to. Create intentional time and structure for social emotional learning. This would ideally be 5 to 10 minutes of dedicated practice every day. Use an evidence-based curriculum that provides a thoughtful scope and sequence, allowing students to build upon skills over time. At Move This World, we have opened up access to a library of free videos and activities to help you integrate this work into your home more easily.

3. Presence is not the same as being present.

Many parents may be more physically present than they ever have because they are now home. But that does not mean they are truly present due to increased work demands while supporting learning at home. Many of us are also stressed ourselves, making us less emotionally available.

It is important to dedicate structured time to connection and not assume that it will happen organically because we are more "present" now than ever before. Be intentional about when you're connecting with children and when you are working. Set daily times for playing together, reading books or singing songs.

4. Commit acts of service or kindness for others.

Practicing kindness for others helps us build an appreciation for our own lives and situations, in addition to improve our physical and mental health. Phone or write people you know who live alone or are on the frontlines to help them feel less isolated. Write a letter outlining the highlights of your day, or draw a picture of a joyful moment you've experienced or something you wish for someone else. Demonstrating kindness gives a more powerful message than just talking about it, and helps build gratitude during difficult times.

5. Engage in creativity together.

Being creative is an inherently vulnerable process, especially for older students and adults. By flexing our creative muscles, we can crack open pieces of ourselves that may otherwise be closed off, find opportunities to learn new things about ourselves and others, or learn new modalities to communicate.

Examples of creativity in action include cooking or baking together, doing puzzles, coloring or art projects, playing board games, or writing a poem or a song together. Moving together is doubly powerful in getting our blood flowing and activating kinesthetic empathy, or the ability to experience empathy through the movement of another human being. Try taking turns mirroring each other's movements or just having a dance party where you each create a new move and teach it to one another.

6. Celebrate what you can.

The days can seem long and hard to separate when they are often spent stuck inside. Try to find something small (or two or three things if you can!) to celebrate each day. Celebrate health, a new day, the sun shining. Journal three daily highlights or share them with each other. Research has indicated that when we stop to "savor the good stuff," we develop resilience to the negative events that may be happening in our lives.

7. Practice active listening.

Do not assume that you know exactly what your child is feeling or is afraid of. Ask questions, listen actively and model eye contact, and then explain what you can in response to their questions. Validate that you see and acknowledge their feelings, fears and concerns.

Research tells us to be careful in how we respond to fear and to be mindful not to redirect or diminish the feeling by saying things like, "there's nothing to be afraid of." By validating our child's emotions we help them better accept and understand their feelings, develop self compassion, and empathize with others.

8. Help your child express and name emotions.

This helps young people understand what it is that they're feeling. If children are struggling to identify their feelings, ask them to express it through drawing, a facial expression, or through a movement in their body. Older students can try journal prompts like: "If I were a weather reporter and my feelings were the weather, it would be _____ today." They may be able to describe a cloudy, gloomy day but not have the emotional vocabulary to specify their feelings.

9. Practice social emotional learning daily.

Building important habits takes practice, and just as you brush your teeth every day, students and adults need daily opportunities to identify, express and manage their emotions. Our emotions and stressors change hour to hour and day to day, and it's important that we check in with ourselves and those around us in order to understand what we all need in order to work through those feelings and move through them together.

10. Transition mindfully.

During times of stress and anxiety, it's easy to get pulled in by negative thoughts and emotions, and it is difficult to remain in the present moment. Transitions are already challenging for young children, so introduce mindful breathing as you transition between learning time, lunch time and play time. This could mean breathing in for a count of 4 and exhaling for a count of 4.

You could also quietly stretch your bodies and follow the leader, de-escalating and bringing down your "emotional temperature" so that we can quiet our bodies and minds and move on to the next thing with more focus. Identifying a color, and asking children to name everything in the room that's of that color, is another quick exercise that helps us focus and takes us away from a swirling stream of worry and confusion.

These are times filled with worry, fear and uncertainty. It is a challenge we didn't expect, and the obstacles are shifting each and every day. We need social and emotional skills more than ever, and we can lean into this event as a learning opportunity in how we react to stressful, overwhelming circumstances while juggling multiple responsibilities.

We will certainly not be perfect each moment of every day. But by opening an honest dialogue about our emotions and incorporating SEL into our days with intentionality, we are helping ourselves and our children now and for the future.

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10 Ways Parents Can Bring Social-Emotional Learning Home - EdSurge News

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Most educators know that supporting students' social and emotional wellness is critical to their overall success. We can't expect students to process information when they're distracted, hungry, tired or feel unsafe.

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Mind Yetti is a digital library of research-based guided audio sessions that helps support the well-being and social-emotional-academic of all kids grades (K Grade -5) at home and at school.

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Mind Yeti® sessions are no longer available on MindYeti.com.

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you are perfectly perfect just the way you are :)

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Grounding can help someone take their attention away from stressful or unwanted thoughts and emotions and bring their attention to their body in the present moment.

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It's easy to for our kids to overwhelmed with "Big Feelings" like worry, frustration, or sadness. Here are 12 ways you can help guide them back to peace and calm.

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Social Emotional Learning Activity - Gratitude: What made you happy today?

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Social Emotional Learning Activity - Gratitude: What made you happy today?

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There are things that make us happy every day and when we purposefully think about these things it's called gratitude or being thankful. Take a moment to remind your child what they are grateful for today by talking them about what made them happy today or something good that happened for them. Tell him about something that made you happy, as well! You can also choose to write it out and make a journal with them or draw it on a piece of paper!

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What is EMPATHY? Explaining Empathy to Kids - Emotions

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Does your child ever say, "I don't know how to do this, I'll never learn!" or something like that? We know that they have unlimited potential and that they can learn! The growth mindset helps ours kids go from a "can't do" attitude to a "can do" attitude!
Learn more by clicking on this link:
https://www.understood.org/en/friends-feelings/empowering-your-child/building-on-strengths/growth-mindset

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Social Emotional Learning Video Lessons - Relationship Skills Week 3

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Cookie Monster Practices Self-Regulation | Life Kit Parenting | NPR

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Thoughts are NOT facts.

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AboutKidsHealth - The Hospital for Sick Children

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You are not your thoughts | AboutKidsHealth at The Hospital for Sick Children

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Empathy explained

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Sometimes when we find our feelings hurt, we can use "I" statements to express our feelings effectively. Watch how Ms. Garcia helps Keelie use an "I" statement to explain our feelings in a positive way. You can try it too using the template below, just replace the parenthesis with what you're feeling, your problem, and why you feel that way!

"I feel (emotion) when (problem) because (why you feel that way)."

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Social Emotional Learning Activity- Discovering the Difference Between Needs and Wants

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Social Emotional Learning Activity- Discovering the Difference Between Needs and Wants

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Sometimes we think we really need something, but do we really need it? Needs are things that we must have in order to survive, such as food, clothing, water, and shelter. On the other hand, wants are things we would like to have because we enjoy them. For example, we need food but we want ice cream.  Come up with a list with your child of things they really need and compare it to what they want... and don't forget to remind them of all the wonderful things they have! If your child is old enough, think about having them complete chores for money and save up for what they want themselves, like a new toy or game!

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These are uncertain times, especially for kids who might not know or understand what is going on. They may get down on themselves, even you might be feeling down too! Using coping thoughts help us change the little voice in our heads from negative to positive and help us build ourselves up again!
Learn more by clicking this link:
https://discoverbrillia.com/blogs/articles/positive-self-talk-for-kids

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Social Emotional Learning Activity - Talking with kids about change

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Social Emotional Learning Activity - Talking with kids about change

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There's been a lot of change lately, and sometimes that can cause some unwanted behaviors in your child. Read the article below for 10 ways you can help your child adjust and cope with change. Some suggestions from the article include inviting your child to talk about their feelings, schedule time for them to worry without judgement, or remind them of ways they've dealt with changes in their lives before.

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Ten ways to help children cope with tough transitions in school—whether you’re their teacher or their parent.

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Social Emotional Learning Activity - Mindfulness

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Social Emotional Learning Activity - Mindfulness

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Mindfulness skills have the potential to help your child excel academically, improve their emotional regulation skills, and make them more resilient. The article below has 15 mindfulness skills you can try with your child. Some fun and easy ideas include helping your child practice "belly breathing" by placing a stuffed animal on their tummy and having them breathe in a way to see the stuffed animal go up and down, talk a walk and have them talk about the animals they see or the weather, or have them squeeze and release the muscles in their body.

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Part of living a full life is to truly experience the world around us and within us. For many who practice yoga, the concept of mindfulness is familiar and well-practiced. But if we keep our mindful techniques to ourselves, we aren't sharing an important tool of living a full and happy life.

And who else could greatly benefit from practicing mindfulness? Our children.

Teaching our children to experience, question and value the world around them not only adds to their childhood, but helps to build inquisitive and insightful adults. Children are naturally curious and uninhibited and those traits can be quite powerful, especially when focused on and expanded upon.

Children who practice mindfulness tend to perform better academically and have improved social skills.

Children who practice mindfulness have better moods and higher self-esteem. They tend to perform better academically and have improved social skills, like the ability to navigate and peacefully resolve conflicts.

Mindfulness is also considered an effective tool to deal with anxiety and aggression.

It's not difficult to teach our children mindfulness through mindfulness activities catered to their interests. Naturally, they may become impatient or not understand why mindfulness is important, but there's no rush.

Here Are 15 Mindfulness Activities for Kids:

Read the infographic for quick reference, or check out the full list for in-depth explanations of each way you can introduce mindfulness to your kiddo:

1. Start With Yourself

The best way to encourage a child to learn a new, positive behavior is to let them see you practice it. If you have a meditation practice, a gratitude journal or a pranayama practice - let them see it. Practice mindfulness openly and answer any questions that may come along.

No need to push too hard - it is always best to allow children to develop at their own pace. If we insist they do something, we are likely to be challenged or met with refusal. So first be open about your own practice and invite them to join if they wish. After a while, you may find them doing the same when you least expect it.

2. Encourage Short Bursts . . .

. . . and gradually build. Once you've caught their interest in mindfulness, you can gradually build your practice together. Try for just a few minutes at first. Too much at once is difficult even for adults. Be sure to stay positive and supportive during this learning transition, as it may take a while for them to adjust to the slower rhythms of mindfulness.

For younger kids, you might want to start with a session as short as three minutes until they can remain focused and settle for longer periods of time. There is always the option to build up to longer sessions.

3. Keep it Simple

Mindfulness is a big word for young kids to understand, so to put it simply, mindfulness = awareness. It is noticing our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations and anything around us that is happening right now.

Mindfulness, then, is simply inviting our children to stop and observe and to be present in the moment.

You don't even need to name it "mindfulness." It can be listening, feeling, noticing or being aware. Maybe use this opportunity to allow your child to name it what they want. Give them the power to choose and make it more meaningful to them.

4. Make it a Family Affair

Make mindfulness a family practice and a topic everyone openly discusses together. By creating a culture of mindfulness within your family home, you make it more of a way of life and less of a chore or lesson to be endured.

An example of a great family exercise proposed by Sarah Rudell Beach is to establish a ritual of dinnertime gratitude. Each night at the dinner table, everyone takes turns sharing what he or she is thankful for. Invite your family to find gratitude in the small, daily occurrences along with the larger more obvious occurrences.

To have the family practice mindfulness together will gradually make mindfulness a simple and easy addition to your child's routine.

Suggested Read: How Yoga, Meditation, and Holistic Living Has Benefitted My Family

5. Get Crafty

Crafts are an excellent mindfulness activity for kids. Encouraging kids to "notice stuff" is great, but you might need to make it more appealing to keep their attention and stir their imagination. You can evoke mindfulness in a fun way through a multitude of different, affordable crafting activities.

Try knitting and invite your kids to think about the feel and color of the wool along with the sound of the needles clicking. Try drawing, and think of the texture of the pencil, the smell of the paper, and the pre-history of the materials as they made their way from the woods to your kitchen table.

6. Jump!

It is important to keep in mind the correlation between mind and body wellness. Mindfulness is not just about being aware of one's thoughts and feelings, but also about focusing on what is happening in the body . . . and it can be fun too!

Ask your kids to jump up and down in place for a minute. Then invite them to sit down, with their eyes closed with their hands on their chest to feel their breath + heartbeat. Ask them to share what else they notice about their bodies during this time.

It is also important to explain to children that an active, healthy body also equates to an active and healthy mind. Have they noticed a time when their minds were sad, and a quick dance session changed the sad feelings?

Encouraging a mindful connection to the body will also help children with their emotions, making it an important mindfulness activity for kids.

7. Listening Exercise

Listening allows us to connect to the present moment and is another great opportunity for children to practice mindfulness. When children learn the skill of active listening, they invite their minds to quiet and focus on one thing . . . which can be very helpful in our highly stimulated society.

Try this active listening exercise. After ringing a bell (you can use a singing bowl or pot/pan with a wooden spoon too), ask the kids to listen closely to the sound and raise their hands when they can't hear it anymore.

Once they can no longer hear the ringing sound, ask them to remain silent and pay close attention to the other sounds they hear. After a minute, ask the kids to share every sound they noticed.

Invite feedback from your kids. How did they feel when they were able to sit in stillness and listen? Were they able to notice more than they thought they would? Encourage them to keep practicing this throughout their day.

8. Ask Awareness-Building Questions

9. Raisin Meditation

10. Explore Mindfulness Apps

This is a great way to mix the fun and interactive world of personal electronics and mindfulness for kids. Adults can benefit from this too! Practicing together with the help of a mindfulness app would be a great way to begin a mindfulness journey.

Headspace For Kids is a popular mindfulness app specifically for children that offers five themes: Calm, Focus, Kindness, Sleep and Wake Up. The activities are aimed at three different age groups (under five, six to eight, and nine to 12) and include soothing sounds, breathing and visualization exercises, and more.

11. Smell

12. Take a Mindful Stroll

You may have noticed that mindfulness is not just about sitting still. The good news is that we can practice mindfulness at any point of our day - not just in seated meditation. Kids have a lot of energy and may not always want to sit in stillness.

A short walk or movement activity is a great opportunity to teach them to be mindful any time. When they return to playtime, they may have a different outlook than before.

13. Validate, Identify, and Get Present

14. Try "Buddy Breathing"

For young children, the request to "pay attention to the breath" can be difficult to understand and hard to follow. But focusing on the breath is an amazing tool to help children concentrate, relax and create.

"Buddy breathing" is the perfect mindfulness activity for kids because it's a kid-friendly breathing exercise.

Invite your child to lie on their back as you place their favorite stuffed animal on their belly. Ask your child to focus on the rise and fall of the stuffed animal as he/she breathes in and out. To help your child breathe deeply and control their breath, ask him/her to "slow teddy down" by breathing slower and deeper into their belly.

This is a fun and interactive way for children to become in-tune with their breathing and to notice not only the control they have over it, but how it can control how they feel.

15. Squeeze and Relax!

When bedtime has arrived and your child is having trouble relaxing, a great exercise you can try before bed is "squeeze and relax." This is a great activity for loosening up the body and mind, and will help your child feel present and in-tune with their physical body.

Have your child lie down with their eyes closed and ask them to squeeze every muscle in their body as tightly as they can. Have them hold this position for a few seconds, and then fully relax and release.

Do this exercise as many times as they would like, always inviting them to remain still and breathe for a few moments to allow their body to fully relax.

15 Ways to Teach Mindfulness to Kids [Infographic] brought to you by Ozicare Life Insurance

Add These Mindfulness Activities for Kids to Your Parenting Tool Belt

These mindfulness activities for kids can be practiced anytime, anywhere and do not need any specific rules. The point is to make it something natural and part of your everyday life.

This is just the start of your mindful life together, and there are plenty more techniques to try . . . and to invent. Mindfulness is a beautiful way to bring your children's world to life.

Have you been interested in beginning mindful practices with your children but didn't know where to start? Are these tips helpful? Do you already practice some of these mindfulness activities or have techniques of your own?

We'd love to hear about your personal mindfulness practice with your kids in the comments below.

This article has been read 20K+ times. Bada bing!

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15 Fantastic Ways to Teach Mindfulness to Kids

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Part of living a full life is to truly experience the world around us and within us. For many who practice yoga, the concept of mindfulness is familiar and well-practiced. But if we keep our mindful techniques to ourselves, we aren't sharing an important tool of living a full and happy life.

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Social Emotional Learning Activity - Using Kind Words

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Social Emotional Learning Activity - Using Kind Words

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Start a conversation with your child about kind words and why they're important. You can ask them why they think it's important, times they've said nice things to others, times when they wished they used kind words, or times when they wished someone else used kind words toward them. You can have them think of kind things they can say to other people, as well!

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Stay at home activities for the whole family!

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Stay at home activities for the whole family!

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Staying home doesn't mean you have to be bored! Here are 21 ways that you can spend quality time with your family, enhance your creativity, and most importantly have fun!

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21 creative stay-at-home activities for kids & family: make educational projects, fun DIY arts and crafts, lots of things to do ideas with simple & free materials!

There are times when we have to stay at home, it could be a rainy day, or something so unexpected like the pandemic quarantine and stay home lock downs! However, we can make the best of our stay at home days and do things together that are inspiring and enriching for kids and everyone in the family.

We can use this time to learn new things, create beautiful arts and crafts, explore nature and science through fun projects, plant a mini garden, make heartwarming gifts for loved ones, and so much more!

Here are some of our favorite creative ideas of Stay-at-Home crafts and educational activities for kids & the whole family! They are mostly either free, or super low cost, using up-cycled materials or a few simple arts and crafts supplies.

1. Make painted rock art

Rocks are free materials that offer endless creative possibilities. Take some acrylic craft paints or white paint pens , and create a family portrait or write inspirational quotes on rocks and pebbles. Here are some great ideas and tutorials!

2. Regrow kitchen scraps: free gardening activities for kids and family

These are really fun and educational activities for kids and adults! Save your avocado pits and mango seeds, let's grow avocado and mango trees! You can also grow beautiful greens and plants from a sweet potato, a carrot top, onion trimmings, and lots more! Check out all the kitchen s craps you can regrow magically!

3. Build cardboard furniture : fun educational activities for kids and adults

Learn to build furniture using recycled cardboard and duct tape. It is a great family activity: the adults can cut the cardboard, and kids can do the assembling and decorating.

4. Up-cycle a container into an interactive toy

Make a candy pooping reindeer from a potato chip container and simple materials you already have at home, and learn some basic mechanics through the fun process.

5. Make pop up cards

Send a little happy surprise to a loved one with a big pop up flower hidden in a handmade card, free templates here! We can all appreciate a little extra love during a challenging time of social distancing and quarantine.

6. Create a mini jungle terrarium

Find a glass jar and create a mini tropical jungle that lasts for months with minimal care. Here's how to make terrarium in 3 easy steps!

7. Make an indoor water garden

Use Recycled glass jars to make a little indoor garden with some plant cuttings that grows happily in water. Learn which common plants will grow in water here.

8. Grow a kitchen and bath sponge

Grow your natural sponge and eat it too! Sounds too good? Learn about this wonderful Luffa plant here and grow some in your garden this year! You can find Luffa seeds here.

9. Make stickers and labels from packing tape

So many things you could do with unique stickers. See how to Make your own stickers from packing tape in this easy craft tutorial.

10. Make collage wall art: things to do on a rainy day at home

Got paper and glue? Let's make this beautiful large wall art in no time!

11. Color mandalas: art activities for kids and adults

Kids and adults all love coloring. Mandalas are believed to bring more harmony and well-being with good vibrations. Download some free coloring pages here!

12. Make leaf prints: fun nature craft activities for kids and adults

These beautiful DIY leaf prints can be used as wall art and greeting cards. You can use leaves from any season. They are so much fun to make!

13. Make giant flower decorations from nature finds

Another creative nature craft for all ages. These giant flowers will last for months. Tutorial here!

14. Make pinecone wreath

Take fun nature walk and collect some pine cones to make this easy DIY pinecone wreath.

15. Make a wreath with leaves and cardboard : free craft activities for kids and family

This easy and beautiful DIY magnolia wreath is practically free to make!

16. Paint bubble flowers: fun and easy art activities for kids

It's not just a fun arts and crafts project for kids. It is also quite irresistible for grownups! Tutorial here.

17. Paint watercolor flowers

Learn how to paint watercolor flowers in this easy step by step tutorial.

18. Sharpie art on mugs and bowls

Learn how to Create art on bowls and mugs using your sharpie markers. No baking needed.

19. Make a 3d calendar: paper craft activities for kids

This easy paper craft you give you an unique calendar while you learn about the geometry of a dodecahedron - one of the platonic solids. Free templates here.

20. Make paper flowers : paper craft activities for kids and family

Everyone loves paper flowers. Here are some tutorials to make paper cherry blossoms, and paper poppy flowers.

21. 3D paper birds and mobile art

Make a magical mobile art with some branches and easy 3d paper birds. Free templates here!

Stay well friends! And happy crafting!

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21 Creative Stay-at-Home Activities for Kids & Family - A Piece Of Rainbow

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21 creative stay-at-home activities for kids & family: make educational projects, fun DIY arts and crafts, lots of things to do ideas with simple & free materials! There are times when we have to stay at home, it could be a rainy day, or something so unexpected like the pandemic quarantine and stay home lock downs!