Toddler Social Emotional Development
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Others Have Needs, Too
Let your child hear you express your needs. Talk in simple terms about what you need, and give her a reasonable way to help. Such as, “I need a can opener. Could you get a can opener from the drawer please?”
Show appreciation when your child helps you meet a need. Needed to find my shoes. Example, “Thank you for helping me when I needed to find my shoes.”
Help her learn to think about what others need by explaining a situation and asking her about the need. Example: “Here’s my bowl of soup. What do I need to eat it with?”
Ask your child questions about different needs. Example: It’s raining outside. What do I need to keep me dry?”
“Take Care of Baby”
What you’ll need:
1) A baby doll or stuffed animal
2) Variety of baby accessories (bottles, blankets, crib, stroller)
What you’ll do:
1) Show the baby to your child and model caring for it.
2) Engage with your hold to pretend and play as they care for the baby.
3) Watch your children play with the baby and support your child as they play.
Emotion Eggs
What you will need:
1) Plastic Eggs that break in half
2) Permanent marker
3) Clay/Play-dough
What you will do:
1) Using a permanent marker, draw a variety of facial expressions on each of the plastic eggs (happy, sad, confused, angry, surprised, proud, etc).
2) Draw different mouths on the bottom portion of the egg.
3) Use a piece of clay or play-dough and stick it at the base of the egg so that the egg can stand up.
4) Let your toddler mix match the top and bottom of the eggs to create different emotions.
5) Have your toddler make the same faces they created with the egg. Talk about those emotions with your toddler.
Teaching Strategies
Give Me the Words
Primary Objectives
1a. Manages feelings
Why It’s Important
Observe times when your child uses acceptable strategies for managing her own feelings. Also look for times when your child may be in a situation and may need your assistance to manage her feelings. Guiding your child’s behavior helps her learn how to express herself and interact well with others
Materials
None
What You Do
1. Watch your child and notice how she manages her feelings. When your child uses acceptable strategies, acknowledge the behavior and encourage it by explaining the desired outcome. For example, another child takes a truck from your child. Your child says, No. That’s my truck, and then looks at you. You might respond by saying, You told her that was your truck. Now she knows you had it first and that you want it back.
2. In new situations where you child may not already have proven strategies to try, give her words to use. For example, your child has been trying for several minutes unsuccessfully to put on her own shoes. She begins to kick her legs in frustration. You approach her and say, I know it is frustrating when you can’t get your shoes on. You always ask me for help when you get stuck. You say, “Please help me,” and I will help you.
3. Make sure you observe that your child needs your assistance before you help so that she can learn how to handle simple problems on her own.
Paper Plate Emotion Masks
What you’ll need:
1) Paper plates
2) Popsicle sticks
3) Tape or glue
4) Markers
What you’ll do:
1) Cut paper plates in half.
2) Tape a popsicle stick on the back of each plate where it curves.
3) With a marker, draw emotions on the front side of the plate. Use simple emotions such as happy, mad, sad, silly, angry.
4) Write the name of the emotions on the back of the plates.
5) Talk with your toddler about the different emotions. Use these masks when reading stories to your toddlers to help show characters feelings.