10+ Fun Social Emotional Activities for Preschoolers

One of the most common questions I get from parents is about how they can best prepare their preschooler for kindergarten. Of course recognizing letters, counting, and learning numbers are all important, but helping your child develop their social emotional skills is equally as important for kindergarten readiness. This list of 10 + Social Emotional Activities for Preschoolers is full of fun and creative activities that will help your child learn about emotions and feelings.

photo collage of printable emotions activities for kids.

overhead view of a free printable emotions board game.

overhead view of the s'mores emotions board game with the card for "surprised".

card with a sandcastle that says, "tell me about a time when you were excited."

a summer themed emotions game card that says "tell about a time when you were surprised".

overhead view of the unicorn emotions board game.

Recommended Grade Level:

Supply List
Coordinating Activities

Social Emotional Activity Supply List

Paper
Laminating Sheets
Laminator
Tape
Game Markers
Scissors or Paper Cutter

Talking about feelings with your child may seem intimidating and it may be hard to know the best way to bring up feelings and emotions.

This is where interactive, hands- on activities like these Social Emotional ones can help to turn learning about emotions into a game where kids are playing and learning about emotions! Kids will love these activities that are full of wonderful opportunities for talking about feelings.

From board games to printable books, there are so many options to choose from for learning about emotions. Check out our list of 51 Friendship Books for Preschoolers to find some great books to pair with these activities!

Why Should I Use Social Emotional Activities With My Preschoolers?

Preschoolers are little people who feel big emotions sometimes! By using Social Emotional Activities we can help our children learn skills that they will benefit from all of their life. Social emotional development for preschoolers is sometimes overlooked as being an important skill for young children to learn, but it is in fact one of the most important skills we can teach them!

What Are The Benefits of Social Emotional Activities?

There are endless benefits to Social Emotional Activities and the benefits will last your child a lifetime!

Emotional Intelligence: Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and manage emotions (both yours and other people’s!). By teaching kids to express their emotions in a healthy way at a young age, we can help promote social interactions that are positive and can help children develop emotional intelligence.

Self-Regulation: When we use Social Emotional Activities with kids, we can help them learn to not only identify the emotions they are feeling, but we can also help them to learn self-regulation. Self- regulation means that they are able to use strategies that can help them control their emotions. For example, we can teach children that they can take deep breaths to help calm themselves down if they know they are feeling upset, or nervous.

Help Develop Empathy: By understanding their feelings, children are better able to understand the emotions and feelings of others. This helps to develop empathy and allow children to develop the ability to comfort an upset friend and learn how to be kind and sympathetic to others.

Build Positive Relationships: When we help our children learn about emotions we are not only building a positive relationship with them, but we are also assisting them in learning how to build positive relationships with others! Children who have a good understanding of their emotions and the emotions of others are better able to form new friendships and have strong social skills. When we teach children how to appropriately react to their emotions and the emotions of others we are helping them build social skills that will be important as they get older.

I could go on and on about all of the benefits of teaching your child about emotions, but I think by now you have an idea of why it is so important! For more information about how to support your child and their emotions, here is an article from Reading Rockets with tips on supporting your child’s social emotional health.

10+ Feelings and Emotions Activities For Preschoolers:

Emotion Games For Preschoolers:

Emotional development games for preschoolers are a great way to get children talking about their emotions in a fun way. Playing a game provides little ones with a comfortable setting to talk about emotions and share experiences they have had with their emotions.

Roll An Emotion Preschool Activity:

Children LOVE play dough! One of my preschoolers favorite ways to work on emotions is by building faces with play dough.

Free Printable Gingerbread Emotions Roll & Create Activity

Preschool Emotions Printable Puzzle Game:

An important emotional skills activity for preschoolers is practicing matching an emotion to a facial expression. This provides practice with recognizing and identifying emotions.

What better way to practice matching emotions and feeling faces than by putting together puzzles!

Free Printable Gingerbread Emotions Puzzle Activity

Emotions Write The Room:

Get your kids moving and help practice emotions vocabulary with this fun early learning write the room activity!

Free Printable Write the Room Gingerbread Emotions Activity

Social Emotional Book For Preschoolers:

Books about emotions for preschoolers are a great way to get little ones talking about feelings and emotions.

This adorable gingerbread themed book is an amazing resource for social emotional learning in preschool. After you work your way through the book with your preschooler you can keep it handy to help your child communicate their emotion by finding the page in the emotion children’s book that matches how they are feeling.

Free Printable Gingerbread Emotions Mini Book

Pretend Play For Practicing Emotions:

When learning to navigate feelings, emotions, and social situations pretend play can be very beneficial for children. By using puppets or these adorable play dough friends, children can talk and role play their way through challenging behaviors and tough situations they may encounter.

Free Friends Play Dough Printable for Kids

Pretend play is a great opportunity to ask questions about emotions to preschoolers or role play how they would feel in a certain situation.

Frequently Asked Questions

These are frequently asked questions about Social-Emotional Activities for preschoolers.

What is Social Emotional Learning?

Social emotional learning is how people learn to identify emotions, develop an ability to manage their own emotions, and understand the emotions that others may be feeling.

What questions can I ask to support Social Emotional Learning?

There are many questions you can ask to support Social Emotional Learning! Here are a few: How are you feeling today? Did something happen that made you feel that way? What makes you feel happy? What are some ways we can help ourselves calm down when we are upset? How can we help a friend who is feeling sad?

What age should you begin Social Emotional Learning?

Social Emotional Learning can be taught to all ages! Beginning at birth, we can begin to make emotional connections and help model appropriate responses to emotions. Having a good foundation with emotions will only help children as they grow!