Friends & Feelings: Social-Emotional Development in Young Children – Virtual Toolkit

Professional Development Activity

Begin by reading the Growing Ideas: Friends & Feelings: Social-Emotional Development in Young Children Tipsheet (PDF) and completing the Growing Ideas Into Action Handout (PDF) – A resource to use as you read and use the tipsheets.

Two toddler boys eating with a spoon .

Training Materials to use right away:

Try, Review, Reflect and Plan:

Helping Children Play and Learn Together offers suggestions intended to help children develop friendships with others in the classroom. Promoting Social and Emotional Competence is a video that provides guidance on ways to support positive social emotional development in young children.

  1. Click on the first website link to download the PDF document, Helping Children Play and Learn Together.
  2. Click on the second website link to view the video Promoting Social and Emotional Competence.
  3. Select and try out some of the strategies in your program.
  4. Use the Friends & Feelings: Social-Emotional Development in Young Children Self-Reflection Guide and Documentation Sheet (PDF) to:
    • Review, reflect and plan your work with children.
    • Document your training hours.

Highly Recommended Resource:

Spotlight on Young Children: Social and Emotional Development book cover.

Hyson, M. (2023). Spotlight on Young Children: Social and Emotional Development, Revised Edition. National Association for the Education of Young Children. ISBN: 978-952331-1-5

Quick Overview:
Help children from birth through third grade develop the social and emotional skills essential to their future well-being and success.

Children’s Book Selection:

The Feelings Book cover

Parr, T. (2000). The Feelings Book. Megan Tingley Books, Imprint of Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers.

From Publisher’s annotation:

“Sometimes I feel silly … Sometimes I feel cranky … Sometimes I feel like kissing a sea lion.” There are so many different ways to feel, and author-illustrator Todd Parr believes people should not keep their feelings to themselves: “Share them with someone you love.”

Interested in additional information on this topic? Visit our Friends & Feelings: Social-Emotional Development in Young Children Selected Resources page.

Have a professional development plan? As you read the Growing Ideas Tipsheets, and use the Virtual Toolkit training materials be sure to place your handouts/documentation of this work in your personal professional development portfolio.

Updated: 07/25/2024