Resources You Can Use at Home to Build Your Child’s Social Skills
Building social skills doesn’t only happen at school. Everyday activities at home can give children opportunities to practice important skills such as communicating with others, recognizing emotions, solving problems, taking turns, and building positive relationships.
Throughout my career, I have spent a great deal of time exploring resources that make learning these skills both engaging and practical for children. Below are a few resources that I have used and recommended to support social-emotional learning.
The Social Express
The Social Express is an interactive, animated program designed to help children develop social-emotional and life skills. Through relatable scenarios and interactive lessons, children have opportunities to think about social situations, make choices, and practice skills they can use in everyday life.
Parents can use the program as an opportunity to start conversations about emotions, friendships, communication, problem-solving, and making positive choices.
Within Reach Tip: After an activity, ask your child how they might use the skill they learned at home, at school, or with friends.
Centervention
Centervention offers games and activities that help children practice a variety of social-emotional skills. The website also provides free printable resources that parents and educators can use to reinforce these skills beyond the computer.
Topics include emotional regulation, communication, cooperation, social awareness, and problem-solving.
Within Reach Tip: Choose one skill at a time and look for natural opportunities throughout the week for your child to practice it.
PBS KIDS
PBS KIDS offers educational games, videos, and activities featuring familiar characters that can make learning social-emotional skills fun and accessible for younger children.
Two of my favorites are Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and Sesame Street. Their stories and activities can help introduce concepts such as identifying feelings, managing emotions, friendship, sharing, patience, and problem-solving.
Within Reach Tip: Instead of only watching together, pause occasionally and ask questions such as, “How do you think the character feels?” or “What could they do next?” This helps turn screen time into an opportunity for learning and conversation.
Remember: Practice Matters
Social skills develop over time. Children benefit from having opportunities to see a skill, talk about it, practice it, and use it in real situations.
You don’t need to turn every moment into a lesson. Simple conversations during play, meals, television shows, or everyday routines can provide meaningful opportunities to help your child strengthen their social-emotional skills.
Small moments of practice can lead to meaningful growth.
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