Helpful Social and Emotional Development

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

Babies:

• Make faces

• Look in the mirror and talk about the baby in the mirror

• Introduce new sights and sounds – cotton balls for a soft touch. Jingle bells.

• Play peek a boo

12 – 18 months:

• Play games

• Give names for feelings. Are you sad/happy? Sally is sad because her mommy is leaving. (child care)
  Get out of the house! Go on community outings.

18 – 36 months:

• One or two chairs – use a paper plate for a wheel. Ask questions, where are we going? The grocery store? What are we going to buy? Add friends into the game.

• Puppet play and act out scenarios.

• Dress up clothes.

*BIG BOX PLAY – take a plain box and wrap it up. Ask questions. What do you think is inside? Shake it to see if it makes sounds (you can have items in there already if you want). Have the child open the wrapped box. Put shredded paper in the bottom of the box. Hide objects inside the paper. Can be objects that the child can identify. Can be different emotions drawn on paper plates so you can talk about happy, sad etc. Include friends and take turns.