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boy hugging mixaroo

Play Your Way to Social Emotional Learning!

Your little one is learning so much! They’re working hard to build physical skills and practicing important early learning skills. But there’s another type of learning that’s equally as important as their physical and mental development, and that’s social emotional learning.

Social emotional learning, or SEL, is the process kids go through as they develop their own personal identities, learn to recognize and manage their emotions, show empathy for others, cultivate healthy friendships, and make smart, caring choices. Pretty important stuff, right?

The experts break SEL into five pillars. These include self-awareness, responsible decision making, relationship skills, social awareness, and self-management. Below, we’re sharing some playful ways to help your child practice these important skills and some of our favorite social emotional learning toys and SEL activities that make practicing these skills way more fun:

 

Self-Awareness

Exploring new interests and ideas through play helps kids discover their own unique passions and talents! Providing toys that cover a wide range of topics, from space (try the GeoSafari Jr. Talking Microscope) to fashion (check out the PaperCraft Sweet Boutique Paper Dolls Fashion Boutique!), gives kids the hands-on experience they need to find out where their interest lie.

kid usins blue talking microscope on wooden counterkid usins blue talking microscope on wooden counter

 

Responsible Decision Making

Play is a great way to help little ones understand how their actions and choices impact others. Through play, kids can practice problem solving and logical thinking and make choices and experience the consequences. Toys like the Design & Drill Bolt Buddies Rocket provide opportunities to problem solve, think critically, and make their own choices as kids assemble the pieces themselves, using a kid-friendly power drill toy and colorful bolts.

boy playing with design and drill rocket outsideboy playing with design and drill rocket outside

 

Relationship Skills

Playtime is perfect for practicing taking turns, working together, problem solving, and more. Games like Pancake Pile-Up are a great way to build these skills! Players take turns racing to the pancake pile to stack them up, one by one, and match their challenge cards first, cheering each other on as they go.

kids playing pancake pile-up outside in the grasskids playing pancake pile-up outside in the grass

 

Social Awareness

Spending time with friends and family helps kids learn to identify how others are feeling and board games are a fun way for families to spend time together! The Playfoam Family Game promotes teamwork (and creativity!) as teams race to sculpt and guess what objects players are shaping out of squishy, squashy, non-toxic Playfoam. And one-on-one games like Kanoodle Head-to-Head give kids a chance to practice winning and losing gracefully and celebrating the victories of others.

family of four playing playfoam game in the living roomfamily of four playing playfoam game in the living room

 

Self-Management

Pretend play helps little ones learn to recognize, control, and appropriately demonstrate their feelings. Acting out scenarios with stuffed animals, dolls, action figures, and other props allows toddlers to explore their emotions in a safe space. Mixaroo is a stuffed animal designed specifically for social emotional learning, with 12 easy stick, mix and match body parts enabling kids to create ever-changing, fantastical creatures representative of their ever-changing moods and feelings. The Playfoam Sand Ice Cream Sundae Set is a two-in-one self-management win with soft, soothing, siftable Playfoam Sand to calm and refocus kids’ energy and an ice cream shop pretend play scenario that has kids scooping the sand to recreate the sundaes shown on the challenge cards – complete with toppings!

boy and girl playing with playfoam sand ice cream sundae set on white table.boy and girl playing with playfoam sand ice cream sundae set on white table.

 

Healthy social emotional skills set kids up for healthy self-image, healthy relationships, and better self-control. Support YOUR kids’ social emotional learning with SEL activities like the ones we’ve suggested above!

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boy hugging mixaroo
Play Your Way to Social Emotional Learning!

Your little one is learning so much! They’re working hard to build physical skills and practicing important early learning skills. But there’s another type of learning that’s equally as important as their physical and mental development, and that’s social emotional learning.

Social emotional learning, or SEL, is the process kids go through as they develop their own personal identities, learn to recognize and manage their emotions, show empathy for others, cultivate healthy friendships, and make smart, caring choices. Pretty important stuff, right?

The experts break SEL into five pillars. These include self-awareness, responsible decision making, relationship skills, social awareness, and self-management. Below, we’re sharing some playful ways to help your child practice these important skills and some of our favorite social emotional learning toys and SEL activities that make practicing these skills way more fun:

 

Self-Awareness

Exploring new interests and ideas through play helps kids discover their own unique passions and talents! Providing toys that cover a wide range of topics, from space (try the GeoSafari Jr. Talking Microscope) to fashion (check out the PaperCraft Sweet Boutique Paper Dolls Fashion Boutique!), gives kids the hands-on experience they need to find out where their interest lie.

kid usins blue talking microscope on wooden counterkid usins blue talking microscope on wooden counter

 

Responsible Decision Making

Play is a great way to help little ones understand how their actions and choices impact others. Through play, kids can practice problem solving and logical thinking and make choices and experience the consequences. Toys like the Design & Drill Bolt Buddies Rocket provide opportunities to problem solve, think critically, and make their own choices as kids assemble the pieces themselves, using a kid-friendly power drill toy and colorful bolts.

boy playing with design and drill rocket outsideboy playing with design and drill rocket outside

 

Relationship Skills

Playtime is perfect for practicing taking turns, working together, problem solving, and more. Games like Pancake Pile-Up are a great way to build these skills! Players take turns racing to the pancake pile to stack them up, one by one, and match their challenge cards first, cheering each other on as they go.

kids playing pancake pile-up outside in the grasskids playing pancake pile-up outside in the grass

 

Social Awareness

Spending time with friends and family helps kids learn to identify how others are feeling and board games are a fun way for families to spend time together! The Playfoam Family Game promotes teamwork (and creativity!) as teams race to sculpt and guess what objects players are shaping out of squishy, squashy, non-toxic Playfoam. And one-on-one games like Kanoodle Head-to-Head give kids a chance to practice winning and losing gracefully and celebrating the victories of others.

family of four playing playfoam game in the living roomfamily of four playing playfoam game in the living room

 

Self-Management

Pretend play helps little ones learn to recognize, control, and appropriately demonstrate their feelings. Acting out scenarios with stuffed animals, dolls, action figures, and other props allows toddlers to explore their emotions in a safe space. Mixaroo is a stuffed animal designed specifically for social emotional learning, with 12 easy stick, mix and match body parts enabling kids to create ever-changing, fantastical creatures representative of their ever-changing moods and feelings. The Playfoam Sand Ice Cream Sundae Set is a two-in-one self-management win with soft, soothing, siftable Playfoam Sand to calm and refocus kids’ energy and an ice cream shop pretend play scenario that has kids scooping the sand to recreate the sundaes shown on the challenge cards – complete with toppings!

boy and girl playing with playfoam sand ice cream sundae set on white table.boy and girl playing with playfoam sand ice cream sundae set on white table.

 

Healthy social emotional skills set kids up for healthy self-image, healthy relationships, and better self-control. Support YOUR kids’ social emotional learning with SEL activities like the ones we’ve suggested above!

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