40+ Books that Teach Children Social-Emotional Skills – AEPS-3 – Early childhood assessment & curriculum

40+ Books that Teach Children Social-Emotional Skills

Published February 28, 2024

Picture books are an excellent tool for teaching and reinforcing the social-emotional skills young children need for social and academic success. Today’s post offers some curated lists of books that help with specific skills, such as empathy, managing anger, and dealing with anxiety. Recommended by the authors of the evidence-based SEL curriculum Strong Start: Pre-K, these books correspond to the lessons in the curriculum—though they can be used in any setting at any time.

Understanding Your Feelings

This booklist corresponds with Lessons 1-3 in Strong Start: Pre-K. In these lessons, young children improve their emotional vocabulary, awareness, and resilience skills through fun application activities. The books on this list can help reinforce children’s understanding of their many emotions.

Understanding Other People’s Feelings

This booklist corresponds with Lesson 4 in Strong Start: Pre-K, which shows young children how to identify common physical cues or clues to help understand how another person might be feeling. These books are a great way to build on children’s awareness and understanding of other people’s emotions.

When You’re Angry

This booklist corresponds with Lesson 5 in Strong Start: Pre-K. In this lesson, children learn to understand the physical signs of anger in their bodies, identify common situations that might lead people to feel angry, and determine if responses to anger are done in “Ways that Help” or “Ways that Hurt.” Use these books to deepen children’s understanding of anger and how to deal with it in constructive ways.

When You’re Happy

This booklist corresponds with Lesson 6 in Strong Start: Pre-K. Young learners practice identifying common physical sensations associated with feeling happy, recognizing actions and situations that are more likely to lead to this positive feeling, and using a “Happy Talk” technique to cope with adverse situations in a positive way. This list of books can help promote children’s awareness of happy feelings and celebrate fun and positivity.

When You’re Worried

This booklist corresponds with Lesson 7 in Strong Start: Pre-K, in which children are taught to apply specific behavioral, affective, and cognitive skills to situations that might cause them worry and anxiety. The following books can help children deal with feelings of worry that they may encounter in new or scary situations.

Being A Good Friend

This booklist corresponds with Lesson 8 in Strong Start: Pre-K. In this lesson, children learn and practice some basic interpersonal communication skills, such as using a nice voice, being a good listener, and using appropriate body language. The following books are a great way to teach and reinforce important friendship skills.

Solving People Problems

This booklist corresponds with Lesson 9 in Strong Start: Pre-K, in which children are taught how to resolve peer problems by applying their skills for coping with anger and using Happy Talk. The books on this list can help demonstrate how children can resolve interpersonal issues positively inside and outside the classroom.

Use the books in today’s post to start important conversations with young children and teach them key social-emotional skills in a fun and engaging way. Share these with parents, too, to help them increase their young children’s knowledge of healthy and positive behavior.