Social-emotional learning (SEL) is a critical element of a child’s development. Children who have developed social-emotional skills can manage their emotions, relate well with their peers, perform better academically, and experience fewer disciplinary issues. 

Since children aren’t born with these skills, families and teachers play a huge role in developing them in early learners. If you’re wondering how to support child development by building social-emotional skills, this article will help. We’ll discuss the importance of scaffolding and social-emotional learning, SEL skills you want your young learners to develop, and a few scaffolding techniques for supporting child development with SEL.

Scaffolding and child development

Scaffolding is a teaching method where adults support and guide children to learn concepts or skills faster than they would on their own. It involves providing children with the right tools and support at the right time. For example, if a child is struggling to grasp a concept such as reading a new word, you can offer hints or suggestions about how to sound out the individual letters. This kind of support allows children to figure things out while still maintaining their independence in completing a task. 

Another example of scaffolding is by demonstrating. For example, you can teach your learners how to hang up their backpacks by simply picking up a backpack and hanging it where it should go. Most teachers use scaffolding daily through natural interactions without necessarily being aware of it. However, if you practice intentional teaching, scaffolding is one of the strategies you’re sure to use at every opportunity.

Scaffolding involves bridging the gap between what the children already know and the new knowledge they obtain. To teach effectively, educators  must offer developmentally appropriate support so that children can successfully move on to the next level of learning. Teaching children overly complex concepts can leave them frustrated, while introducing  concepts they’ve already mastered can leave them unchallenged, delaying their progress.

Why is scaffolding important?

Scaffolding is important in early childhood development because it:

• Reduces uncertainty and anxiety 
• Reduces reliance on memorization
• Facilitates engagement and motivation 
• Helps with identifying learning gaps
• Builds confidence in learners
• Challenges children to become better learners
• Is flexible, making it suitable for different  learning styles and development stages

Scaffolding in child development sets a solid foundation for building social-emotional skills, promoting positive interpersonal relationships and good mental health. Traditionally, social and emotional learning isn’t considered a core element of the educational system. After all, it’s not as straightforward as literacy, which you can easily teach and assess. However, SEL is critical for a child’s development.

Recent developments resulting from the pandemic fueled the importance of SEL in schools. McGraw Hill surveyed parents, teachers, and administrators to get their opinions on the importance of SEL and found that their awareness and prioritization of SEL continues to grow. In addition, all educators in the survey reported that developing essential SEL skills in the classroom is critical.

Social-emotional skills

Social and emotional skills play a critical role in children’s development. When preschoolers learn these skills, they are more capable of managing their emotions, communicating effectively, and understanding their own feelings and the feelings of others.

The following are some of the various social-emotional skills that are important for children to develop:

Sense of self

In preschool, children are beginning to learn about themselves. Sense of self or self-identity helps preschoolers see themselves as unique individuals through their personal characteristics, culture, gender, ethnicity, and abilities. For example, they know their favorite color or the nature of their hair (straight, wavy, or kinky). When children have a strong sense of identity, their confidence grows.

Sense of competence

When children have a sense of competence, they feel capable of successfully solving problems and learning new skills like drawing, assembling puzzles, or dressing themselves. This “can do” attitude helps them step out of their comfort zones, persevere when they face challenges, and develop positive self-esteem. Having this skill also makes them feel comfortable asking for help when they need it.

Emotional awareness

Emotional awareness helps children recognize and identify their own feelings as well as the emotions of others. Emotionally aware children develop the ability to talk about their needs and feelings, for example, “I’m sad today because Lilly doesn’t want to play with me”. This skill also helps children stay calm during stressful situations and ask for help when needed.

Community participation

This skill helps children take part in the classroom community. They learn to participate in routines like hanging up their backpacks and putting away toys and materials. They also learn to share responsibility for the classroom by performing duties or classroom jobs like pencil monitor, weather reporter, and book arranger.

Empathy

When children develop empathy, they recognize others’ feelings, putting themselves in others’ shoes and imagining how they may feel. They learn to listen and understand what the other person is saying. Empathetic children engage in positive behavior like sharing and helping others. They’re also less likely to engage in bullying.

Using good manners

When children use good manners, they’re showing respect for their peers, teachers, parents, and others. From greeting others with “hello” or “good morning” to displaying basic table manners to saying “please,” “thank you,” and “excuse me,” good manners help children develop into polite and respectful human beings.

Sharing

Sharing teaches children the concepts of fairness and giving to others. Sharing also helps them make and keep friends, play cooperatively, and take turns. They also learn to share materials and space with peers and teachers.

Scaffolding techniques and social and emotional learning (SEL)

Now that you know what skills your children should learn, let’s explore how to scaffold child development with social and emotional learning.

Show and tell

This technique involves using visual cues and gestures while talking with the children to show them what to do. For example, you could put toy trucks into a box as you say, “When we’re finished playing with the trucks, we put them back in the box.” This technique is also helpful in drawing children’s attention to their peers’ feelings. For example, you could look at a child’s face as you say, “Look at Casey’s face. He’s sad because no one has invited him to play. I’m sure he’d feel better if you share the blocks with him.” Show and tell is especially beneficial to children having difficulty understanding the meaning of some words.  

Visual aids

You can use visual aids like pictures, charts, videos, and diagrams to introduce new concepts, reinforce old ones, and support struggling learners. For example, to help children recognize facial and body cues for different emotions, you can use emotion cards. Each card has a picture of a face showing an emotion, with the corresponding word under it. The expressions help children develop empathy as they begin to recognize others’ feelings, and the words help them learn new vocabulary. You can also display a good manners poster, with images and words, to remind the children to use polite words like “please,” “thank you,” and “excuse me.”

Think-pair-share

This collaborative strategy helps learners process new information and ideas with their peers. First, you ask a question and give the children a few minutes to think about it. For example, you could say, “Camille would like to play with a stuffed toy. She notices Lucas playing with two stuffed toys. How should she ask Lucas for one of the stuffed toys?” Then you can pair up the learners so they can share their answers one at a time. You can also get the whole class involved by having the children raise their hands and share their answers with the class. 

If you’re looking to create lesson plans for your program, try brightwheel’s lesson plan feature. You can create custom lesson plans within minutes and easily make edits, add milestones, reuse lessons, and communicate with families. This tool contains all 50 states’ learning standards, DRDP learning frameworks, and Montessori progress indicators. You can also customize your lessons to meet the needs of your program development framework.

The bottom line

Supporting child development in the early years by building social-emotional skills mainly involves providing suitable activities, guidance, and feedback. By laying a solid foundation for children to build on, you will equip them to develop strong emotional skills that will serve them well throughout their lifetime of learning.