Friendships are everything nowβhelp your child navigate this social landscape.
These activities teach empathy, peer leadership, inclusive play, and the emotional skills to maintain healthy friendships.
Your child navigates friendships, group dynamics, and social hierarchies with growing awareness. They understand loyalty, fairness, and the pain of exclusion. Social skills are as important as academic skills for school success.
Stay connected to your child's social world. Teach empathy, assertiveness, and inclusion. Help them problem-solve social conflicts without solving conflicts for them. The social skills they develop now shape their relationships for years to come.
Social-emotional competence at six years builds the empathy, conflict resolution, and peer leadership skills that predict healthy relationships throughout life.
Go deep on interests. If they're obsessed with dinosaurs or space, lean into itβpassion fuels learning better than variety.
Challenge is motivating. Kids this age seek activities that stretch themβtoo easy is boring, just right is engaging.
Build in reflection time. After an activity, ask what they learned or what they'd do differentlyβthis cements learning.
Balance structure and autonomy. Provide guidance and materials, but let them direct the detailsβthis builds agency.
Teams work together to launch and catch a ball using a shared blanket β a high-energy cooperative game that builds teamwork, communication, and tons of laughter.
Play structured waiting games that make patience feel fun β using timers, counting, and silly challenges to build impulse control.
Use red-yellow-green zones to teach kids when to stop, slow down, or go with their emotions β a visual tool for self-regulation.
Work together as a team to follow clue cards around the house to find hidden treasure β building communication and cooperation skills.
Carry a stuffed animal on a blanket together without dropping it β a silly teamwork challenge that requires communication and coordination.
Run team relay races where the goal is to help your team finish, not to win alone β building sportsmanship and group spirit.