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Given current circumstances, frequent in-person social interactions may not be occurring for you and your children right now. If social interactions are a two-way street, what happens when the streets are empty, literally and figuratively?
As a developmental psychologist, I know that our young children are not doomed in the face of quarantine and isolation. Because we crave social interaction, we are driven to constantly pick up cues and important details even in indirect or minor social scenarios. One of the best venues children have for social learning at home are their wild imaginations. Parents can use toys, games, and books to facilitate their child's desires to express their emotions or understand those of others, as well as help them hone their decision-making, self-control, and cooperative skills.
Plus, concepts like turn-taking, empathy, and cooperation that are crucial to social and emotional development do not need to occur with a peer in order to be processed and encoded.
For input about how parents can facilitate their children's social and emotional experiences through play at home, I turned to Alyssa Pintar Breen, PhD, a research scientist at the Institute for Translational Research in Children's Mental Health at the University of Minnesota Twin-Cities, and mother of two boys under 4.
"Ways that caregivers can help their children learn to be socially and emotionally competent is to spell it out. Verbalize the emotional exchange for them so they now have more words and labels to attach to such experiences in the future and be able to make sense of those experiences more easily and with less distress," said Breen.
I used Breen's feedback as well as my own experiences as a psychologist and a parent to compile this list of 16 toys, games, and books that can help you give your children the best opportunities to process emotions, social cues, and their sense of self in the face of ongoing social separation.