Early childhood is packed full of discovery, learning, and accomplishing new skills. Because of this, your child is trying to figure out the world around them while simultaneously trying to figure out themselves (kind of a lot, right?) For some parents, naming and explaining things comes naturally, but talking about feelings, thoughts, and motivations feels tricky. In this guide, we dig into the importance of self-awareness in preschoolers and provide engaging activities to build this skill.
Self Awareness Meaning
Self-awareness is like seeing into your brain. It helps you know how you feel, what you like, and how you fit into the world. Therefore, this skill is powerful! It supports you in making good choices, understanding others, and handling your emotions.
Benefits of Self-Awareness
- Understanding Feelings: Knowing how you feel allows you to make decisions, is a great starting place for managing feelings, and can help you communicate your feelings to others.
- Making Friends: Self-awareness leads to a better understanding of other people; if you can understand others, it leads to more connections and friendships.
- Problem-Solving Skills: If you are self-aware, it helps you think through things clearly and make good decisions. For this reason, being self-aware is pretty much like being a superhero!
Fun Activities to Build Self-Awareness:
Emotion Charades: Act out a variety of emotions like happiness, sadness, or excitement! A perfect game of guessing and learning how to express your feelings.
Follow the Leader: Pick one child to be the leader and move in different ways that they like. Parents or other kids can follow the leader and move the same way. It’s like playing a game showing off your favorite moves. It can also build connections if the leader and followers like the same moves!
My Favorite Things: Create a collage of your favorite things using pictures and words. A perfect art piece for any room that tells all about you!
Conclusion:
In conclusion, helping your child learn about who they are is an exciting adventure. CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) also states that self-awareness helps build the skills to work together to achieve goals, understand the value of perspective, and make responsible decisions. So try some of these activities with your preschooler today!
Wait! Do you need a resource to teach your child all about their feelings?