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My son is such a lovebug already. He always says and does sweet little things that warm my heart. For example, the other day we were lying on the floor playing a board game. He said, “Mama, I think your feet might getting cold. Here, let me tuck you in,” and ran to get his blankie from across the room to tuck my feet in. Does it get any more precious than that?
I think a big part of his big heart is how much our homeschool curriculum focuses on social and emotional learning. More than scissor skills or counting to 100 or writing his name, my primary learning objective for preschool is development of emotional intelligence and emotional regulation. All of the traditionally academic skills will come along in time. But far too many kids turn into adults without officially working on how to express their emotions in healthy ways!
Valentine’s Day Love & Friendship Sticker Poster
This free printable is a classroom poster that you can use for the month of February to talk about Valentine’s Day or use year round to talk about friendship!
Each box gives children different ideas for how they can show their friends and family how much they love them. There are circles in each corner where your child can put a sticker to “check off” each one they’ve completed that week or month.
Why This Is Important
When we start teaching our children about emotions, it’s easy to skip a few a steps. I’ve read plenty of parenting articles that describe the importance of helping young children name their emotions, especially their negative emotions.
But then what?
Once you know what you’re feeling, what do you do next?
We use this emotions flip book literally every single day to talk about healthy ways to express both positive and negative emotions.
My son’s favorite choice on most pages is ‘talk with an adult.’ He also has been using it to develop empathy—he asks me what I’m feeling and what I’m going to pick to do today.
When I was starting on my Valentine’s Day printables, I realized there was one really important emotion that isn’t in his flip book: love! I think we can all sometimes use a reminder to treat love as a verb, not just a feeling, and make sure we’re being intentional about showing our loved ones how much we care.
So this Valentine’s Day (and hopefully the rest of the year too!), let’s all share some love… and teach our kiddos how to do the same!
