Feelings & Social Skills Curriculum
1. What is Feelings & Social Skills Playground?
The Feelings & Social Skills Playground is an early childhood social-emotional learning playground built for children aged 3 to 8 (Preschool through 2nd Grade). It fosters empathy, emotional regulation, sharing instincts, and peer conflict resolution.
By pairing dynamic procedural SVG illustrations (procedural face engine with eyebrow and mouth curvature, social dilemmas, and calm-down breathing tools) with evidence-backed CASEL standards, children learn how to understand what they feel, interpret how others feel, and practice kindness every day.
Visual faces showing eyebrow angles, smiles, tears, and blushing cheeks for deep emotional recognition.
Real-world scenarios with sand timers, trading toys, and taking turns without tears or tantrums.
Evidence-based self-regulation: 3 belly breaths, sensory counting, hugging plushies, and quiet corners.
Step-by-step guidance using I-statements, apologizing sincerely, and finding joyful compromises.
2. CASEL 5 Social-Emotional Learning Framework Matrix (Informed by CASEL)
Learners explore 10 developmentally calibrated levels informed by the 5 CASEL competencies:
| Level | SEL Developmental Milestone | CASEL Competency Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Core Feelings: Happy, Sad, Angry, Scared basics | Self-Awareness (Identifying basic emotions) |
| Level 2 | Reading Facial Cues: Eyebrows, smiles, frowns, tears | Social Awareness (Interpreting facial expressions) |
| Level 3 | Feelings in Daily Life: Ice cream drops, teddy hugs | Self-Awareness (Situational emotion triggers) |
| Level 4 | Expanding Emotions: Surprised, Proud, Frustrated, Silly | Self-Awareness (Nuanced emotional vocabulary) |
| Level 5 | Kind Words: Active listening, please/thank you, praise | Relationship Skills (Positive communication) |
| Level 6 | Calm-Down Choices: Belly breaths, counting to 5, calming pauses | Self-Management (Emotion regulation & calming) |
| Level 7 | Sharing & Turns: Timers, fair trades, waiting patiently | Relationship Skills (Prosocial sharing behavior) |
| Level 8 | Empathy Explorer: Helping a fallen friend, perspective taking | Social Awareness (Perspective taking & empathy) |
| Level 9 | Friendship Builder: Inviting others, welcoming new students | Relationship Skills (Inclusion & friendship) |
| Level 10 | Social Conflict Solver: I-statements, sincere apologies, compromise | Responsible Decision-Making (Peaceful problem solving) |
3. Explore All 12 Social-Emotional Practice Topics
Match relatable emotional clues and situations with their accurate feeling name.
Connect feelings to what they mean inside our minds and bodies.
Determine whether early daily events make someone feel happy or sad.
Imagine your internal response to specific everyday milestones and challenges.
Inspect procedural vector faces with custom eyebrows, smiles, tears, and blushes.
Notice what a classmate is feeling and choose how to provide comforting support.
Learn practical ways to share: setting timers, trading toys, and playing together.
Choose uplifting compliments, polite requests, and empathetic phrases.
Encourage peer inclusion: inviting someone sitting alone on the buddy bench.
De-escalate disputes with calm talk, coin tosses, and I-statements.
Navigate real-world dilemmas like accidental juice spills and lost items.
Master self-soothing tools: 3 belly breaths, sensory grounding, and relaxing pauses.
4. Frequently Asked Questions
1. What age group is this emotions playground built for?
The playground is tailored for children aged 3 to 8 (Preschool through 2nd Grade). It begins with core emotions (happy, sad) and progresses to thoughtful peer conflict resolution and calming habits.
2. How does this playground teach emotional awareness to young children?
Children learn through procedural visual faces, relatable peer stories, and interactive choices. By inspecting eyebrow angles, smiles, tears, and bodily signals, young learners learn to put words to their own feelings and read peers' emotions.
3. Can children who do not read yet play independently?
Yes! Built-in Web Speech narration automatically reads scenarios aloud. Each answer choice has a dedicated tap-to-listen speaker button, accompanied by clear expressive graphics and large tactile buttons.
4. What is the Guess-Adjusted Score in the Parent Dashboard?
Behind a parental gate, the dashboard calculates a score adjusted for multiple-choice guessing probability: (Accuracy - Guess Rate) / (1 - Guess Rate). This provides an informal baseline of practice recall and is not a clinical or developmental evaluation.
5. How does the in-session retry queue work?
If a child selects a less thoughtful option on their first attempt, that scenario re-emerges 1 to 3 turns later within the same session, allowing them to reconsider the dilemma and reinforce prosocial habits.