There are different social-emotional milestones for each stage of life. For infancy social-emotional milestones can include smiling socially when their parents are around and smiling at ages 1-2 months old, regulating and calming themselves during ages 2-3 months, and can show stranger anxiety while showing attachments to familiar people at ages 6-12 months (Malik & Marwaha, 2022). Activities such as peek-a-boo, singing or humming to the child, and rolling a small ball back and forth.

Toddlers can be more progressive as they explore their environment and point to and look at things that they are interested in and want for ages 12-18 months, and between 18-30 months children can play next to or near another child but only play independently while learning pretend play such as talking on a phone (Malik & Marwaha, 2022). There are some great strategies for toddlers such as playdates while sharing toys, reading books about emotions to them, and using Play-Doh to help regulate big emotions.

Early childhood between ages 3-6 years old explodes with milestones such as children learn to play with others and pretend play expands to include dress-up and play “house” with their peers while ages 7-8 can understand rules and regulation while doing easier chores (Malik & Marwaha, 2022). One of my favorite games for early childhood is the memory match game is a great activity, then you can read them books about emotions, and chores can be introduced to them at home or in the classroom.