How to improve social skills in children

How to improve social skills in children
One of the areas that is essential to train in children and that many times is not taken into account enough is the social area. It is necessary to teach children from a young age good social skills, which over time will help them establish more positive interpersonal relationships and learn to know how to lead and even enjoy living with other people. Among the areas that we have to develop and strengthen in the child are empathy and assertiveness that are fundamental issues for their development.

There are many ways that we can help children improve their social skills and even one of them that is important and that we sometimes forget is by example since the vast majority of their learning is developed through observation and imitation of behaviors . In this Transkerja.com article, we will let you know how to improve social skills in children by giving you a series of tools so that you can certainly achieve it.

Activities to develop social skills in children

• Sport activities. To improve social skills in children, a good idea is to enroll your children in sports activities. By learning a new sport they relate in a healthy way with people of their age and in this way they also learn to carry out team activities through which they will increase assertiveness and empathy.
• Attend social events. Children should be taken to attend as many social events as possible. For example they can be birthday parties, communions, graduation parties, meetings, etc. so that they learn to interact in different environments with other people.
• Educate in values through example. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, children learn a lot about everything they see since they usually imitate adults and in this case parents or caregivers. That is why it is important that they are educated in values through example as we cannot ask a child to be kind and respectful of others if one as an adult is not being too.
• Promote good self-esteem. Having good self-esteem is essential to interact in the best way with other people. Therefore, it is necessary that since childhood, parents and / or caregivers instill in the child certain values such as self-care, the importance of self-image and self-esteem. How can we do it? Caring for and respecting the child, teaching him ways to take care of himself and respecting him and sometimes it is advisable, from 4 years of age, that if you notice that the child has a psychological problem take him with a professional to value.

4 activities to develop social skills in the classroom

In order to improve social skills in children you can also help yourself with some activities or exercises perfect for it. Here we show you 4 of the most effective:

Positive phrases

This exercise is used to promote empathy and the practice of values such as respect and personal recognition. To carry it out, children are asked to form a circle and pass a plastic ball to each other. The music is turned on and they pass the ball, taking into account that as soon as it stops, the one who has stayed with the ball at that time should choose a partner and make a compliment or positive phrase.

Empty nest

This type of exercise is used for the child to learn to solve problems in a team in a peaceful and fun way and at the same time favor the relationship with their peers. To carry it out, the children are asked to take their hands in pairs and with their arms outstretched make a space in which a partner can enter in the middle. Trios are made first where everyone has a partner in the middle of the "nest" and then they are asked to change their nest or to form different pairs to form a new nest.

Team drawings

Teams of 4 or 5 children are formed and each team is provided with sheets of paper and a pencil. Rows are formed and in front about 2 meters from each row the paper is placed. The teacher tells them a topic about which they should draw a picture, such as a family or a house, so the children run to make the first drawing, then when the teacher yells at them: “already”, they should leave it up there and run to give the pencil to the next partner and so on. In the end, among all the teams, choose the drawing that you liked the most, no matter if it was not your team.

Musical hugs

This is a widely used exercise in the classroom to promote greater and better interaction between children. To carry out this exercise, it is only necessary to have a speaker where you can listen to music and a space that is adequate and clear enough so that children can interact without any problem. The steps to follow are those:

• The children are placed in a space not very small where they can dance to the rhythm of the music.
• They are explained that the objective of the game is that they start dancing as soon as the music plays and when it goes out they have to quickly hug the first partner they find nearby. Making it clear that no partner should be left without being hugged.
• Before the music begins, it is indicated how many people have to be hugged, starting first with 2, then 3, until finally getting a group hug. The music starts and stops at any moment waiting for all the children to have hugged and so on.