The Problem: 

One of the many responsibilities child care providers juggle is helping children develop their social-emotional skills. But providers need tools to guide their efforts. 

One Solution:

Both parents and early care and education professionals can use the Tell Me a Story series to support children’s healthy social-emotional development. It includes guides to six children’s books with social-emotional themes. 

• When Sophie Gets Angry – Really, Really Angry 
• Jamaica Tag-Along 
• When My Mom is Sad 
• Only You 
• Knuffle Bunny Too 
• Quinito’s Neighborhood / El Vecindario de Quinito 

These are books that children will want to read again and again, and the guides make use of that. They offer suggestions on questions to ask children when you’re reading a book aloud for the first time. There are more focused questions for the second reading, and for the third. Each guide also contains a recommended activity that teaches children how to deal with strong or difficult emotions. 

In addition to the book guides, the Tell Me a Story series has materials on workshops for teachers to support professional development, workshops for parents and caregivers to support family engagement and early literacy, and a list of additional resources. 

You can find the Tell Me a Story series on the National Center for Early Childhood Health and Wellness (NCECHW) portal of the Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center (ECLKC).