Social Emotional Learning Books Your Class Needs 

It is essential for social emotional learning to be integrated into your curriculums, even at a young age. What better way to integrate than by giving access to good SEL books?

In fact, modeling and teaching social emotional learning through books helps our children to develop strong interpersonal and intrapersonal skills which we carry into adulthood.

As educators, it is our job to teach and practice these skills in the classroom.

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My SEL Book List for Preschool

I have compiled a list of my recommended social emotional learning books for preschool students. These are books I have read with my own children and are some of our personal favorites. 

1. The World Needs More Purple People

Written by Kristen Bell and Benjamin Hart, this book tackles the issue of division in communities and metaphorically breaks it down for the younger audience to understand how we can bring people together.

“What is a purple person?”, you may ask. In short, a purple person asks great questions, brings friends, family and community together, and speaks up for what’s right. The World Needs More Purple People is a great addition to your classroom library.

2. One Love

Written by Cedella Marley, an adaption of the Bob Marley song, One Love brings the importance of community to the forefront. This book teaches us that when we work together with love in our hearts, we can accomplish some pretty amazing things!

By learning and embodying the social emotional learning components, we can transform our communities to be a happier and more loving place.

3. Look and Be Grateful

Author Tomie dePaula was seemingly able to take difficult topics and create stories about these topics for children to understand. Look and Be Grateful is a book of few words but they are oh, so powerful.

This book teaches all about gratitude and how we can learn to be thankful for the small things. In reality, teaching gratitude is a great way for students to strengthen their self-awareness, social awareness and relationship skills. 

4. Grumpy Duck

Written by Joyce Dunbar, this book metaphorically shows that your negative actions and words can have a direct impact on the people around you, aligning with the self-management and relationship skills components of Social Emotional Learning.

I believe Grumpy Duck does a great job of encapsulating the theme of relationships and making it understandable for young readers.

5. The Noise Inside Boys

This is a good one. It holds a special place in my heart as a boy mom. I take such responsibility in raising my boys and teaching them the tools to help grow their emotional intelligence, empathy and understanding of others.

Written by Pete Oswald, the illustrations and simple vocabulary in this book keep young readers engaged and learning. In my opinion, The Noise Inside Boys is a must have for every parent and teacher raising boys. 

Takeaways

To conclude, incorporating social emotional learning into our classrooms is essential for all students and effective across cultural contexts.

Helping our students to develop these skills at a young age sets them up for much success in their future academically but also contributes to to the health of their overall well-being.

Let’s get reading!

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