Social and Emotional Development of 1-year-olds

What Does Social-Emotional Development Look Like?

Social-emotional development involves several connected skills. Understanding these areas can help you recognize what children are learning and identify ways to support their growth.

Building Relationships

Toddlers are learning to develop trusting relationships with familiar adults while becoming increasingly interested in other children. They often rely on familiar teachers for comfort and reassurance as they gain confidence exploring their classroom.

At this age, children are beginning to interact with peers but typically spend much of their time playing alongside one another rather than engaging in cooperative play.

What you may observe:

• Seeks comfort and reassurance from familiar adults.
• May show distress when separated from a primary caregiver.
• Enjoys back-and-forth interactions with familiar teachers.
• Initiates interactions through gestures, sounds, or emerging words.
• Shows interest in familiar classmates and begins seeking out particular children.
• Plays alongside other children.
• Participates in simple social games, such as peekaboo or rolling a ball.
• Shows growing confidence exploring the classroom while occasionally returning to familiar adults for support.

How you can encourage development:

• Build consistent, trusting relationships with each child.
• Respond when children seek comfort, attention, or reassurance.
• Get down on the child's level when talking and playing.
• Provide predictable classroom routines to help children feel secure.
• Allow children opportunities to explore while remaining available for support.
• Provide toys and activities that encourage children to play alongside one another.
• Model simple social interactions through games, songs, and shared activities.
• Recognize and encourage positive interactions between classmates.

Understanding and Expressing Emotions

Toddlers experience a variety of emotions but are still learning how to communicate what they feel. They often express emotions through facial expressions, gestures, sounds, and emerging words. With adult support, children begin recognizing familiar emotions in others, using familiar ways to find comfort, and making simple attempts to respond when someone is upset.

What you may observe:

• Expresses basic emotions through facial expressions, gestures, and sounds.
• Communicates a growing range of feelings with increasing clarity.
• Seeks adult comfort when upset or uncertain.
• Begins using familiar comfort objects or actions when distressed.
• Notices when others are upset and may attempt to offer comfort.
• Begins recognizing familiar emotional expressions in others.
• Uses gestures, sounds, or emerging words to communicate feelings and needs.
• Begins identifying familiar emotions, such as happy or sad.

How you can encourage development:

• Name emotions as they occur throughout the day.
• Acknowledge children's feelings rather than dismissing them.
• Respond with comfort and reassurance when a child is upset.
• Use books, pictures, songs, and everyday experiences to introduce familiar emotions.
• Model simple words for feelings, such as happy, sad, and mad.
• Help children connect their feelings with what is happening. For example, "You are sad because Mommy left."
• Provide access to familiar comfort items when appropriate.
• Model gentle and caring actions when someone is hurt or upset.

Remember, toddlers are just beginning to understand their emotions. They need adults to help them recognize feelings, communicate needs, and find comfort.

Developing Self-Awareness and Confidence

Between 12 and 23 months, children are discovering more about who they are and what they can do. They become increasingly aware of their bodies, recognize themselves in mirrors and photographs, develop personal preferences, and show a growing desire to do things independently. These experiences help children develop a sense of identity, confidence, and independence.

What you may observe:

• Responds to their name and recognizes familiar people.
• Shows growing awareness of their own body and physical characteristics.
• Recognizes themselves in a mirror or photograph.
• Begins identifying familiar body parts on themselves or a doll.
• Shows preferences for familiar people, toys, and activities.
• Communicates likes and dislikes through gestures, sounds, or words.
• Begins using their own name or personal pronouns when referring to themselves.
• Shows an emerging understanding of personal ownership.
• Makes simple choices.
• Attempts familiar activities and self-help tasks independently.
• Seeks adult help when tasks become challenging.

How you can encourage development:

• Use children's names frequently during conversations, songs, and daily activities.
• Provide mirrors and photographs to help children recognize themselves.
• Name body parts during songs, books, dressing, and play.
• Offer simple choices, such as choosing between two books or toys.
• Give children opportunities to communicate their preferences.
• Allow children time to attempt familiar tasks before stepping in to help.
• Encourage participation in simple self-help activities, such as putting toys away and helping with dressing.
• Acknowledge children's efforts and growing abilities.
• Use simple language to model personal pronouns and ownership.

Social-Emotional Development Happens Through Play

Play is one of the most important ways toddlers develop social-emotional skills. Through everyday play experiences, children practice interacting with familiar adults and peers, expressing emotions, recognizing themselves, and developing independence.

Many everyday home and classroom activities support multiple areas of development.

Important Points to Remember

• Development takes time.
  Children develop social-emotional skills at different rates. One child may confidently explore the classroom but still need reassurance when separated from a caregiver. Another may communicate preferences clearly but need help expressing frustration. Growth will look different for each child.
  
  
• Relationships come first.
  Toddlers need familiar, caring adults who provide comfort and security. These relationships give children the confidence to explore their surroundings and begin building connections with others.
  
  
• Independence develops gradually.
  Toddlers often want to do things themselves but may not yet have the skills to complete a task. Give them opportunities to try while remaining available to help.
  
  
• Look for progress, not perfection.
  Observe what a child can do independently, what requires adult support, and what the child is beginning to understand. Small steps forward are meaningful progress.

Making Social-Emotional Development Intentional

Social-emotional development does not need to be taught as a separate lesson. It is woven into everyday classroom experiences.

As you plan activities and interact with children, ask yourself:

- How can I help this child feel safe and connected?

- Does this experience provide an opportunity to interact with a familiar adult or peer?

- Can I help the child recognize or communicate a feeling?

- Does this activity encourage body awareness or self-recognition?

- How can I provide an opportunity for the child to make a choice or attempt something independently?

The goal is not to add another lesson to an already busy day, but to recognize and intentionally use the everyday opportunities to help toddlers build trusting relationships, understand their emotions, discover who they are, and develop the confidence to explore their world. You are doing more than teaching academics; you are building the foundation for a child's social, emotional, and overall development.

Discover More Ideas

• How to Teach Emotions to Children
• What are Pragmatics

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