The educator intentionallyThe educator acts in a planned, thoughtful and purposeful way. helps children to notice connections between their feelings, actions and emotions. They teach children how to communicate their emotions to others.

Evidence indicates that teaching awareness of emotions can improve children’s understanding of their feelings, and their self-regulationHow children monitor their emotions and thoughts, and adapt their actions in different circumstances..

Based on the evidence, educators should prioritise:

• naming and labelling emotions
• enabling children to recognise facial expressions
• supporting children to make links between their experiences and emotions.

Educators could use stories and books to do this, as this was a feature of many successful studies. This supported children’s understanding of their emotions. It also developed their understanding of others’ emotions, beliefs and thoughts.

We recommend that educators use this approach with all children. Evidence indicates that it might be particularly beneficial for children

• experiencing stress at home
• receiving less support for their development at home.

It can have a positive impact on children as young as two. In the evidence we found, older pre-school children made larger gains than younger children.

In studies that showed positive effects, educators used stories to provoke discussions with the children. Practices they used to do this include:

• Naming and labelling: providing a name or label for an object, concept, action or skill. For example, the educator labels a facial expression, such as ​‘frown’. Or they use an emotion name, such as ​‘angry’ or ​‘sad’
• Questioning: prompting children to think, respond or join in. For example, the educator says ​“The rabbit looks very happy. He says his tummy feels ​‘jumpy’. Has your tummy ever felt like that?” as children look at an illustrated character in a book
• Recalling: using language to describe a previous event or experience. For example, after reading a story about starting school, the educator says, ​“Some of you were excited to start pre-school, but I remember some were a little worried, like the boy in the story”. Or they prompt children to recall their own experiences
• Making links: enabling children to make connections between thoughts, actions, knowledge or experiences. For example, the educator helps a child to connect their experiences and emotions, ​‘You were crying because you were sad that daddy had to go to work’.

Other practices educators use to deliver this approach include:

• Explaining and showing: providing extra information to support children’s understanding. For example, as the children look at a picture of a boy crying in a book, the educator points to his face and says, ​“I think he is feeling sad, and is crying because he has dropped his ice cream”
• Commenting: highlighting key information using spoken words or phrases. For example, the educator draws children’s awareness to another person’s emotional state: ​‘Zariah is smiling now. It looks like she is feeling happy now she has finished her lunch.’