How to Help Children Regulate Their Big Emotions: A Virtual Workshop for Early Childhood Educators

Young children experience big emotions every day — frustration when a toy breaks, sadness during childcare dropoff or even excitement that feels hard to contain. Children’s ability to manage how they express their emotions is called emotion regulation. It includes learning how to calm the body, express feelings safely and recover after becoming overwhelmed. Emotion regulation is not a skill children are born with — it develops over time. 

In the spring, early childhood educators across Wisconsin gathered with UW-Extension and Thriving Wisconsin to learn about co-regulation strategies that work both at home and in the classroom. The class will be offered virtually from 6-8:30 p.m., Thursdays, July 23 and July 30. 

Behavior is Communication

From infancy, emotions are one of the main ways children communicate. And before children have the words to explain what they need, emotions show up through behavior. Crying, clinging, or even laughing and bouncing with excitement are all ways children communicate what is happening inside. In other words, when children are struggling with big emotions, the behavior is the signal and the emotion is the message.

The Power of Co-Regulation

Because the areas of the brain responsible for emotion regulation do not mature until about 25 years of age, young children struggle to handle big emotions alone. Children learn to regulate their emotions by observing how the adults around them react and respond. This shared process is called co-regulation. 

A simple way to practice co-regulation in the moment is through an emotion coaching technique called LEAPS: 

• Label: Name the child’s feelings
  Example: “It sounds like you’re feeling frustrated that your block tower fell down.” 
• Empathize: Listen actively and validate feelings
  Example: “It’s okay to feel frustrated. I know you worked so hard on that.” 
• And Problem Solve: Encourage the child to think of solutions
  Example: “What do you think we should do? Want to try again with me?” 

Upcoming Workshops

Early childhood educators looking to deepen their emotion regulation skills are invited to a two-part virtual learning opportunity focused on practical, research-based strategies.